Steve, I meant to e=mail you some pictures of my American persimmons growing here in Michigan, but I couldn't figure out how to do it -- not very good with that aspect of the computer. Anyway, yes, they will grow and fruit in partial shade, don't know about deep shade. My one seedling persimmon that was planted many years ago in the shade of a black walnut and a wild black cherry has fruit every year, but the tree is much more "wispy" or "wimpy" than the two just a few dozen feet away that get more sunlight. It is smaller in every respect -- not as tall, not as full, and not as big of a trunk. Meader is the kind of grafted persimmon I have -- great tree, beautiful fruit. I picked a nice crop last fall, very late, around Thanksgiving. Pulped them and froze them for my sister, who makes a persimmon spice bread with them. I only regret that I could harvest about half of the tree, since many of them were too high to reach, and the branches on persimmons are too brittle to pull down on too much. But, I still ended up with probably 20 cups of frozen pulp. I was hoping that the rest of them would fall on their own at some point when I could get them, but we had too much snow to go back there often, and the animals (probably deer) seemed to have eaten them all off of the ground as they fell.

Not enough information Kumquat to give the best answer here - a photo of the tree and fruit and the location of the tree would help. (Does your son live in North Florida too?) A few things to consider: Persimmons normally do have a June drop that can continue into early July, and the fruitlets often discolor prior to falling, though they usually turn brown rather than black. Your son may ask the neighbors whether the tree usually produces edible fruit in previous years. Knowing whether the tree is an Asian or an American persimmon can make a difference in determining what's going on and what to do about it. You say it's a big tree - those over 30 feet tall are usually American persimmons. The leaves of the two species are different and can fairly easily distinguish between them - you can compare the leaves to on-line photos to make the ID. Abnormal fruit drop may be from too much or too little water, excessive nitrogen applications, excessive heat, lack of pollination (in certain varieties)and disease. Leaf discoloration (especially blackening), disfigurement or loss together with fruit drop suggests an infectious process.

If true native do not eat before they are completely ripe. Generally this happens after several frosts. Unlike Japanese persimmons I have no luck being able to eat after fruit leaves the tree. If you want to know what an unripen persimmon will feel like take a very small pinch of alum the kind that is sold in grocery stores.

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.