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.  

Growing Square Lemons at Home

Question: What happens when you put a round lemon (or pumpkin, or apple, or tomato etc) in a square plastic mould?  
Answer: the fruit grows and is slowly squished to conform to the shape of the mould.  

Square lemon, I grew this!

When talking about the hollow, shaped receptacle I don't know if it is spelled 'mould' or 'mold'.  I have a strong feeling it depends on which country you are from.  I'm too lazy to google it, I think I will just use both spellings and wait until some irate person corrects me, and then fix it up, or not bother and just leave it as is because that is far simpler.  Hmmm.  

Last year I bought some plastic fruit moulds.  I got some square ones, and some heart shaped ones.  I could hardly wait to use them.

I had intended on putting these fruit shaping molds on some apples and Asian pears, but at that time of year the apples and pears were too large to fit into the moulds.  

As my apples and pears were not the right size I put one on a lemon to have a little bit of practice.  Or maybe I was just impatient?  Either way, I put a square one on a meyer lemon.

I wish I chose a larger lemon to turn square

There weren't many lemons at that time of year so I chose one of the few that was small enough and put the plastic fruit shaping mould on.  

The lemon grew, then the tree flowered a lot and started producing a lot more fruit.  I wish I had chosen of one the second set of lemons as they all grew larger, but I didn't.

The lemon grew, then when it stopped growing I removed it from the mould.  Unfortunately the lemon did not fully grow to the size of the mould.  

Square lemons

This lemon was a bit small so wasn't perfectly block shaped, still became reasonably square and had three very flat sides and one slightly rounded side, so I consider it a success.  

I am told that apples and nashi pears tend to perform a little better than lemons.

My apple trees are just breaking dormancy now and will blossom shortly.  Once the little apples are a bit bigger I plan to put a few moulds on them and see how well they take to being moulded.

This lemon has three flat sides, and one round side

I have read comments from people who have seen pictures of these plastic moulds and they usually talk about how this is a pest deterrent and mean that fruit can be grown organically.  Interestingly the people who make and sell the moulds never make this claim.

I grow everything organically.  When I saw pictures of this my first through was that pests could get in and be protected from predators.  I was also concerned that fungus and mildew might grow in the poorly ventilated plastic box.

Square lemon slices from the square lemon I grew

Lemon before being removed from the mould

Now I have grown square lemons I can confirm that pests can get in and are protected from predators.  That is not a big deal as I don't have huge numbers of pests here and my square lemon was not damaged by the slugs and earwigs living in the box.

I can also confirm, as evidenced in the photo above, that algae and things do grow in the box.  This year was particularly wet so more water than normal had gotten into the box and caused things to grow.  This did not damage the fruit as it was mostly growing on the plastic.

I like square lemons

If only I used a larger lemon, it would have fit in the box better and this would look pretty incredible!  

I can hardly wait to use the fruit molds again.  My apple and pear trees are flowering at the moment, so it won't be long before I get to try this on them.  My lemon tree normally flowers on and off throughout the year, so I will try to make some more cool shaped lemons.

I do have some extra fruit shaping moulds, a few heart shaped ones and a few square ones.  They click together.  I have included pictures of them below so you get an idea of how they work.

Given that these plastic fruit shaping molds are clear it would be simple enough to put a sticker on them and use sunlight to tattoo an apple like I did here.  That way you would end up with an apple that is blocky or heart shaped, also with the name of your child or a fun picture on it.  I can hardly wait to try to do that myself!!!

I am not sure how many times they can be used, presumably if you look after them and don't drop them on concrete they should last for many years.  The one I used certainly looks no worse for wear.

Love Heart fruit mould

Love Heart fruit mold

Square fruit mold

Square fruit mould

If you want to try a fruit shaping mould there are very places on the internet where you can buy them.  There seem to be a few places selling tiny ones for strawberries, or long ones for cucumbers, or even some larger watermelon size ones, but not many places are selling ones for apples and lemons.  

If you are interested in buying some online please be careful of their size and ensure that you are not getting a tiny one that is only useful for medium sized strawberries. 

You can buy them directly from the place I got them from.  Their price includes postage to any country.  Note: While you pay the same price for the fruit shaping molds I get a small commission if you buy directly from slingfisher using the above link. 

I considered selling some through my for sale page if I have extras for sale.  To be honest you may be better off buying them from my slingfisher link above as it would work out cheaper for you, plus I intend on using these on all the appropriate sized fruit in my yard. 

Mulberry tree fruiting in Autumn

I grew a white mulberry from a tiny cutting a while ago.  It has grown into a lovely little tree that I am rather fond of.

Most mulberries in Australia are white mulberries (Morus alba), and the vast majority of these are NOT white fruited.  They produce delicious fruit that is dark and stains everything.  While many people claim to grow black mulberries, I am yet to see or hear of a black mulberry (Morus nigra) anywhere in Australia.

I like mulberries in general and I rather like this tree.  I live in town so can only grow a mulberry if it is not going to stain things.  This winter when my tree was dormant I planted it outside my fence.  This is risky as we don't mow there so it could get slashed by council, or people could steal it.  But it is a great spot for a mulberry tree so I am risking it and hoping for the best.

This past summer we had weeks of intense thick smoke, and heat, and it was incredibly dry, but my water tank was low so I had very little water to spare for my mulberry tree.  I felt bad that my tree was outside the fence in the blasting sun with no water to get established, but it is a survivor and kept growing.  The mulberry tree produced a huge amount of fruit, but it all aborted as it was too dry this year. 

Normally mulberries ripen in December and early January here.  Once the smoke cleared it was still very dry, when the rains eventually came my little tree put on a lot of growth.  Then it started to produce fruit, in April! 

My mulberries are ripening in April

I have never seen a mulberry fruit this late in Autumn, the frosts could be here any day.  But this tree was determined to produce a crop this year no matter how difficult the situation.

Most of the fruit was stolen by birds and other animals.  Then a few started to ripen.  They weren't exactly white, but they were sweet and delicious and non-staining.

I kind of forgot to take pictures of the mulberries until we had eaten most of them.  Some were more white than this, others were slightly more of an even lavender colour.  None of them were dark.

Most got more lavender coloured than this when fully ripe

White mulberries are a great tree: they are low maintenance, they are very hardy, they are productive, the leaves can be used as silkworm food or high protein stock feed, the leaves can be used as a vegetable or a herbal tea.  Mulberries like this one that won't stain the footpath, or the washing, or the kid's faces, are excellent.

If my little tree makes it through winter without being run over by a slasher or stolen or something horrible like that I should try to take a few cuttings in spring.  I will eventually try to offer some for sale through my for sale page over winter when they are dormant.

Stencils on Apples Using Sunlight

Have you ever looked closely at the skin of a red apple?  Have you ever noticed how it is red where the sun hit and green where it was shaded by a leaf or something?  I have.

Noticing this made me wonder if I could put shapes or even words on apples using nothing other than sunlight and shade.  It would be pretty cool if this was possible.  So I gave it a try.

As it turns out, it is possible, and I can put words or shapes on an apple using nothing other than sunlight and shade.

I had high hopes of how they might turn out, and they were even better than I had even imagined!  These apples were picked from my tree looking like this.  Aren't they remarkable...

Love hearts and other shapes can be put on apples using sunlight

 
I don't know what you would call this, a "stenciled apple" perhaps?  An "apple tattoo" maybe?  I have no idea.

I don't seem to be able to google this because I can't google anything containing the word "apple" without returning nonsense about the computer brand.  Including the search term 'stencil' or 'tattoo' made things even worse.

That meant that I had to teach myself how to do this and can't learn from other people's experience.  I think I did OK for a first try, I had fun, and I certainly learned a lot.

Stenciling and apple, or tattooing an apple, or whatever it is called is a bit fiddly, and it takes time, these took about two months from start to finish, but I did it and I am really happy with the results.

I have some big ideas to try this year.

mulberry tree time from planting cuttings to fruiting

Have you ever wondered how long it takes for a white mulberry to go from a small cutting until it is large enough to fruit?  I have grown cuttings a few times so thought I would share my experiences and hope that it helps someone.

I have looked on the internet and found a nursery overseas that claims they sell 2 year old plants that should fruit in 2 - 3 years.  That seems overly long to me.  Judging how quickly I get things to fruit from cuttings or seed grown and how much longer they claim it takes for 2 year old plants to fruit I would have doubts over the quality of their plants and/or the accuracy of their claims.

Large mulberry cuttings can fruit that same year, but what about small cuttings?  Obviously it varies from plant to plant, some will fruit much faster or slower than others, and the climate will change things.

Here are some photos of a cutting that I took of a cutting from a white mulberry that is meant to be white fruiting (most white mulberries are dark fruited).  The cutting was around 10cm long and far thinner than a pencil.

My little cutting went from this tiny cutting just sprouting roots September 2017:

to this small ~60cm tall tree just before going dormant:

to this little tree emerging from dormancy in October 2018:

Unless something goes wrong I should find out in a month or two if it is white fruited or dark fruited. 

Mulberry breaking dormancy - note the catkin emerging

Almost every node that is producing leaves is also producing catkins, each of which should turn into mulberries.

It appears that this will be a productive tree once I plant it in the soil.  I am hoping that it will be white fruited, but even if it is dark fruited I think it will still be well worth growing.

 

I am waiting until the fruit ripens before planting this tree in a larger pot or in the soil.  I would hate for transplant stress to cause it to abort its fruit and have to wait another year.

I am assuming that some varieties of white mulberry take longer than this to fruit.  I assume that some varieties will be more productive and others less productive than this one.  Regardless, it appears that this is a productive and reasonably fast growing variety.  Going from a cutting to a fruiting tree in a year is pretty impressive.  I don't know of many fruit trees other than mulberry that can do this.