Steve,
You write that only a few of the pictures you found online were satisfactory, but you don't outline what "satisfactory" means for you. If you tell us what aspect (height? m/f blossoms?) interests you, and how you're using it, someone might be more likely to respond.

I have some very tall persimmons in my woods, but being surrounded by the other trees make them hard to photograph. I have shorter ones that I could take pictures of the blossoms, but of course now is the wrong season.

Steve,
Meader is not self-fertile; however, it is a member of the Early Golden/Garretson family, members of which have a genetic propensity for occasionally having a branch here and there that produces male flowers which can fertilize the female flowers on the rest of the tree - which will result in seeded fruits.
Meader will often set seedless fruits in the PNW, but that's a climatic fluke - in the east, you'll either get overproduction of seeded fruit(translating into small fruit size) or no fruit production at all if there is no 90-chromosome persimmon pollen around to fertilize the female flowers on your tree. If there are no native 90-chromosome male persimmons in your area, I'd advise planting one - or even better yet, one of the polygamodioecious(bisexual male) selections, such as Szukis or Claypool F-100.

Like gene, I also have some deep-woods persimmons on the farm here that are probably 60 ft tall - and 40+ ft to the first remaining branch; but open-grown persimmons are more likely to take on a spreading orchard-tree type of growth habit, not unlike a standard apple tree.

I'm not tech-savvy enough to post photos here, but if you'll send me an email, I've got some photos of heavy-bearing open-grown persimmon trees, and some close-ups of the flowers that I can send as email attachments.

Gene & Lucky, thanks for responding.

Wow, this has me concerned - I bought the tree from ediblelandscaping and it says "self-fertile" and yet, consistent with what you are saying, I've read else where that the 'Meader' selections are not always reliably self-fertile.

This is my situation, if you could come up with a solution:
I exclusively want to plant native trees - so, it can only be a Common American Persimmon (Diospyrus virginiana) and I believe that 'Meaders' may grow a little smaller then most American Persimmons.

1. So, it has to be an American Persimmon. What if I buy another 'Meader' - unforuntately, I won't know if I have a male and am buying another male, or vice versa. All I'd be doing is increasing my chances that atleast one of the now two Persimmon trees fullfill their 'self-fertile' expectancy.

2. The reason I want photos is because I'm hoping that, grown in the open, this tree will never really get wider then 30' at the most (NJ, zone 6/7; clay/black dirt soil).

I'm really hoping that I can work this out - it would be a shame if I grow this single tree and get hardly any fruit.

Thanks, guys.

Steve

Steve,
Meader is a female selection; however, being a member of the Early Golden family, there is the possibility of it sprouting a limb here and there which may bear male(staminate) or perfect(both pistil & stamens present) flowers.
But, my understanding is that these male branches occur only sporadically and not in sufficient profusion to effectively result in setting a full crop of fruit.
Planting another grafted Meader would gain you nothing in the arena of fruit production if there are no male trees around to produce pollen; another Meader is just another female tree.
While Meader is one of the more readily available named American persimmon varieties in the nursery trade, in the eastern US, its fruit is usually inferior to those of many of the other named selections, including its parent, Early Golden.
I'd recommend planting a 'bisexual'(polygamodioecious) male selection, like Szukis or Claypool F-100, or a pure male, like Slate, Thor, Tatum, etc.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, so far as your persimmon having a canopy spread of more than 30 ft - at least, not in your lifetime. My orchard persimmons are planted at 20 ft spacings, and I'm not worried about canopies crowding for quite some time.

Thanks, Lucky.

Then my solution is to purchase a male American Persimmon; I found a number of sources online.

But you note that 'Early Golden' is superior to 'Meader' - I'm going to post another thread in the forum asking for insight into comparing the two. Can you check out the post that I'm about to enter in and reply there as to why you feel that 'Early Golden' is better? It seems that the fruit is larger; however, I wonder if the flavor is better or the size of the tree is larger then 'Meader'.

Thanks,
Steve

Who sells F100? I'm not sure I've ever noticed it for sale, though I've read of the selection in several places.

Hidden Springs Nursery sells grafted male Persimmons.

Hidden Springs Nursery

They're 10 bucks, which is super reasonable. You might be able to plant it alongside the female to conserve space and keep the trees small, ala "Backyard Orchard Culture" -- see:

Backard Orchard Culture

Is there any chance a male might be growing someplace nearby?

In a mature American Persimmon (say about 25 x 35), how many feet from the ground do the branches begin?

I found pics online that show a very much Oak Tree-like growth behavior with at least 6' before the first limb.

However, I've seen more scrubbier forms where the lower branches nearly rest on the ground.

In an open field where maybe just one side get's shadowed by an adjacent tree, how many feet from the ground should the first limb be about?

Thanks,
Steve

The sex of the american persimmon cannot be determing until it starts to mature. You mormally need to plant 3 trees. Some nurseries claim their trees are about 50-50.

Can someone please check out this link. According to what I see in the photo, as long as I get good southern exposure and adequate exposure from either the west or east, I may be able plant persimmon trees just 4 feet apart and be able to shake lower limbs for fruit, saving a lot of space. Persimmons growing in the woods grow tall and have their lowest limbs far away from ground level. Yet, I bet if the only shade they get are mutual competition with one another but not from around, they will not drop their lowest limbs.

Check out this photo... thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Persimmons In a Field