I am in zone 6b also (MD).
I grow Jiro, Ichi, Hana Fuyu (2), Cholcolate, Coffee Cake, Izu.
Jiro, Ichi and one of the Hana Fufu are several years old and give me good number of fruits. The other four are still young plants, I hope to have more fruits next year from them.

My sister who lives less then a mile from me has more varieties. I think she has all that are available and listed as hardy to zone 7. I believe she has 30+ different asian persimmon varieties in her garden, both astringent and not.
They grow and fruit well for her, I don't think she ever lost a single one to winter. Asian persimmons are wonderful fruit trees in my opinion, don't need any spryng here, trees look beautiful, fruits look good and taste great. If you ever saw persimmon tree fully loaded with big fruits in the fall when the leaves are already gone, this is the picture you will always remember, fantastic.
I grow them for fruits as well as for decorative value.

Olga

Olga:

When you grow that many varieties, are most or some, full of seeds? Which ones do you like best and are those seedy?

Hope this doesn't steal pbob's thread, I think he would be interested also.

Thank you olga and fruitnut for your follow-up. It is very hard to find members that are interested in asian persimmon. I would love to hear from your sister to find out more about the best tasting ones that she grows.If she could give me some sion wood that would be even more wonderful. By the way olga and fruitnut, i always like your postings. Members with that kind of experience are good sources of information. Beeing a fruitnut myself i finally got enough acrege to explore more with variaties that i am not familiar with,that is why i like to get my hands on more persimmon and paw-paw for now. I appreciate your follow-ups. Bob

Fruitnut, as I understand Chocolate persimmon is the one that will make other varieties full of seed. For me this one is still young. It did bloom this spring first time, so I will see how my persimmons will be this year. So far I didn't have much seeds in my fruits. I am actually not afraid of seeds in persimmons. In fact I really love this transparent crunchy layer that usually surrounds seeds. I think seeds can be more of a problem for processing, but for eating fresh, they add taste and flavor in my opinion.
I can ask my sister about best testing ones, or I can answer myself, because I taste them all too:). Really it depends on your taste. I love nonastringent types more, so Hana, Izu(really early one) and Jiro are my favorites. This is main reason why I also grow them. From astringent ones I love Sheng, Saijo and Chocolate. But really they all good.

Olga

Ah, but what are our zones really? Average lows here seem to have risen by 10 degrees F. I used to call mine 5B as average lowest temp was probably about -12. For what seems like about a decade anything below zero is probably going to be your coldest night (early morning).

Still, eventually we will have a test winter, and even if it doesn't get down below -20 like last time, I wonder how the Asian persimmons will do in Z6.

Winter temp's below zero might not hurt as much as early coming-out of dormancy.This past winter i had temp's of 3an4 degrees and that did not hurt them at all.I mention this before that the rootstock place a important part in iffy zone like yours. I am asking members for sion wood because the rootstock that i get from nurseries will not work in my area, because they come out dormancy still too soon.The rootstock that i use is from the natives in my area,and that work for me.I am going in the fourth year with the asians,so far so good.

Wow--would any of you be willing to get me scion wood next January? All those unique varieties in one place--I would be happy to pay and send a pre-stamped envelope!

Carla in Sac

In the previous post i mention 3 and 4 degrees, these should have been 3to4 degrees below zero for several nights. I have several asian persimmon that i can do without.,they are ok but could be a lot better. What about giombo does anybody think this is a better one, how about suruga. I also have several asian pears, here to most people i talked to think there is not much difference between them. I have a maharusa that is a very big pear that i usely eat when i am thirsty instead of a pop, but it has to be cold,not much flavor but very refreshing.

I donÂt think Suruga would not be a good plant for a northern grower, as I understand they ripen very late. Giombo always gets great taste reviews, but I have seen conflicting reports of its hardiness, but I hope to be trying it as well. I am growing Eureka, Fuyu, Great Wall, Matsumoto Wase Fuyu, Saijo, Tamopan, Izu. The only ones that fruited last year were Fuyu and Tamopan, they are a couple years older, and this is the 1st year in ground for my other s. One of my Matsumoto Wase Fuyu has a couple fruit this year but, I afraid it is labeled incorrectly as it is oblong fruit, segmented with 4 divisions running lengthwise, as a bud sport of Fuyu I would think the fruit to be oblate and tomato shaped as is Fuyu. The only plants big enough that would be able to take some scion from this year would be Fuyu and Tamopan, neither of which I understand to be particularly cold hardy from my understanding. I plan to try to expand to a few more cultivars as well. I think the earlier ripening cultivars are the best bet for those in the northern areas. Olga lists some good selections I think. Below is a Ripening schedule from Edible Landscapes. I agree that fluctuating spring weather is more a risk than the mid-winter minimum temperatures.
September: Izu, Miss Kim, Sheng, Wase Fuyu
October: Gwang Yang, Hana Fuyu, TamKam, Wase Fuyu, Ichi Ki Kei Jiro, Izu, Makawa Jiro, Sheng, Miss Kim, Smith's Best, Sung Hui
November: Great Wall, Hychia, Hira Tanenashi, Kungsun Bansi, Miss Kim, Saijo, San Pedro, Smiths Best, Sun Hui, TamKam, Gwang Yang, Hana Fuyu, Makawa Jiro, Ichi Ki Kei Jiro
December: Hana Gosho, Tecumseh
.

I've grown about 15 varieties of asian persimmon, mostly as branches on a large tree. Most taste about the same. Honan Red was slightly different. A neighbor's tree had the most tasteless fruit ever until I grafted it over. I notice this year a branch sprouted from the rootstock and has 8 fruit on a one foot sprout. The astringent ones are much sweeter and the birds hold off attacking them when they are firm. I'd get rid of the chocolate unless you want all your fruit to be full of seeds. I have a two foot branch that caused hundreds of pounds of fruit to be seedy. I cut the branch off and the next year no seeds. My favorites are saijo because it is so sweet and bears so heavily and Giombo(although it didn't bear much). You can have the non-astringent ones.

Here is a link that might be useful: persimmon grafting

Strudeldog, thanks for your help. I am evaluating a range of asian persimmon in my zone. The reason i am doing that because i noticed that even the late ripening ones came out of dormancy at the same time the native persimmons are coming-out, with other word pretty late. Giombo i grafted this spring is now about 8 feet tall.Will see what happens to it this coming spring. Sayo's are doing good too, will see when these guys are ripening. Last year they were o.k enough time to ripen.

I have about a dozen kinds. So far I like Chocolate the best and I don't mind seeds in the other kinds. Also Hachiya which should not be hardy but has somehow (barely) survived for 8 years for me. I agree with MrTexas that many asians are similar in taste. I have been trying to get Saijo, I bought a tree and discovered five years later it was some other uninteresting variety. Last year I tried to graft it over but all grafts failed. If you want to trade your Saijo for any of mine drop me an email sometime; click on my name to see my variety list and email. I have a bunch of unusual varieties I got at the Wye persimmon orchard, an old orchard on the eastern shore of Maryland. Those trees are still young but some are fruiting this year for the first time.

By the way I learned a neat persimmon grafting trick this spring: persimmons produce new dormant buds very early, in May, and last May I took fresh budwood from one variety that was in the wrong spot and moved it to another spot by doing a bud graft. Two weeks later I forced the bud and the tree has put on several feet of growth this year.

Scott