Hello everyone: I haven’t logged in for a long time, but I thought folks would be interested in my date-plum tree. It was grown as a stem cutting, taken from the rootstock of my “Maru” persimmon. I think I tried to root about 20 shoots and only one took. It grew quickly and finally flowered and set fruit, the first of which ripened today (5 Nov 23). It is soft and tastes like a dried persimmon or yes, a date. No astringency.
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I’ve wanted to try them. Some say they taste like dates while others say they are trash. Doesn’t look like they have any seeds. Do you put them in the keeper catagory?
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Thank you for the close-up photos! I was already about 90% certain that the mislabeled Diospyros texana seeds I grew a couple years ago were lotus, but now I’m basically positive. The leaf and stem habit are identical. Here’s a photo I posted of mine:
I wonder how many years from seed is normal for them to start flowering?
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Yes a keeper! A very tiny snack for sure, but the flavor is great if you like dried persimmon flavor.
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I have never grown a persimmon from seed, but I imagine that the juvenile stage is fairly long.
Can you tell us your methodology? Dormant or green cuttings?
This is the first time I’ve heard of anyone being successful with persimmon cuttings. Very cool.
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I suspect the fact they were shoots from a rootstock is the only reason they could root. I’ve never heard of anyone succeeding with normal branch cuttings, either.
Here’s the current size of my tree, I suspect it will indeed be many years yet before it flowers.
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Wondering what all pollinates with them. For sure would not want any seeds in that little fruit.
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I’ve succeeded in taking root cuttings and a shoot sometimes develops from that! Often multiple shoots.
But never with shoot cuttings.
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Pretty sure these are male and female trees. Not sure how it works as I was reading that males produce fruit too. Maybe someone can break that down for us. And what other relatives they pollinate with.
They were dormant watersprouts from the rootstock, 16 - 18 inches long. I poked them into regular potting soil in a 3 gallon pot, watered, and left them for weeks until I saw signs of growth.
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Mine was another foot or two taller than yours when it flowered. Of course it was from a rootstock, not seed.
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I never thought I would get fruit because I had one tree and I read they were male or female. When they flowered, the tree had all bisexual flowers.
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Was reading about it on-line, but it started getting confusing. The females have male and female flowers, but I think the males were the same and both produce fruit. Said that the male fruit was inferior to the female fruit. I’m thinking you have a female.
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Going to try and get some fresh texana seeds this year, if you are interested
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I don’t need any more texana seeds, I actually have a bunch of year-old texana seedlings if you want me to try to send a couple bareroot this winter. I planted a handful in the ground but mostly they are still in 1 gal pots, barely a few inches tall. But they look like scraggly little things that probably would be fine getting wrapped in a damp bit of newspaper or such for shipping.
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I imagine texana grows at an, erm, relaxed pace in Seattle.
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