Non Astringent, Asian Persimmon In South Texas

I’m in San Antonio. I grow Asian persimmons and have done so for about twelve years. The first tree was a dud. It was an astringent persimmon, a Saijo. It was fantastically sweet, but had the texture of a water balloon filled with snot.

Persimmons can be cooked. I found them to lose their special “superfruit” status for me. Cooked persimmons remind me of an almost pumpkin taste, but not quite as good. Then several years into growing this tree, we had a horribly hot, dry summer. The side where the afternoon sun hit, opened up, split and oozed sap. It was gone. There was no return from that. So, I cut it down and regrouped.

I knew my problem with the eating of the fruit was the texture. That was easy to fix by switching over to a non astringent persimmon.

Then I needed to rethink the siting for this tree.

I ordered a Fuyu and put it between two large trees. It gets dappled shade, but still has a huge harvest. These put on flowers at leaf junctures. They will put on almost as many fruits as flowers. You will always get a nice harvest. If you can wait a few years and remove the fruit: you will have a much bigger tree, with an amazing amount of fruit.

I have found the perfect persimmon texture, in the non astringent (it’s crunchy like a carrot, you can use a potato peeler to remove the skin.) And the perfect planting site for my super hot summers: between two large trees.

This tree would have grown more had I removed the fruit, and, if it were in full sun. But: I didn’t want to repeat the first tree disaster. Plus, I’ve had these fruit before. They are so incredibly good, I didn’t even thin them. This tree is 3-4 years old, it loads itself with fruit, without a pollinator.

Last year we had another one of our super hot, dry summers. The tree struggled, by putting on puckered fruit. And, if this happens to you, the fruit will be inedible and stay that way. Go ahead and remove the fruit if they are that dry, water it well and let the plant focus on its own health.

Some other things to think about: nitrogen fertilizer will cause fruit drop. Keep your lawn fertilizer away from this tree. Wide swings in watering will make it drop fruit. Although: my Fuyu chose to pucker instead of drop its fruit last year.

Also, leave these sitting in your kitchen for a couple of days, and they will do the: snot filled, water balloon stuff. I suggest when you get to that point: remove the rind by squeezing the pulp out of the fruit (never eat the skin of this fruit. You can’t digest it and your tummy will not be in a good place.) remove any seeds and blend the pulp. Make a fruit freeze, icy dessert in your freezer. You still get the flavor, but now the texture is not a problem.

I also suggest white washing the trunk. Like this: link. This will keep boring insects at bay while protecting the trunk from our super hot, afternoon sun which can scald in winter and burn in summer.

So, yes! You can grow persimmons in a 9a, south Texas situation. And our mild winters don’t bother them at all. I know you will love this fruit. There’s nothing else like it!

Raintree nursery is where I buy most of my fruit trees. Both of my persimmons came from there. If you are interested, here’s their site: https://raintreenursery.com/collections/persimmon-trees

Meet you out in the garden for some incredible home grown fruit!

Crazy Green Thumbs