There are some kaki persimmons that are rated hardy for zone 6 - but whether or not you will be successful in zone 6 Colorado, who knows - sometimes it comes down to more than just temperatures alone in determining what survives. When it gets cold may be more important than how cold it gets - and frequent freeze-thaw cycles may be more damaging than a climate where it gets cold and stays cold.

If you care to try, I'd recommend starting out with Saijo, Great Wall, Sheng, and Hokkaido. They'll be your best bets for winter survival and fruiting. If they work for you, then you might think about trying Tam Kam, Shin-Na-Da, Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro, Tecumseh, etc.

There are also a few D.virginianaXkaki hybrids that might be worth a try - Rosseyanka(Russian Beauty-TM), Keener(disputed ancestry), and Nikita's Gift(TM). NG is a DvXDk hybrid back-crossed to D.kaki. All of these hybrids should be fully zone 6 hardy, with NG being the most tender, as it sustains regular winter injury in zone 5 Terre Haute, IN, while Rosseyanka and Keener are relatively unscathed.

stick with American persimmon or hybrid varieties. I haven't had american persimmons but by the looks of it they look like they taste the same as Japanese kinds. Note that the hybrids are seedless, and if the American ones are to small/seedy, just pass bunches of them through a food mill whenever you want to eat them - it just takes a few seconds.

Also take into account your altitude. How high up are you? Some plants can only grow so high up in altitude because of the thin air.

We're in the Denver/Boulder metro area - at around 5300'. I think another issue may be our inconsistent weather - April can have 80 degree days followed by a foot of snow. So it does cause problems for some early-blooming fruit trees. But thanks for the tips - i'll look into some of those varieties.

Beg to differ- Japanese non-astringent (fuyu, jiro, or izu) or nothing for me. They are rated to zone 6, which is where you're at. These are not tempermental plants. I say the odds are clearly in your favor. Plant potted, not bare root, in May so plant can establish itself before harsh conditions. Potted available year round from ediblelandscaping.cpm and rollingrivernursery.com.

Sorry to revive an old thread, but I am in the Denver area trying to figure out if growing persimmons here is viable or not. I am curious if this experiment worked out.

My backyard is small and contained on four sides. The site will be against a cedar fence as a windbreak and espalier support. The exposure is south and west. I am hoping with this micro-climate, my chances will be improved.

My concern is the Colorado growing season, with late frosts (May, this year) and October snows, the window for fruiting is narrow. I'm sticking with non-astringents and looking at Ichi (late dormancy), Hana Fuyu (large fruit), Wase Fuyu (early ripening), and Izu (early ripening). Any experience with those in harsh conditions would be welcome, and any comments about flavor preferences among the varieties.

The fact that local nurserymen don't even know what a persimmon is and that the local extension office has never heard of persimmons grown in the state are not encouraging, but I really want to try.

I was the one with the original posting, and I'm embarrassed to say that almost 3 years later, I still haven't planted anything. But I am about to order a tree, and I'm wavering between trying to push the zone and plant a Hachiya (which I LOVE) against the south-facing of our neighbor's garage, or just going with a hardier type. I may just risk the Hachiya. If I have any luck with it, I'll let you know

city-farmer:

I'm planting Hachiya in my greenhouse with a 300+ day growing season. That's twice your growing season. One reason for selecting it is very late maturity. I've seen it hang on the tree in CA until January. Seems that one or the other of us is going to be disappointed.

I think you have many cultivars better suited to your climate. I really like Eureka outdoors here with a 180 day growing season. Eureka can be purchased from Womack's Nursery De Leon TX for about $15. My last purchase was very nice trees at that price.

In Colorado? I wish.

If it works for anybody, please let us know. I love persimmons, and if they will grow and ripen in Colorado, I will give them a try.

But, you know, it's worth a try. I'm not even supposed to be able to grow apples, according to the extension office, and I not only get apples, I get apricots and peaches.

Sometimes, I think that zone rating is just somebody's best guess.

If you'd care to try an American, "NC-10" would be my first recommendation. Large, tasty fruit - and it's consistently the earliest-ripening variety I've grown - typically dropping ripe fruits here by Sept 15, but is at least 2 weeks ahead of schedule this year.

Here in the Columbia Basin our temps average out to zone 7 but we have lots of killing freezes after persimmons have leafed out. I spray mine on dangerous nights in April. Works great. And once a decade on the average we get way below zero.

I've got a Tam-Kam, a non-astringent variety, which is an exceptionally beautiful tree. Very graceful branches. It's brillant orange in the years we get Fall color. I keep it small but it would make a beautiful large tree by itself with minimal pruning.

And it thins itself well with fruit drop. No manual thinning required on mine so far.

I tried some freshly dropped Tam Kam fruit a few weeks ago and it was real good! Crunchy, juicy and sweet with some persimmon flavors. Liked it so much I cut a green fruit of about the same size from the tree. It was wooden and tasteless.

>I've got a Tam-Kam, a non-astringent variety, which is an exceptionally >beautiful tree. Very graceful branches. It's brillant orange in the years we get >Fall color.

That's one of the reasons I chose Tam Kam, but the darn thing drops its leaves after a frost, before any color develops! I've never had any dieback here in zone 6, but the leaves can't take the frost (early or late)

Alex

I've been growing Hachiya in zone 6 for the past decade and have had fruit each of the past 7 years. There were a couple of -7 degree nights that I protected the tree, but otherwise it was on its own. The tree is grafted on virginiana rootstock - an incompatability which is reported to be associated with fruit drop, which is indeed a problem I've had with this tree. A neighbor had a seedling tree, which I believe to be a Hachiya seedling based on the fruit's size and shape, growing for 40 years unprotected. Before it died, the tree had produced through root suckers a small grove of fruit bearing trees.

Tam Kam is the most vigorous of the nonastringent persimmons that I've seen with at least 5-6 feet of growth this year on my tree. Still waiting for fruit but wouldn't be surprised if this is the year that the fall colors show before the leaves fall.

Alex, I share your frustration about Fall color. I don't know if my Tam Kam is worse than average because Fall color has been unreliable for all my persimmons. For the past couple of years all of my persimmons dropped their leaves after an October freeze before developing any color. Maybe we will get lucky this year!

Great Wall(D.kaki) and Wabash(D.virginiana) have typically been great for red or red/purple fall color(respectively) here - but I don't have a short growing season or early frosts/freezes - but this year's drought conditions have pretty well eliminated any hopes of persimmon foliage persisting to fall, much less attaining much color.

Hi Lucky! I've really enjoyed your posts over the years. It's been great to see somebody is really into persimmons! It's amazing how many people around here aren't all that interested in persimmons. Everybody, actually.

I picture you living on a mountain farm, sort of a persimmon paradise. Is that about right?

sunghui

Brightest colors on my persimmon varieties this year seen on Great Wall.

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creekweb
Beautiful tree you got there.
Is it outside? and how old is your tree? what's city/zipcode your plant?

I would like to grow some them outside in my backyard but none of the nurseries intown carries it.

thanks,
garden303

Garden303, these Asian persimmon trees will grow and fruit best in zones 6 - 9. There are a number of nurseries that you can order them from and have them shipped to you including Edible Landscaping in Afton, VA and Just Fruits and Exotics in Florida.