Persimmon Hira tanenashi

I love persimmons, but they are crazy expensive.  Most years I can't justify the price of buying a persimmon to eat. 

I have been told that persimmon trees are simple to grow, and I have been told they are very productive.  To hopefully be able to eat persimmons each year (or at least most years) I bought a persimmon tree (Diospyros kaki), it is a variety called "Hira tanenashi".  This variety is said to be one of the best tasting astringent persimmon varieties.  

Persimmons

My little tree was posted to me.  It arrived in the growing season, and was in leaf.  The first year I planted it in a pot so I could care for it and protect it a little.  

As far as I could see it did no growth that first year.  It didn't grow at all, not a single extra leaf, and once the cooler weather came it changed colour, dropped its leaves, and went dormant.  I was a little worried, but hoped all was well.  Presumably it was doing things under the soil.  

Late that winter, while the plant was dormant, I planted my persimmon tree into the yard where it will live out the rest of its life.  

Persimmon tree in a pot

In spring my persimmon broke dormancy and grew, then stopped growing.  This was a good sign.  Then it began to grow some more.  

The second flush of new growth had some flower buds.  I am told the first flowers tend to abort.  The fact that it grew at all was enough to allay any concerns I had.  The fact that it had flower buds was very positive. 

Persimmon flower bud

Flower buds produced in leaf axil on new growth

The flower buds were lovely and fat, meaning the tree is not a male and should be capable of producing fruit.  I paid a lot of money for a parthenocarpic variety, but have received incorrectly labelled plants in the past, so seeing the fat female flowers was a relief. 

The buds opened into flowers with yellowish petals and a very slight fragrance.  I am told persimmon flowers are unremarkable, but I find them beautiful in their own way.  

The persimmon flowers all had some tiny ants crawl in and take their nectar.  If you look closely you may see them in the photos below. 

I am told the first year that persimmons flower it is common for the flowers to all abort and not set fruit.  Even so, I was happy to see that it can flower for me and that the flowers are female.  I was happy with this.  

Persimmon flowers

Persimmon flowers and tiny ants

This is a parthenocarpic persimmon variety, and can set seedless fruit even when not pollinated.  This is a good thing and means the tree should set good amounts of seedless fruit when it is larger and more established.  

All of the flowers eventually dropped their petals, and they all started to swell.  This indicated that perhaps the fruit had set, and some may not abort.  

At this stage I was very excited, and checked on the developing fruit each day even though I knew it would be a long time before the fruit could be ripe. 

Persimmon fruits starting to swell

Persimmon flower petals dropping and fruit forming

The fruits grew but stayed very small.  One day one of these green fruits fell off.  I put it on the bench to see if it was mature enough to ripen, but sadly it was not.  That one never gained colour, and it slowly rotted. 

Weeks later some of the fruit started to get a little colour.  They were still very small, but they are the first fruit from a small tree, and the season was dry, so they may just produce tiny fruit this year and will have larger fruit next year.  

This is an Asian persimmon, and this variety is meant to produce medium to large size fruits.  Considering the price I paid for this tree, I hope it was not mislabeled.  Only time will tell. 

Persimmon fruits starting to get colour

Persimmons starting to get colour

Getting colour but still so small

April 7, the day after the above photos were taken, the persimmon fruit with the most colour dropped from the tree.  It was slightly soft, but certainly not ripe.  Being an astringent variety means it can not be eaten at that stage.  Astringent persimmons must be very soft and ripe before you can eat them.  I like this because it means the birds tend not to steal the fruits before they are ripe.

I brought this unripe persimmon inside and put it on a bench to allow it to ripen fully before eating.  Over time it got softer, gained some more colour, and ripened a little.  It tasted good, but not great.  At this stage I was hoping the lack of flavour was due to not spending enough time on the tree ripening.

The other fruits stayed on the tree another 2 or 3 months.  Being on the tree for longer meant they could ripen properly and taste a lot nicer.  

Persimmon autumn colours

As it turned out, the fruit needed a lot longer on the tree to taste good.  The photos above were taken early June, two months after the first fruit fell from the tree.  

The fruits were still not ripe yet, but were getting a lot more colour, and were slightly larger.  The tree was changing colour and starting to lose its leaves for winter, persimmon autumn leaf colouration is incredible.  Persimmons can be very attractive trees.   

You may notice another plant growing with my persimmon.  This other plant is huacatay.  This one self seeded, and I let it grow so it could help protect my young persimmon from strong winds.  Huacatay is an annual herb that smells and tastes like mint, and it can grow over 10 feet tall.  I didn't want it to grow too tall so had been cutting it back.  Once frosts hit this plant dies and I cut it down and use it as mulch. 

Ripe Hira tanenashi persimmon

We left the persimmons on the tree to ripen, and we eventually ate the remaining persimmons after they turned soft.  The extra time ripening on the tree was needed.  The little persimmons tasted great raw, and were incredible on ice cream.  

The persimmon fruits were small this year.  I am not sure if that is because the tree is young, or if the year was too dry, or if they will always be small.  This is the first year it has produced fruit, so there weren't many of them.  Hopefully each subsequent year will yield larger numbers of fruit, and hopefully the fruits will be a bit larger. 

The tree went dormant for winter, so I surrounded it with a ring of waste from the chicken's deep litter.  This will slowly fertilise the tree, act as mulch, and funnel summer rain and dew to the base of the tree.  It is early spring now, and my persimmon tree is showing no signs of growth.  In my garden, persimmons break dormancy rather late.  This is good because they miss any late frosts that could damage them, but is kind of worrying as I always fear my little tree may have died over winter.  

Mostly because I won't remember this I am going to record it here.  My little persimmon tree flowered late January, and the fruit was fully ripe June/July as the tree was losing its leaves for the winter.