Scott

Scott, thanks very much for that list. That's very interesting. I tried looking up Wye Plantation, but I couldn't find much. It seems there's a privately owned plantation house, but how do you know about the persimmons? Is there a public or research part of the plantation? Are the persimmons part of a commercial orchard?

Scott

My Hybrid persimmons: Rossyanka and Nikita's Gift had no problem with the -13F for three nights without any protection. Ichi Ki Kei Jiro persimmon, and all the figs did OK with the wrapping stuffed with dried leaves. I scratched their barks and they were green and flexible. The hardy Russian Pomegranate survived the -13F with the protection also. From here on, I will let the Nikita's Gift hybrid persimmon un-protected to see how low of the temp in -F before damage occurred.

Tony

Scott

Alex,
Russian Beauty(Rosseyanka) is a D.virginianaXkaki hybrid; Nikita's Gift(Nikitskaya Bordovaya) is a seedling of Rosseyanka back-crossed to D.kaki. Both are astringent until ripe - and yes, that means until they are mushy. Nikita's Gift sustains pretty severe winter damage at Terre Haute, IN most winters(esp. when temps drop below zero), but RB has been unaffected.
I have Ichi and Hana Fuyu in my collection - neither have fruited yet, but neither have I noticed any particularly good fall color.
Great Wall, however, does have good red/orange fall color, but I'm of the understanding that it, too, is an astringent until ripe variety. Mine has its first two fruits this year, but I'm waiting for them to soften and lose their astringency.
Have seen recent reports from a friend in the Bristol TN/VA area who has Hana Fuyu, and it is a good producer for him there.
Saijo usually gets good reports, and is reliably hardy in zone 6, as is Sheng (I know Sheng & Great Wall will perform in PA). My friend Clifford England likes Hokkaido - and it is a genetic dwarf, if I recall correctly, so even on a vigorous D.virginiana rootstock, it should remain small(though you may have to keep rootstock suckers pruned off).
RE: Patapsco persimmon (Follow-Up #2)
posted by: lucky_p on 11.20.2006 at 02:49 pm in Fruit & Orchards Forum
The Spring 2006 issue of POMONA, the official publication of the North American Fruit Explorers had several good articles on Asian persimmons.
In the 1920s & 1930s, J.Russell Smith grafted a number of Asian persimmons onto native D.virginiana roostock on his farm/nuresery in the Blue Ridge mountains of VA, near the WV border. At one time, Smith had 29 different Asian persimmons thriving and fruiting in his plantings. Over the past 6 years or so, Mr. Willam Preston has found the following varieties still surviving and fruiting in Smith's abandoned plantings: Giboshi, Shaumopan, Kishimoto, Manerh, Pen, Tsurushigaki, Smith #1 & #4, Delicious, Aizu Michirazu, Yokono, Akadango, Benigaki, Great Wall, Peiping. Others are no longer present there, but did they succumb to winter damage, disease, or were they just overcome by encroaching reforestation, after abandonment?
Mr. Preston also penned an article on the 'Status of Oriental Persimmon Planting at Eastern Shore of Maryland', an overview of the D.kaki plantings at the Wye Reseach & Education Center, with data dating back to 1966.
Both articles might be worth researching, if you're wanting to grow D.kaki.
Here is a link that might be useful: NAFEX
NOTES:
Oriental persimmon that survived the past 80 years in zone 6 virginia are:
Giboshi, Shaumopan, Kishimoto, Manerh, Pen, Tsurushigaki, Smith #1 & #4, Delicious, Aizu Michirazu, Yokono, Akadango, Benigaki, Great Wall, Peiping.
clipped on: 11.21.2006 at 05:55 am last updated on: 11.21.2006 at 05:57 am"

Lucky has posted many times about this subject, and a search here will find much more.

Some of the above info is more about surviving the kind of winters we are now having rather than flavor and productivity. I can vouch for Smith's Best (Giboshi)--when pollinated, it is the best I've ever had; but not productive so far. Kung San Ban Si has also been declared a winner by at least a couple of other posters here.

The link below says "Cultivars that are especially hardy in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia include: 'Atome', 'Benigaki', 'Delicious', 'Eureka', 'Great Wall', 'Manerh', 'Okame', 'Peiping', 'Pen', 'Shaumopan', 'Sheng,' 'Tsurushigaki', 'Yokono', etc."

Its interesting there are several common varieties on the above lists and those you can certainly take as hardy ones.

Scott