I tried Prok this season from a friends orchard and I wasn't impressed by the flavor as it lacked over all character and sweetness. However the texture was nice compared to some of the other american persimmons i've tried, as well as the size. It was definitely more firm than others. I have heard from some sources that Prok has some asian in it, but I don't know if this is true. Here is a picture of one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25212487@N04/6224647515/in/photostream I also tried a claypool selection from another friends farm and again, compared to some of the other persimmons I've tried(which I'll explain next), it lacked over all flavor complexity. However it was sweeter than Prok. Here is a picture of that...unfortunately I don't remember the cultivar name, probably because it consisted of a few numbers and was easy to forget. Anyways, it was a claypool selection: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25212487@N04/6271281968/in/photostream My best american persimmon experiences were all at Oikos Tree Crops in southwest, MI where I spent several months examining the american persimmons trees planted there. All of which are seedlings from good selections, i.e. yates, morris burton, etc. Ken Asmus has wonderful seedling planting with over 500 mature trees. There is incredible variation in fruit size, color, texture, flavor, and ripening time. Some don't even ripen in some years. We are working on developing a selection of cultivars from this planting that will be grafted and hopefully available in the nursery trade. These will be some of the northernmost american perisimmon selections, which is great for folks like me in MI where ripening can be a problem. One tree in particular was a seedling of Morris Burton and had AMAZINGLY delicious fruit with very high sugar content and a delectable flavor with butter scotchy notes..by far the sweetest I have ever tried. The flesh on this variety was a rich reddish color...very beautiful. Here is short video of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iofe3u5pruY&list=UUsSu_6ip07ywsY37D35Cm8w&index=10&feature=plcp Out of the seedling population we also found a tree that produces blue skinned fruit. And not just a touch of blue but very blue! Here is a nice picture of it: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4083/5167939059_56e3a070e3_z.jpg If you're in Michigan or a similar climate where ripening can be an issue I would consider planting some seedlings from Oikos Tree Crops if you have the space. Sorry I don't have more info about specific cultivars, will have more to come. Cheers!

re-post - correction on the bottom... Hi, I have a bit of a dilemma relevant to some basic questions regarding American persimmons. I could use some expert advice. I have, on their way from John Brittain of Nollin River Nursery, a 'Morris Burton', 'Early Golden', 'Szukis', and 'Prok' (from starkbros). I have a maximum square portion space of 30' by 30' to dedicate to growing a single American persimmon; (I'm using it in my native plant/native fruit plant yard nature-scape project that I'm going to eventually base a website encouraging native naturescaping and native fruits). As I mentioned previously, I am considering putting all 4 varieties in a single hole, about 5" apart from one another in a box-shape formation, so that they might grow, expanding their trunks until they fuse to form a solid trunk: inosculation/approach grafting. Someone suggested to me that this may cause the trunk to rot and may not cause a true fusion, leaving 4 cores separate. Since I haven't seen too many American persimmons in nature (all of which have been under 20' in height), can you tell me a little about pruning them and so on: 1. What is the advantage to pruning the height since (as long as grown in the open) the lowest branches will still be reachable? 2. In the north (i.e. NJ), generally, how wide do you think that an American persimmon grown in full sun on moist, well-drained soil would reach in 50 years time? I believe 30' wide and 50' tall. 3. If I planted the 4 trees separately spaced at 15' apart, instead of the above approach, could I easily prune them anually to be a life-long width of only 15'? If I did this, would this result in a disproportionately wide trunk and branches (as with some bonsai specimins) and weaken the tree through frustrating its natural growth inclination? I think restrictive pruning practices are determental to the lifespan of trees and shrubs. 3a. If I can prune each to 15' apart, since it will be a relatively small tree, I can probably consolidate and keep just one tree consisting of multiple varieties; although persimmons are not easy to maintain as a multi-graft project, if kept under 20', I don't see how I couldn't label each of the 4-varieties of main limbs and prune each so that no one dominates over the others; I could keep track of variety of each main branch and see to it that all new branches are kept in ballance. If I were to let the tree grow too large, of course, when the tree drops old branches, it would drop the initial set and may be replace by just 1, 2, (or 3) of the original 4. 4. What about this idea... I've never heard of it, but it seems like it could be a GREAT idea? which could apply to all fruit tree multi-grafting - no maintance required. What if you did a graft of a single variety unto a root stock and once that 1st variety forms an extended lead, graft a 2nd above it to continue the single lead, and a 3rd, and 4th, and so on; in this way, as the sapling grows into a tree, the trunk will be formed of a sequence of 4 segments (varieties)? It would be like a linear sequence of 4 pencils, glued tip-to-eraser. Each pencil, i.e. each trunk segment, will put forth buds from the side of the trunk to form the branches that will, of course, be of its self-same variety. No more loosing varieties to competition. If I were to do this, I would graft the single-lead sequence of 4 plus the bottom two at the top, for a total of 6 just in case the lowest portion of the tree has no limbs when the tree is mature/tall. I bet this has been done - I'll try to do a good enough search to find out. Thanks, Steve

The answer -- they can't. Unless something breaks in this pattern, don't expect a good pollination cycle or a lot of fruit to set. Here in the Detroit area, the only thing blooming yet is apricot, with Japanese Plum and Serviceberry showing color but not out. I keep hoping for better weather, but every day is cold, wet, colder, and wetter. Right now, not raining, but only 53 degrees at 2:00 in the afternoon. My poor bees have hardly gotten in any decent flight time. Most days are so cold that only a few are out at any one time. I have given them sugar syrup and pollen substitute patties in the hives just to help make sure they don't starve at this crucial time of the year when they should be bringing in tons of pollen and nectar and building up the population. One of the worst springs I can remember, a handful of decent hours of weather here and there. Our fourth wettest April on record in the Detroit area. Don't know how the numbers will play out for cold for the spring period, but both March and April were way below normal, and May certainly doesn't hold out much promise for even attaining normal temps, at least in the first half of the month.

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