Yates is one of a number of cultivars of American persimmon that appear to fruit parthenocarpically. I say "appear" because even without a known nearby male tree, it's hard to be sure that blossoms are not being pollinated by wild persimmons in nearby forest or by undetected staminate flowers that sometimes appear on female trees of some varieties. Bagging the blossoms would clarify this issue, but even without that, observations I have made suggest that Yates will fruit without pollination. The Yates fruit grown without known pollen sources seldom had more than one or two seeds; this increased to six or more when a male tree was introduced. Also some cultivars in the same location would not fruit at all without a male tree despite heavy blossoming. This is not to say that Yates should be grown without a resident male tree. Pollination will increase the size of the fruit and the yield of the tree. So it depends what you want. But the wild N.C. seedlings probably will be of the 60 chromosome race and will not provide genetically compatible pollen for the 90 chromosome Yates. If you decide to provide pollen for your Yates, you'd probably be best off adding a grafted 90 chromosome male or a Szukis persimmon, which will flower much sooner than would a male 90 chromosome seedling. I would not find it difficult to divide all the American persimmon trees that I've seen into two groups: those with smaller, light green leaves and those with larger, somewhat glossy leaves. The former are typical of wild trees I've seen growing in southern and eastern states and the latter of named varieties and seedlings of those varieties, mostly with origins in the midwest. So it's tempting to assume that these groups correspond to the two different races of persimmons, and while that probably is mostly accurate, I wouldn't necessarily jump to that conclusion.

I don't have a scientific answer, but I do remember what my Grandma used to tell me about persimmons... she said that they won't be ready to eat till after the first one ot two frosts. Till then they can be real bitter.

Hi Jesse, per a visitor to my place this week, the Thompson Park trees don't appear to have any fruit remaining. There are 3 public groves you might try instead: 1) in Cranbury, NJ near 13-1 Maplewood Ave. (grove on way into park to east); 2) Rte. 130/Horizon Center Blvd. Hamilton Twp., off the jughandle at approx. 40.198481, -74.641449 ; and 3) Allentown, Heritage Park on Indian Run off Robbinsville Allentown Rd. at approx. 40.180782, -74.591362 . Or visit me in Hamilton, NJ; call for directions and schedule a visit 609.731.3882. There are other groves and trees here and there; groves require light and genetic diversity to enable fruit set.

Galveston County Master Gardeners is having a big fruit tree sale next Saturday Feb 7. That is where I always get my fruit trees. They have several types of persimmon trees. The trees they sale are for our area. You need to be careful when you buy from a nursery. You may end up with a tree that doesn't produce in this area. Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit Tree Sale