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!

Tbe native range of the paw paw is roughly from the north shore of Long Island Sound through NY, norther NJ, Northern PA, extreme S. Ontario along the shore of Lake Erie, S. Michigan, N. Illinois to Nebraska, south to Texas and all points south and east of those areas. Very common in the lower south. There are actually a couple of rare species in the deep south and Florida that don't grow up north here. Um, in northern parts of the range, they tend to occur in localized colonies that are widely seperated. Here in Michigan, there are pockets of them in various counties, but they can go distances of 40 or 50 miles at least between populations. That is one reason it is speculated that they didn't grow here naturally, but may have been planted by native Americans before Columbus.

Cliff thought his Shin had completely snapped below the graft union because the fruits he was getting from his snow damaged mother tree were astringent. After consulting with me, he decided to change his idea about Shin being non-astringent. Really, if he was getting fruit from the rootstock what are the odds they'd even be edible? What I had was extremely precocious which should be a pretty good indicator of variety. Why are you debating about the shape? To me they look more like Fuyu than the astringent varieties in stores. Maybe I just have no eye for shapes. Let's move on.

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.