Interesting persimmon grafting result, Asians and Native

[Shufigo]

I did a grafting experiment 3 years ago, grafting Fuji (?) Asian persimmons onto a male Native persimmon tree. I got my first fruit this month and it wasn't what I'd expected. My Asian persimmon tree yields large fruit, bigger than a tangerine but smaller than a Red Delicious apple. Well, the Asian persimmon fruit on the grafted branches are about the size of a nickel or a dime - and lots of them. The Asians on the original Asian tree grown singly or at most two together. The Asians on the male Native grow between 3 to 6 fruits in clutches, all out toward the end of the branches. They should be close to ripe in a couple of weeks - - I'm really curious as to what they'll taste like. You gotta love this game - - always something different.

 

[yoderjac]

Asian persimmons can be great for people, but since they don't fall from the tree and many are non-astringent, I don't use them for deer. I stick to American. I heard some reports of a hybrid called Nikita's Gift did drop from the tree when ripe. I grafted some to American rootstock. They produced large persimmons as expected, but mine don't drop from the tree. Since there is no control over naming persimmons, who knows what the actual variety was of those who reported Nikita's Gift dropped when ripe. My trees are still small enough for deer to reach the persimmons. They are astringent, protecting them during development, but eventually they will be out of reach of deer.