All About the American Persimmon Tree

Discover which varieties of the American persimmon tree bear the tastiest fruit and learn how to properly plant and care for them.

Reader Contribution by Lee Reich
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Discover which varieties of the American persimmon tree bear the tastiest fruit and learn how to properly plant and care for them.

It’s raining persimmons (Diospyros virginiana) here, and I know the trees are mocking me. I put so much effort into my apple trees, with careful pruning and repeated spraying of various organic concoctions, and what do those trees offer in return? Little. Sometimes nothing. This is admittedly a bad site for growing apples in terms of late frosts, damp air, and proximity to woods that harbor apple pests.

The persimmons, though, I do practically nothing for them. Yet the fruit comes raining down, more than we can eat.

The American Persimmon Tree

Still, to quote W. F. Fletcher, writing in a USDA Farmers’ Bulletin back in 1915, “The [American] persimmon tree has received more criticism, both adverse and favorable, than almost any known species.” If your mouth has ever been puckered by an unripe American persimmon, you know much of the reason for this adverse criticism. I liken eating an unripe persimmon to having the business end of a vacuum cleaner in your mouth – and the sensation lingers even after you spit out the fruit.

  • Updated on Oct 4, 2023
  • Originally Published on Sep 11, 2013
Tagged with: Fruit Gardening, fruit trees, Lee Reich, New York, Organic gardening, persimmons, Reader Contributions
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