Persimmons in the Garden

Advice for the Home Gardener from the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County

Client's Request (via Phone):  I'm considering giving my father a Fuyu persimmon tree for Christmas. Could you please give me some guidance on what to look for and/or consider when buying a Persimmon tree for a home garden.
 
MGCC Help Desk Response:  It was nice talking with you this morning. What a nice idea to give your father a Fuyu persimmon tree for Christmas! Persimmons are such beautiful trees.

As promised, here are some links to information about growing fruit trees, from planting them to pruning and general care. The first is a publication about planting and care of young fruit trees. It includes good directions for planting a bare-root tree, initial pruning and sunburn protection: http://ceyolo.ucdavis.edu/files/53454.pdf. It should be noted, that while a bare root tree is probably the most economical fruit tree to buy this time of year, retail nurseries are carrying fewer bare root trees over the last few years. This next link is an article from the Sonoma County Master Gardeners specifically about planting bare-root trees:http://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Plant_of_the_Month/Bare_Root_Fruit_Trees/. Most nurseries now carry most of their fruit trees in containers and that is fine and will allow you more flexibility on when to plant. You should also get advice on initial pruning from an experienced nursery person when and where you buy the tree.
 
Persimmons are great trees for our backyard orchards. They are mostly disease- and pest-free trees and give good fall color. At the nursery, you might find two different Fuyu persimmons: Fuyu and Giant Fuyu. They are quite similar, but the Giant Fuyu fruit is larger and a bit sweeter, according to the California Rare Fruit Growers. (CRFG) Despite the name, the Giant Fuyu tree won't grow quite as large as the Fuyu, possibly making this a better choice for a home garden. See more information about persimmons from the CRFG: https://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html. CRFG is also a great source for information on growing “rare” fruit in our gardens.

Please let us know if you have any more questions.
 
Happy holidays!

Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)

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Note: MGCC's Help Desk will be closed Dec 19^th, 2016 through Jan 2, 2017. However, the  UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is usually available year-round to answer your gardening questions.  Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA  94523. We can also be reached via telephone:  (925) 646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog  (//ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/).