PERSIMMONS APLENTY
One of the better reasons for growing lots of different kinds of fruit is that they all have up years and down years. This year, while I’m lamenting batting zero on mangoes, the good news is about persimmons. When we moved to the present Ray farm in 1997, there were a number of native persimmon trees here. The native persimmon (diospyros virginiana) produces a fruit that is small and seedy, but quite tasty if you wait until it loses its astringency and the skin turns black. But it is an ideal rootstock for the Japanese persimmon (diospyros kaki). The native persimmons are located in swampy places unsuitable for almost anything else, and they don’t mind if their roots are literally underwater, which in fact they have been for most of this soggy summer.
My first attempt at persimmon grafting was on an old tree with an eight-inch trunk. The graft grew vigorously and within two years produced delicious fruit in abundance. After two years, the tree died almost overnight. Broken-hearted, I investigated what had happened, and finally found that the stub where I had cut the old tree off had rotted, and after a time the rot went down the heart of the tree to the roots. By this time, I had grafted a number of other trees. Upon inspection, I found the same thing was happening on every tree, but the sudden-death extension down the heart had not yet happened. I cut the rot out with a chainsaw and sealed the wounds with roofing tar, and have not lost any more trees. On more recent grafts, cutting the old tree off closely, and at an angle so the cut won’t hold water, seems to avert this problem.
The loss of my largest native persimmon was bad news, but there was a bright side. Persimmons have a tendency to make many rootsprouts. After the large tree died, these began to appear, some up to fifty feet from the original tree. I have grafted about a dozen of these, and they are the source of this year’s bountiful crop.
Japanese persimmons are of two types. Some are astringent, meaning that they must ripen until the flesh is soft and the astringency disappears. Others are non-astringent, and can be eaten when the flesh is crisp, like an apple. I prefer the astringent varieties, which are deliciously sweet. While the skin is tender and can be eaten, I prefer to cut them in half lengthwise, and scoop the flesh from the skin with a teaspoon.
In Japan, persimmons are dried by hanging them in a cool dry place on strings. The fruit blackens, and white crystals of sugar form on the outside. These can be found at a couple of sources on the Internet, but Florida weather conditions don’t permit this means of preservation. However, I have dried persimmons in a convection oven, cut in half lengthwise, at the lowest possible temperature setting. They are quite tasty, though different from the air-dried Japanese product.
If you don’t have native persimmons, seedlings are easily grown and grafted, or grafted trees can be obtained from local nurseries. This is a beautiful, hardy, pest-free tree that you should consider adding to your collection.
The picture is of several of the grafted rootsprouts from the large tree that died mentioned in the article.
By Peter Ray
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