Final 2014 season harvest of 94 persimmons.

Charlie,

That's one beautiful tree and what a harvest. I love eating persimmon. The Fuyu I've eaten are shipped here from from California.

Growing Fuyu where I live is iffy and probably needs max winter protection.

Thanks for sharing.

Charlie
Nice harvested. Next year harvest should be more. I saw some persimmom tree
s in Japan reached 150 feet.

Tony

Thanks for posting. I just planted several persimmons (including fuyu) this spring so I loved seeing your photos. I was actually as impressed by the size, shape, and appearance of the tree as I was by the fruit. I had no idea the trees were so beautiful. I'd heard they looked a little bit like a citrus or other tropical tree and your photo appears that way, too (to me). Anyway, thanks for inspiring us up-and-comers!
Do you know (about) how old your tree is? Thanks.

Zone 7? That is amazing. Where abouts are you?

I don't know much about growing Kakis but I have noticed from ones I buy that the deep orange Fuyus are sweeter and more flavorful. I wonder if opening up the tree would be as helpful for fuyus as it is for peaches.

Your tree certainly does not have a typical open fruit tree shape. The fruit is absolutely beautiful though. If most of the best fruit is on the outside of the tree you might consider opening it up more for more consistent and heavier cropping.

If you think his tree looks awesome, you likely should have seen it when its leaves were turning color and after they had fallen off with just the fruit hanging there. About as ornamental a tree as you can ask for...the only thing god forgot were the contorted limbs.

I just wish Charlie would come back and tell us where he lives. Fuyus are the least hardy of Kakis and I'm surprised to see such a long lived tree in a Z7.

I know how they look as mature trees because they are common in CA where I came from. Drives me a little crazy when I see a yard tree loaded with ripe kakis that the owner is letting go completely to waste. Not an uncommon site in CA.

Harvestman - I live in Northern Virginia and there are several fuyu trees in my neighborhood. There is one older than mine, but most are younger. Last winter was brutal, but my faithful fuyu had its best year.

An interesting thing happened the other day as I was gathering my persimmons. A couple walked by and the guy asked, "Excuse me sir; can I ask you where you were able to find a pumkin tree?" Had a good laugh.

That is funny! A pumpkin tree! I wish I can grow my persimmon tree like yours. I got really bad dieback last winter. I wonder if my Juro tree will survive another winter like last year's.

"Excuse me sir; can I ask you where you were able to find a pumkin tree?"

That's awesome.

Thank you Charlie- are you inland or near the ocean? And thanks for the laugh.

I'm thinking that maybe my clients right on the sound in NY may be able to grow them. In my Z6 they will get frozen to the snow line on a bad year, like last winter.

I am just southwest of DC about 10 miles.

I also had a bumper crop of about 60 Fuyus on my five year old tree. It had never produced any before this year, so I am wondering if last winter's colder than normal weather "stimulated" it into production? I am eating them daily and sharing with friends and family but at a loss as to what to do with the bulk of them. I have very limited freezer space, so I have been considering trying to dry some. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Anyone have a favorite recipe using persimmons?

Ralphw - Here is an interesting recipe that I got off of the internet a few years ago.

Persimmon Upside-down Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the Topping:
3 tablespoons margarine 4 large ripe persimmons, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar

For the Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cups persimmon pulp 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9-inch round cake pan. Place the margarine and brown sugar in the cake pan and transfer the pan to the hot oven until the sugar is melted and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven; arrange the persimmon slices over the topping in the cake pan. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Stir in the persimmon pulp. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Gradually add the flour mixture to the batter, stirring just to mix. The batter will be stiff, since the only liquid comes from the persimmon pulp. Stir in the pecans and lemon zest. Spoon the cake batter evenly over the persimmon slices and return the cake pan to the preheated oven. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting the cake right-side-up on a serving platter.

Hi Charlie,

That tree is a sight to behold!

I live in Fairfax, VA, just outside the beltway and also have a Fuyu tree. It's not quite as large as yours, and I only got 5 fruits this year. It was planted about 5 years ago. Hopefully next year will be better. I sure love to eat these!

I don't have many deciduous trees in my yard, but I sure enjoy this one!

Do you give yours supplemental water during the summer? I get a huge bloom but most of the small fruits drop and only a few remain to mature.

It was a rough year for figs wasn't it?

This post was edited by dave_in_nova on Fri, Nov 21, 14 at 8:21

Dave - I give my tree water if there is a long period of inadequate rain, but this year I don't believe I gave it supplemental water. In the past I have had lots of blooms and a very large fruit drop in june/july. For some reason, the fruit drop this year was not as large as previous years. Could be the cold winter or maybe the tree's root system has grown enough to support more fruit. The summer was not extremely hot, so possibly that had something to do with it. I vote for root system growth. Regarding figs, all of my fig trees were killed down to the ground, but new shoots sprouted from the roots. I have a celeste and a brown turkey. During previous years I had a lot of figs but the first frost arrived before they ripened. This year as the new shoots grew and when the shoot had 7 leaves, I pinched off the end of the shoot to stimulate early fruit production. I was able to harvest maybe a gallon of figs. Next year I hope to do better since I planted 2 fico nero figs. I probably should have covered them before the cold. I also have 2 asian pears about 3 years old. I got only a few pears this year. I have 3 peach trees, but will need to spray next year to get decent fruit. I have a cherry, which produced a lot, but I was traveling when the were ripe and did not benefit. I also have a strawberry patch that did well. Got probably 3 gallons of strawberries. I have some other stuff, but they are too young to expect anything. I have a jujuber 3 years old (need a polinator), a blueberry bush 3rd year, 2 bush cherries, a 1 year old pomegranite and 2 1-year old blackberries.

Sounds like you have quite a variety.

I just put in a Russian pomegranate this last Summer (Salvatski). They grow fast!

Have you tried any of the seedless grapes??

My grapes had so many deseases I took them out. I have planted hardy kiwi in their place and got maybe a pint this year.