I remember both my first common persimmon and my first oriental persimmon.
My grandmother and I were out walking in her neighborhood when I was about four years old, when we came across a native persimmon tree. I bit into an unripe one. If you've ever done this, you'll understand why I still remember it.
I tried my first oriental persimmon when I was home from college at the time of the Washington Parish Fair. My grandparents' neighbors shared some oriental persimmons from the tree in their yard. I was immediately taken with this fruit that could be eaten with a spoon, like pudding.
My appreciation for persimmons was further supported by my introduction to persimmon pudding - a delicious dessert that can be made with either native or oriental persimmon pulp - when I lived in North Carolina.
Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) trees are native to much of the eastern US and can reach 50 feet high and 35 feet wide. A given tree typically produces either female or male flowers but not both. Only female-flowered trees produce fruit, but the fruit does not develop without pollination, so a male-flowered tree must be in the area.
Female-flowered varieties of common persimmon can be purchased. Or, if you know of one that produces good fruit, another option is to propagate it by root cuttings, whip grafting, or chip budding. If you grow a tree from a common persimmon seed, you won't know whether it will have male or female flowers until it gets older.
As alluded to at the beginning of the article, the fruit of common persimmons is astringent due to a high tannin content before it's ripe, so be sure to wait until it's soft before you eat it. Also be aware that the plant tends to produce root suckers, so be prepared to remove them from nearby flower beds, etc., from time to time.
Oriental persimmon (D. kaki) trees are smaller than native persimmon trees, but the fruit is larger. The fruit of many oriental persimmon varieties can develop parthenocarpically, or without pollination.
The mature size of oriental persimmon trees varies among varieties, with some reaching up to 30 feet tall and 15 to 25 feet wide. Others only grow to around 6 to 8 feet wide. It takes about three years for them to produce fruit and eight to ten to reach their full potential.
While common persimmons are astringent until ripe, some oriental persimmons are considered non-astringent and can be eaten, like an apple, while still fairly firm. Non-astringent varieties include Fuyu, Fuyu Imoto, Hana Fuyu, Jiro, and Suruga.
As with common persimmons, you'll need to wait until fruit is soft before eating astringent varieties like Eureka, Hachiya, Saijo, and Tanenashi. (There are some astringent varieties that, if pollinated and thus seeded, are non-astringent prior to fully ripening. However, we often grow oriental persimmons without a pollinizing variety nearby.)
Persimmon trees are sold in both containerized and bare-root forms. Fall is a good time to plant containerized plants, although with enough care they can be planted year-round. Only plant bare-root plants while they're dormant.
Oriental persimmons are often grafted onto common persimmon rootstock. When planting a grafted plant, make sure the graft union is at least 2 inches above the soil line.
Like most fruit trees, I'd advise planting persimmons on a well-drained site and, for maximum fruit production, in full sun. With that said, common persimmon trees and rootstocks do have more tolerance for less-than-ideal drainage than many fruit species.
Let me know if you have questions.
Dr. Mary Helen Ferguson is an Extension Agent with the LSU AgCenter, with horticulture responsibilities in Washington and Tangipahoa Parishes. Contact Mary Helen at mhferguson@agcenter.lsu.edu or 985-277-1850 (Hammond) or 985-839-7855 (Franklinton).
