We are in God’s country for persimmons and I want to plant one on the property. Anyone grow them?
No but I have a number of volunteers in the pasture that I need to cut down to keep the horses ( actually one horse in that pasture) from eating the fruit. A local nursery ( Petals From the Past) sells a number of Japanese varieties that are supposed to be tastier than the native ones. I have always thought they were pretty bland and meh tasting but some people like them. I don’t know where you are but volunteers pop up everywhere around here so they can’t be that hard to grow.
My grandmother made persimmon pudding. Really a super moist spice cake.
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There used to be an old, old man who had a persimmon orchard here in Central Florida. People came from near and far when his roadside sign went up that the fruit was ripe.
I’ve considered planting one or two on my farm here, but only for food for wildlife. Apparently many critters love them and they’re loaded w/ vitamins and fiber. But I’ve started many Loquats and they’re now producing so I skipped persimmons.
For your own used, make sure you get the variety that’s tastier and not bitter. And be careful if you have horses as the seeds have toxic tannin in them.
I remember the DEER loving them! And, also, that they are very messy (bee / wasp attracting mush on the ground underneath when ripe)…so I’d be in thought about the right spot for one.
Ugh! I figured. I vowed to never plant stuff I had to fight the deer over.
aww. didn’t mean to crush the idea. maybe just not ‘out front’ but on a perimeter? I recall one of our many trips to the Outer Banks, and doing a hike on the then Audubon preserve…maybe ? it was double : season and persimmon ripe season? I dunno but they were on hind legs eating them, and very aggressive!
We have a couple of native volunteers next to our well shed.
Haven’t noticed the deer being any more problem there than anywhere else on our property (having said that, we are overrun with deer in this region), but agree that persimmons are a bit messy. Ours are no trouble where they’re located, however, and the horses (who occasionally have access to the area) have never seemed particularly interested in them.
I don’t cook with them – don’t think ours produce enough to be worth the effort. We also have loquat, which greatly out-produce the persimmon. Don’t cook with those, either, but have a neighbor who loves them, so I offer the fruit to her.
I like to have plants that support wildlife.
Coyotes LOVE persimmons. We had to remove ours to keep them out of our yard.
I have a huge persimmon tree. It is lovely and shady and the fruit are beautiful…until they start going splat all over the patio! So don’t plant it in a location like that! All the critters here pick up the messy ones on the ground, and the birds (hummingbirds even!) love the fruit too.
Mine is the bitter kind, hachiya. You can wait till they’re squishy and cook with them, and there is a traditional Japanese way to dry them (that I’ve never tried). It’s a very nice shaped and sized tree, I say go down to the local nursery and get the right kind!
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They are nasty! Had one in the backyard growing up. The fruit would fall and really stink, messy, possums love it. Finally cut it down.
Ok I didn’t see that coming! Really! That is the last thing I would have figured.
Yes, I have one in my garden, which has a deer fence. It’s a fuyu, the variety with flatter fruit. I bought a tiny tree, more like a whip, four years ago and it is now about 15 feet tall and loaded. When ripe, we eat them in fruit salad. I also puree the pulp, freeze it and later make cookies, pudding cake, and other baked goods. Using them for baking has an added bonus of reducing the sugar needed.
Once the tree gets tall enough, the deer won’t be able to reach the fruit. A wire cage around it should work.
FYI, coyotes and fox like many types of fruit. They enjoy our grapes and cherries.
I LOVE persimmons! My brother had a tree that produced beautifully. As I recall, he said he had to cut them off the branch once ripe, they don’t easily pull off the branch so he couldn’t just shake them off the upper branches, he had to get a ladder to reach them.
Make sure you get the right variety, the long, kinda heart-shaped ones called hachiya. The flat, round ones aren’t very tasty at all. The hachiya persimmons are only bitter if they’re under-ripe, once they’re FULLY ripe (very mushy, like liquid inside the skin), they’re very sweet, though the skin can be a little bit astringent.
They’re perfect raw, or you can scoop out the insides and use it as-is for a sauce on anything – cake, pie, ice cream, even use it as a base for a sauce for chicken or ribs (add balsamic vinegar and spices). They freeze pretty well and are wonderful cooked in a tart, etc.
Sorry to hijack, but, I think a good persimmon is one of the best-tasting things Mother Nature has every come up with. But, often I’ll get one (from the supermarket) that tastes mushy or kind of like eating felt (as in the fabric) – all clumpy on the tongue. What am I doing wrong in my persimmon selection?
They love fruit. When I kick apart their scat, I always find blackberry seeds and peach pits.
