Pap,

Jerry Lehman WS8-10, 100-46,100-47, U-20A (Celebrity).
Prok, Knightville, and Cliff England Wonderful. These guys as big or even bigger than Greatwall Asian Persimmon.

Tony

You didn't mention H-120 tonytran?I`m getting Prok and 100-46 this spring.All ready have WS8-10 and the H-120.

Pap,

I forgot that Jerry also likes Lena (sweet with nice red blush), and H-120 over H-118. Hopefully, my Lena & H-120 will fruit next year.

Tony

Yea,I wish I would have started growing them 20 years ago,Id be a lot farther along than I am.They grow so slow.But all of mine should be doing great about the time that I retire.Will give me something to do,HaHa...

I just planted a 'lena' that I got from Englands orchard. I am very excited about growing this very old variety. It is supposed to have the reddish flesh compared to most and an excellent flavor. Yates is the largest fruited American that I grow with good flavor. I have had a few with slightly larger fruit but poor quality.

There should be some selections from the asian-american crosses showing up by now. By any chance, are any of the above from this background?

FP,

Rossyanka & Nikita's Gift are Hybrid persimmons.

Tony

Tonytran,
Did your Lena fruit this year and if so how did you like it?

This isn't really relevant to the largest persimmon, but it is persimmon related so I thought I'd share.

I learned today that american persimmon is a fire adapted savanna tree. It turns out, persimmon will regrow from the stump after the top growth is killed by forest fire. I had no idea. Really a very interesting tree.

Shane,

I got 2 that did not drop. Sweet and soft with deep red in color. If you like Yates then you are going to like this one.

Tony

Anybody have pictures of these giants?

Murky,

Here are some of the photos I can find for you to see.

Jerry Lehman 100-46

Jerry Lehman U-20A

Prok persimmon

Yates persimmon

Lena persimmon

Thanks for posting the photos, they are beautiful. I really like yates as it is large, good tasting and quick to lose astringency however I have yet to taste an American persimmon that has the same quality as early golden. While it may not be the largest fruited variety out there it still is good sized and with fewer seeds than most others and at least in my climate is one of the most attractive fruits. It is also quick to lose astringency. I have not tried any of Lehmans varieties (nor prok) but have tried dollywood and elmo. For whatever reason I find that dollywood and elmo are very slow to lose astringency and they still retain some when 1st gathered from the ground. It may have something to do with my NC, zone 7 climate though this doesnt make sense to me. If anything I would think that they would lose astringency sooner in a hotter climate. Early golden, yates, and ruby will never have any traces of astringency when they drop from the tree in my experience.

I'm interested in when persimmons ripen and drop. I just grafted a bunch of the varieties Tony named along with native persimmons from across the country. My application is wildlife, so I'm looking for persimmons that ripen and fall from September through January. I'm not expecting any one variety to cover this large period, but a combination of varieties and native trees.

If any of you who have any of the named varieties above (or others) and know when the start dropping, when they are done, and roughly the peak, I'd like to hear it along with your zone. I'm in 7A. I'm still trying to figure out how moving varieties from one zone to another change the expected ripening/drop time.

Thanks in advance.

Jack,

NC-10 probably the first one to drop some time in late August.

Tony

I am in zone 7 in central North Carolina and yates starts ripening the earliest of any others I have, usually they start ripening at the end of August. Early golden starts ripening shortly after yates but mostly along with it through most of September and ruby ripens noticibly later starting towards the end of September. Sometimes ruby doesnt start ripening until October and is usually finished by mid November - sometimes into the 1st part of December.

What zone are these varieties ? Can I grow most of these in zone 5? Where would you recommend getting the trees or scion wood? Are there any tricks to grafting them?

Clark,

Most of the American persimmons can handle the cold to Zone 5. You can order your trees or woods at England Orchard. You can find a lot of old infos on persimmon grafting technique and aftercare in the archives. You tube is another best source.

Tony

This post was edited by tonytran on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 9:41

Anyone else have expected ripening/drop times and zones?

Ours has changed dramatically in the last couple of years. This is the first time that we have had Am. persimmons in September, even the early ones. Normally, we have to wait until Halloween or later. Major increase in heat units.
John S
PDX OR

So, what is the actual diameter of the largest American Persimmons?

It says Yates is only 2.25" here...

BTW, some have suspected Prok of actually being part-Asian (kaki)...

"Prok is supposed to be native, but I have seen suggested it might have some Kaki in it. On the fruit it sure seems like it might have some kaki but the leaf is Virginiana like. Most Places list as Virginiana"