Hi, I have 4 American persimmons - two are fully female (Prok & Morris Burton); the other two are mixed: Szukis (male, producing female flowers) & Early Golden (which I hear produces some male flowers, although I am not certain that its just not parthenocarpic instead of actually really having male flowers with pollen - someone here will likely know). I have no American persimmons growing wild locally. So, the only reliable pollinator for the 3 female trees is the male Szukis. That should ordinarily be fine, except in the case of the Szukis, since I'm not really interested in its fruit, I intend to grow it so that is will grow very tall and thin as it will be planted between two trees. It will have a spread of 10' to itself until it breaks the canopy and towers above the 20-30' tall small trees around it (sweetbay magnolia & shadblow serviceberry). IF this is a bad idea, then I will not transplant the Szukis into this tight spot and I will, instead, leave it in a spot where it has 20' to itself. I just don't want to waste the spot where another fruit tree could grow instead where having limbs closer to the ground is desirable. Thanks, Steve Btw, I am not completely convinced that I need to keep my American persimmons 15' wide x 20' tall for ease of picking. I feel that I should let them grow as tall as they will get (when competing against each other for space and light) and hope that, in such a situation of being planted 15', they don't really spread wider then 20' in less then 5 decades (or else they will drop fruit all over my neighbor's walk-way on the side that is not blocked.) I think that placing suspended mesh nets under the trees during harvest season and pulling on limbs with ropes from the ground to shake loose trees would be good enough for a good harvest for my family and friends (3 trees).

Unless you have males & females it is hopeless. I raise persimmons, pawpaws, and many nut trees. Currently have 16 producing persimmon trees and 40 seedlings. If you join the NY Nut Growers Association-- http://www.nynga.org/ you will run across many who grow persimmons. as always, /* Phil */

Gftg, You can cut a branch and place it in a old one gallon milk jug and make sure you add water to it every couple of days. I would duct taped it to the trunk of the smaller tree. In addition, you can also hand pollinated with a fine art brush to ensure some fruits. You can also freeze some pollens if the trees bloom at a different time. You Can also hope for windy days and let the bees to do their job. Lastly, you can watch YouTube and learn how to bark graft. Collect your male scionwoods in late February and wrapping it with moist paper towel and place in a zip lock bag. Put the bag in the refrig until your trees leafed out some time in May then you can start grafting. Make sure you rub off all the new shoots below your graft union every couple of days until the shoots stop. This is important because you want all the nutrients go to feed the scion. Good luck. Tony

First, esablish that the tree is really not fruiting and not just prematurely losing its fruit. If it really is not fruiting, you would need to establish just what type of tree that you have - whether male or female and then perhaps also whether of the 60 or 90 chromosome race. Sounds tough to figure, but a few clues can lead you to what's likely its identity. If you know that the tree was grafted or you can see signs on the tree that suggest this, then it is most likely a 90 chromosome female. If the blossoms grow in sets of three then it's male; if they are not in groups then it's female. If the leaves are rather large, say greater than 9 inches, then it's more likely 90 chromosome. There are a number of other clues to look for as well. Once you've figured what you have, this is what I'd propose you do: 90 c female - If this tree is not fruiting it probably needs pollination. The best way to provide this is to plant a grafted 90 chromosome male which is available at some nurseries. Cliff England has them. You can also consider grafting a male scion to the tree but the tree may self-prune it off. Varieties like Szukis which sometimes can have male flowers may not be reliable sources of pollen. 90 c male - This tree will not fruit. It can be useful as a source of pollen for most of the named American persimmons that are available at nurseries. So you would need to plant another persimmon tree, preferably a grafted one. Your fruit will have seeds. 60 c female - Again, if not fruiting, probably needs pollination. I don't think you'll find a grafted male, so you would need either to graft a 60c male scion to your tree or buy and plant a few seedlings from a southern nursery (which would most likely be 60c) and in a few years when they bloom pare down to one that is male, having triplet blossoms. 60 c male - I would topwork this tree with one of the 90 c females varieties that doesn't need pollination to fruit.