Rosseyanka (hybrid) is late-ripening here, and hangs on... I have to pull or cut them loose. I may have to get scions from friends and begin again with this one... severe borer attack and winter of 2014 took it back to the main trunk, and I'm not certain but that it's died back to below the graft (which I can no longer pick out on this 15-yr old tree.

Keener (alleged by some to be a hybrid, but I think not) hangs well, and is later-ripening than most I've grown. It's my wife's favorite persimmon... seems to have more fiber/substance than most D.virginiana fruits. We freeze them whole and pull them out to eat like a popsicle.

Thanks, Lucky! Let me know if you'd like me to send you some Rosseyanka wood. I've eaten them at Edible Landscaping and loved them, although I consider it very different from both native and kaki persimmons. I haven't fruited it at my place yet, but I have a little wood I could prune.

When would you say peak season is for Keener?

Lucky, did you get a graft of Nikita's gift to take, by the way?

My own experience is that those varieties whose ripening period seems to test the length of my growing season do not do well here - even when they soften on the tree, they're left with residual astringency , off-flavors and irregular texture - as though protesting the lack of sufficient time in the sun. So varieties like Keener, Ruby and some of the late Claypool selections are inferior here. There are other late ripening varieties: I think they're noted on the Claypool notes and also some of Lehman's 100 series such as Deer Magnet and also Pieper are reported to be late, but I do not grow these. Rosseyanka acts more like some of the kakis in remaining a quality persimmon despite its late ripening time. So I'm hesitant to advise planting most of these later varieties unless you have a monster growing season. Might be better to refrigerate firm persimmons and ripen off tree on an as needed basis to extend the season.

Thanks, creekweb!

When you talk about varieties whose ripening period tests the length of your growing season do I understand correctly that you're talking about varieties that don't ripen before the end of your growing season? I wouldn't say I have a "monster growing season," but my first crop of Ruby persimmons ripened nearly a month before my normal first frost. (The ripened around the very end of September, and our first frost is near the end of October.) So I definitely think I have extra growing season to play with after almost all my Ruby persimmons will have ripened, but of course the heat and the sun aren't as intense in October as they are in September.

As far as varieties that ripen late, I would definitely hope to find varieties that would completely lose their astringency, although a hint of astringency would be tolerable (especially if the only alternative is picking under-ripe fruit, refrigerating it, and ripening it off the tree.) As you more or less said varieties that ripen really late, even after the first frost, sometimes ripen irregularly. Might those irregularities sometimes be desirable, though? Sometimes the figs, for example, that ripen just after the first frost will wrinkle and partially dehydrate on the bush, and sometimes they seem extra good. In any case, if anyone else has any persimmon varieties that ripen later than Ruby and taste good, I'd like to hear about it. I'm hopeful they exist, at least for my location, but I haven't really found them yet.

OK ,given the extent of your growing season you make a good case for adding some very late ripening varieties to your collection. As far as choosing the best late varieties, this question is best posed to Jerry Lehman.

I'm not certain that I've EVER gotten a successful graft of Nikita's Gift.

Have tried it on numerous occasions... several years running. No luck, I'm thinking - but I can't swear that I didn't get at least one 'take' from scions you send last spring... but I may not be able to find them, if I did... it's been a difficult year due to a number of factors.