MMMMMMMMMMM!!!!
AND I got to put up with these tiny things.. have to get batteries for my camera so I can get some pics... nickle to quarter size mostly seed...

Hopefully By this time next yr I'll have some gigantic ones like those..

TY For posting pics Benny!!! Now I can dream about bigger persimmons instead of grafting.. LOL

Gina *BabyBlue*

This is an old Fuyu I planted years ago. The squirrels have not bothered it as much this year. (they like the non-astringent persimmons). I think the local Red Tail Hawk has made a serious dent in the squirrel population and made the ones that are left much more cautious.

I have noticed from the pictures here that there is a lot less foliage disease in California than here in humid old SC. Doesn't seem to affect the persimmon crop though.

Ned

That's loaded and would be worth a fortune! Without persimmons, it would make a big gap in harvesting year round fresh fruits from your yard!

Great pics ned ! I don't remember seing that in your yard ?

Thanks Joe. It is right next to where I keep my boat Lazz.

I don't believe I have ever eaten or even tasted a Persimmon. That is a fruit that is not sold in stores here in Colorado - Millet

There are native American Persimmons growing in Colorado. It is one of the crops being studied by Colorado State University. The American persimmons are smaller and must be soft ripe in order to eat. There are new American persimmon hybrids which are bigger and less astringent. Most non-astringent ones are not cold hardy enough for Colorado, but I am not looking hard because I don't live in Colorado.

Millet,, Would you be interested in trying some fresh native persimmons?? I could try sending you a few.. if they make it there in good condition you could sample.. if you like them just throw seeds in the ground and wait for spring.. I believe that native Persimmons need a good freeze to germinate.. or I guess you could stick them in freezer for couple months and then pot them.. they don't like to be dug up once planted in ground LOOOOONNNNNGGG tap root.. I read the native persimmon make excellent root stock for other varieties..

The larger fruit are better.. the native persimmon are more seed.. but you could get a general idea of what the flavor is like.. if it's not dead ripe it will make your mouth pucker.. for some reason older ppl get a chuckle out of seeing kids try unripe persimmons.. LOL I think a right of passage type thing maybe?? well.. in my family anyway.. LOL just one time eating un ripe persimmon will cure any kid from eating unripe fruit!! I never again ate unripe fruit!!!

Anyway.. I would love to send you fruit to try Millet!!!! If it's ok let me know..

Gina *BabyBlue*

The NAFEX http://www.nafex.org/ has an active native persimmon group.

Thanks for the link Ned!!

here are a couple of pics of local Persimmon harvest...



Some of them aren't ripe so I'm throwing them in the freezer for a few days.. actually.. not many that made it to the "harvest bag" were ripe.. the ripe ones didn't make it that far..
A friend made an unexpected visit and asked what they were.. When I told her she cringed remembering eating an unripe one late in her childhood.. I assured her they were not the same flavor when they were ripe.. She trusts me.. (almost with her life) and tried one.. she was amazed at how sweet and delish they were.. these have almost a sugared date flavor.. for lack of better to compare the flavor with..

Ok.. they look not so small in the first pic... here is a reality check pic...



There isn't a great deal of flesh.. more seeds than flesh to eat.. but I savor every bit of flesh I can nibble..
I forgot to take my camera out with me to mom's.. but she ran back to the house for hers.. and will bring her camera over for me to upload photos Tuesday.. Her trees are 10-15' tall.. I already have branches picked out to graft to.. They are sprinkled all over her 8 acres.. but there is a great little "grove" of them by the pond that I am going to use to graft to.. don't have to brave the "forest" to get to them..
Gina *BabyBlue*

Thanks Gina for the pics. I use native persimmons as rootstock. I have never had any of the improved native varieties, but use to eat the wild ones when I was kid.

Millet, I may have some of the Fuyu's left when you get here, if the critters don't get them all. I have had to run another raccoon, and two oppossums out of the tree since I put up the electric fence. I am not sure how they are getting up there. Maybe I need a new fence charger. Anyway, my beagle loves to run them out the tree - it's big fun for him. I squirt them with the hose to run them out the tree, and Sammy (the beagle) chases them out the yard or, in one case, the possum just flopped over and played dead, I had to pick him up and sit him outside the yard.

Ned

Millet;
I can send you some once they are ripe and ready.
Now please someone let me know how to send fruit?
Benny

Benny, one of the very effective ways is simply to wrap each fruit with one page newspaper then stack them inside a priority mail box. The newspaper has antifungal property and also would keep the fruit from bumping and bruising into each other. You can mail it when not dead ripe, it will ripen dead ripe when it gets there. Better send different ripening stages of fruit so that Millet will know how he exactly likes it.

Joe

There is also a Flat Rate Priority Box ($8.05), regardless of weight.

Thanks Joe.
You are always the ol' reliable.
You taught me a lot of so many things.