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Gardening in the UK

Sharon fruit/persimmon

21 years ago

A recently received mail order plant brochure had a sharon fruit on offer (about Â£10, I think). Well, not just one fruit - that would be ridiculously overpriced - but the plant. I have no idea how they grow, whether it's a tree or a shrub or something completely different, and the brochure gave no details at all about the plant's needs and requirements, how big it gets, how long before fruiting...

Does anyone here have experience with growing sharon fruit in the UK? I love the taste, have bought them in the supermarket - and they're always imported from Israel, which has a slightly different climate! I wouldn't want to spend a tenner on something that'll wither and die in its first winter...

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Comments (7)

Suiko
21 years ago
They grow very well in N Portugal, which has a climate far more similar to ours than to Israel, but with the important difference that it's almost frost free. I don't think it would have much chance of surviving outside central London, and zero chance of edible fruit!
vetivert8
21 years ago
Chinese Persimmons need a decent summer to set flowering wood,and no late frosts in spring so the flowers don't turn to mush. They also have quite brittle wood which doesn't do well in gales.

If you don't want fruit (ha!) but enjoy good autumn colour on trees, then one of these might please.

Or, if you have the room, an American persimmon would probably be hardier and provide fruit.
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I see that you asked this question five years ago. If you bought the Tanenashi, you are probably enjoying the fruit now. About twenty years ago, I bought a Tanenashi, a Giant Fuyu and a Fuyu. When completely soft the Tanenashi is a very good tasting fruit. The Giant Fuyu is a non-astringent fruit with a mild flavor compared to the Fuyu. The sweet, crunchy, non-astringent Fuyu is the best fruit on the planet. A neighbor has a Tamopan persimmon and it is good if you haven’t tasted a Tanenashi. I also bought a Jiro and a Suraga. The Jiro ripens a few days before the Fuyu and the Suruga ripens a few days after the Fuyu. They taste and crunch about the same. I still prefer the Fuyu. I bought a Hachiya at the super market and it is clearly better tasting than a Tanenashi. I still prefer Fuyu. squirrels get most of my unripe Fuyus. I wanted to try some persimmons that squirrels would not bother until dead ripe. I bought a Saijo and a Giombo. I bought the Saijo because the seller said it was the very best one. Saijo is indeed very good and better than a Tanenashi. But, oh my God, the Giombo was the best tasting fruit I have ever tasted. Better than a Fuyu. Before eating, it must be very soft to avoid astringency. When it is ready to eat, oh my, it is good. The Giombo is soft and juicy and the juice will run down your cheeks and onto your clothing. It is not a good fruit to eat in public. If you need to eat a fruit in front of other people, Fuyu is still the best. Eating alone, Giombo is the best one.
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Hi just a thought- my mum brought some dried wild persimmon berries from pakistan (about the size of a big rasberry and are a common popular snack, similar in taste/texture to dates or figs) i believe that this is the original fruit from which sharon fruits have been cultivated - the berries were full of seeds and some ended up in the garden - she now has a persimmon tree that is about 5ft tall (8years) and numerous smaller seedlings that have been pulled up- the weather does not seem to affect it as we are in the north of England- according to my mum they grow in the areas favoured by apricots walnuts etc mainly in the northern kashmir regions of pakistan and need quite a few years to develop to full maturity
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My Fuyu in Northern Virginia is about 10 years old. It has had years where it produced lots of fruit initially and had a big June fruit drop and it has had years where it did not set a lot of fruit. However, last year, after a particularly harsh winter it produced a lot of fruit and had minimal June fruit drop. Point is that if you keep it appropriately watered, fertilized and it is in a sunny place it will have good and bad years. I believe the harshe winter helped production. Here are pictures of the tree thatproduced the harvest of over 200 persimmons in 2014.
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anyanka
Original Author
21 years ago
Thank you - I thought it would be too good to be true... it seems odd that one of the major mail order plant companies has included this in their catalogue when it's not suited for our climate. They were selling it among the other fruit - not as an ornamental!
Next question: what is an American persimmon? Does the fruit taste similar? I have quite an expensive persimmon habit...
vetivert8
21 years ago
Diospyros virginiana. Said to have cream flowers and sweet edible fruit which is quite small by comparison with D kaki. Hardy to zone 5.

I'm not sure if it is astringent when unripe. Might be - and that's an experience. As bad as a taste of alum.

Some of the D kaki varieties we buy can be eaten like apples and have that crunchy texture. Others we leave until they're like thick apricot jam. Only a few weeks to wait...
(Sorry. I like them, too!)

An aside: some varieties of D kaki can be erratic in production. The species is given to be hardy to zone 8 and the catalogue may be offering a hardy variety. Worth an enquiry?
sunflower2
21 years ago
I THINK THE SHARON FRUIT PLANT IS MORE SUITED TO A GREENHOUSE. IT WOULD NEVER SURVIVE A BRITISH WINTER ANYWAY.
pineresin
21 years ago
It would survive a British winter no problem, and a lot colder too, but it wouldn't have much chance with the average British summer. It needs 3 months of 30Â°C or more to ripen the fruit (remember summer 2003? - think in terms of several months of that, not just one week)

Resin
anyanka
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks again. Won't be buying that one!

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