Is This a Persimmon Tree?

[Runner]

Could I please get some assistance in identifying this tree? I think it is a persimmon, but the fruit is only 3/4 to one inch in diameter, whereas, I have read that persimmons are bigger than that.

The picture was taken at the end of October and I am located in Missouri. The fruit is kind of slimy and orange inside and has large brown seeds.

Also, whatever this is, is it edible?

Thanks in advance for the info.

 

[Western]

Good morning runner,

That sure looks like a persimmon, Have you tasted one?

We used to eat wild ones all the time when I was a kid, the wild ones were always sort of small compared to the ones in the stores.

 

[ToadHill]

I believe it is a Persimmon. The picture makes it look like the tree is badly in need of a pruning. When the tree uses all it's energy producing branches and leaves, the fruit gets only what is left.

Give the tree a good pruning, start with any dead wood, next all branches that are growing stright up (Watersprouts), then any crossing branches. Never remove more than 25-30% of the tree any year. (don't count the dead wood.) Now is the time to prune and you'll much larger fruit this fall.

 

[mjarrels]

Yep... wait until you have a couple heavy frost before eating!

mark

 

[Runner]

Thanks for the responses.

No, haven't tried the fruit yet, afraid I'd keel over dead or something if it wasn't edible.

Thanks for the pruning tip. Now that I know this is acutally a fruit tree I'll give it a try. I have two of these on the property and they both seem to be growing wild in the "south 40".

I also have some apple trees on the property that were neglected, and was amazed at the difference a good pruning made. When I say difference, I mean I had no apples the first year and two trees FULL of apples the second year.

Thanks again for the assist.

 

[Bird]

Yep... wait until you have a couple heavy frost before eating!

mark

Mark, everyone needs to eat a slightly green persimmon sometime.

 

[mjarrels]

Yes sir Bird... its something you will never forget!

mark

 

[mbohuntr]

Oh yeahhhhh , like an alum sandwich soaked in lemon.

 

[Western]

Mark, everyone needs to eat a slightly green persimmon sometime.

So true Bird, been there done that!

I thought only politicians ate un-ripe persimmons anymore

 

[tallyho8]

I have a persimmon tree exactly like that one in my front yard. I was told that it was mainly ornamental and that the fruit was inedible. I had to try it anyway. It is mostly seed and I would rather use turpentine for mouthwash than eat another one.

Our squirrels eat every pear off our pear tree next to it but they won't even eat these persimmons. Even the possums don't eat them.

And my neighbor just cut down a persimmon tree in his front yard that always had large, very flavorful persimmons. He said he thought it was dead. They do look dead during winter but start blooming back to life about this time of year in our area.

 

[tanglefoot]

It seems to depend on the tree...some of them on my place are sweet and some are still sour even after a frost. Possums and coyotes love the sweet ones. I had to cut down some big ones out of a fence line two years ago. My son asked for some of the wood for smoking meat. He said it had good flavor.
Butch

 

[ragkar]

I use to work on a big navy depot that had usurped many farms and orchards. One of the fun things was to go out after lunch and try to find edible persimmons. You learned very quickly that if the fruit looked good and ready using apple choosing criteria, then it wasn't edible. If the skin was cracked and it looked like it was going to go rotten, then it was ready to be eaten
By the way, Mitchell Indiana bills itself as the persimmon capitol of the world.

 

[JeremyL]

I believe that the smaller persimmons are the American ones. The large ones in the store are Chinese persimmons.

We have a wild (American) persimmon tree. My industrious duaghter collected the fallen ripe fruit in the Fall, processed them to get out the seeds and skin, and froze the pulp. I make a persimmon bread (cake really) that is a big hit with my family. Want the recipe?

 

[Bird]

I believe that the smaller persimmons are the American ones. The large ones in the store are Chinese persimmons.

We have a wild (American) persimmon tree. My industrious duaghter collected the fallen ripe fruit in the Fall, processed them to get out the seeds and skin, and froze the pulp. I make a persimmon bread (cake really) that is a big hit with my family. Want the recipe?

Jeremy, when I was growing up, my grandparents had a couple of persimmon trees at the east end of their garden, so I've eaten lots of small persimmons. But in 1951, my Dad bought a 10 acre place at Healdton, OK, from the widow of a man who had worked to build a nice fruit farm, but had died many years earlier and the widow had let the place run down pretty bad. There was a single tree that produced a persimmon big as an apple. We'd never seen such a thing, and someone told us it was a Japanese seedless persimmon. Dad was real proud of that tree since it was quite a novelty at the time. But when he left my 6 and 7 year old brothers to watch a brush fire and they got to playing and didn't notice when it became a grass fire and got that tree, I thought he might kill them.

I've never seen any of those big persimmons since, until this year when I saw some in the produce section at Walmart. I haven't bought any and didn't notice where they came from, but I've never known of anyone using persimmons for anything other than eating the ripe fruit, although I've seen some recipes; just never knew anyone who had tried any of them.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

looks like it to me.....

my property had hundreds of them aout 7't tall until i cut down all but about 30 of them.......the ole timers that helped me said possums like 'em......i dunno.....and the one older fellar said that he had only seen a couple persimmon trees in his lifetime and couldn't belive how many was on my property....he tried one and said it wasn't bad but wasn't too good either.....i closed on my property in late fall, so most had fallen off and the remaining ones looked old to me......

i think i saw a persimmon jelly recipe in a country living book i have......

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Could I please get some assistance in identifying this tree? I think it is a persimmon, but the fruit is only 3/4 to one inch in diameter

That's a persimmon.

I have several trees on my hunting property and the deer love them.

You really need to eat one before the frost

I also have hawthorns on my hunting property and they look a little like a persimmon....but persimmon have a more orange color.

Here is 2 pictures of persimmons.

The last picture is a hawthorn.