How to Grow a Fuyu Persimmon

Sun

Full sun produces the heaviest crop and the sweetest fruit. Six to eight hours of direct sun is the minimum for reliable fruiting. Less than six hours produces fewer fruit and a less sweet flavor, even in a healthy tree.

Drainage

Persimmon roots rot quickly in wet feet. Dig a one-foot test hole and fill it with water. If it drains within a few hours, the spot is fine. If water sits overnight, build a raised mound 6 to 12 inches above grade and plant on top of it.

Soil

Deep loamy soil that holds moisture without staying soggy is the goal. Fuyu Persimmon tolerates a wide range of soils but produces best in soil with plenty of organic matter. Work a few inches of compost into the planting area before you set the tree in.

Space

Give the tree at least 15 to 20 feet of clear space in every direction. Crowded trees produce fewer fruit and get powdery mildew faster. Plant where ripe fruit dropping in fall will not stain a patio or driveway, since fallen fruit is messy.

Watering

Water deeply once a week through the first two growing seasons to help the tree establish, soaking the root zone rather than splashing the leaves. Drip irrigation or a soaker hose at the base works best.

From year three onward, Fuyu Persimmon is fairly drought-tolerant and gets by on rainfall in most years. A deep weekly soak through extended summer dry spells, especially while fruit is sizing in late summer, helps the crop fill out and keeps the tree from dropping fruit early.

Feeding

Feed lightly. Heavy nitrogen pushes leafy growth at the expense of fruit and can cause fruit drop. Scatter a half pound of balanced slow-release fertilizer around the drip line in early spring as buds break, and water it in.

If the leaves stay pale or growth is sparse by midsummer, a second light feeding in early summer helps. Otherwise skip it. A few inches of compost spread around the drip line every couple of years is usually enough.

Years 1 to 3: build the framework

Pick three to five well-spaced main branches coming off the trunk at wide angles, with the lowest at about 3 feet off the ground. Cut everything else off at the trunk. Head the chosen branches back by a third each dormant winter to encourage strong side branching.

Year 4 and beyond: maintenance pruning

Each dormant winter, remove any dead, broken, or crossing branches. Thin out crowded interior growth so light reaches the center of the canopy. Take off any vertical water sprouts that shoot straight up from the main branches.

Keep cuts modest. A tree pruned hard one year produces a flush of leafy regrowth and little fruit the next. Fuyu Persimmon does best with a gentle annual cleanup, never a heavy rejuvenation cut.

Thinning fruit

In a heavy fruit year, thin to one fruit per cluster in early summer when the fruits reach marble size. Thinned trees produce larger, sweeter persimmons and avoid the alternate-bearing pattern where a heavy year is followed by a year of almost no fruit.

When it is ready

Pick when the skin turns deep orange and the fruit still feels firm. In most climates the harvest window runs from late October through November, often after the leaves have dropped from the tree. The bare branches hung with orange fruit are a classic fall image.

Fuyu fruit will continue to ripen off the tree, so picking firm and orange is fine. A fruit that feels rock-hard and is still pale orange needs another week on the tree. A fruit that already feels soft is overripe but still edible.

Picking and storing

Clip the fruit with pruners, leaving the calyx (the four-pointed cap) attached to the fruit. Tearing the fruit off by hand often pulls the skin and shortens shelf life. Handle gently, since persimmons bruise easily.

Firm Fuyu fruit holds at room temperature for one to two weeks and in the refrigerator for three to four weeks. The first frost does not hurt the fruit and often improves the flavor.

How to eat it

Wash the fruit, cut around the calyx, and eat the flesh straight, skin and all, like an apple. Slice into salads, dice into salsas, or dry slices in a dehydrator for snacks. The flavor is sweet and mild with notes of honey and cinnamon.

Fruit dropping before ripe

Young trees commonly drop most of their fruit in the first couple of years as the tree decides how much it can support, which is normal. In an established tree, heavy fruit drop usually means uneven watering or overfeeding with nitrogen. Water deeply and consistently through summer and cut back on fertilizer.

Astringent or mouth-puckering fruit

Means the fruit was picked too early before the orange color fully developed. Let unripe picked fruit sit at room temperature for another week to soften slightly and lose the astringency. On the tree, wait until the color is uniformly deep orange before picking next time.

No fruit on a mature tree

Most often a young tree that has not yet reached fruiting age, which takes three to four years for Fuyu Persimmon. In an established tree, heavy nitrogen feeding, heavy pruning, or late spring frost killing the flowers is usually the cause. Cut back on feeding and avoid heavy pruning to fix it.

Black spots on leaves

Persimmon leaf spot, a fungal disease that shows up in humid summers. Rake up and discard fallen leaves to break the disease cycle, since the fungus overwinters on dropped leaves. Improve airflow by thinning the canopy lightly during dormant pruning. Severe outbreaks respond to a copper-based fungicide applied at bud break.

Sticky leaves and ants on the trunk

Mealybugs or scale insects feeding on the bark and excreting a sugary residue, which then grows black sooty mold and attracts ants. Wipe scales off with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol or spray with horticultural oil in late winter while the tree is dormant. The ants stop coming once the insects are gone.

Birds and squirrels stealing fruit

Fuyu Persimmon ripens late, when other fall food is running out, so birds and squirrels find it fast. Drape bird netting over small trees as fruit colors up. For large trees, plan on losing some fruit and pick a little early when the color first turns.

Cracked or split fruit

Usually caused by heavy rain after a dry spell, which causes the fruit to take up water and split the skin. Mulch the root zone two to three inches deep to even out soil moisture and water deeply during dry spells to prevent the swing. Cracked fruit is still edible but stores poorly, so eat first.

Yellow leaves in midsummer

Often nutrient deficiency on alkaline soil or in compacted clay. Apply a balanced fertilizer and improve drainage with compost worked into the surface around the drip line. Yellow leaves with green veins specifically indicate iron deficiency, which a chelated iron foliar spray corrects quickly.

Branches breaking under heavy fruit load

Persimmon wood is brittle and a heavy fruit year can snap limbs. Thin fruit to one per cluster in early summer to lighten the load. Prop heavy fruiting branches with forked stakes if the tree is too small to thin away enough.