North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mark Lee <mark.lee.phd@gmail.com>]

Matt,
I had a sample of this fruit a few years ago when I found the tree in
the local arboretum. The tree was gone the last time I looked for it.
The fruit was soft, brown and sweet, like a fresh date. I see how it
got it's name. I had forgotten that I had found this fruit, and I know
I kept the seed to grow. Thinking back, I am pretty sure now that my
second seedling came from that batch of seeds. The tree didn't change
sex.

Here is some information I grabbed off the internet:
The date plum is a close relative to the persimon. However, the date
plum is a smaller fruit, as it is about 0.75 in (2 cm) wide. It is a
globose yellow fruit that turns purple-brown when fully ripe. Like the
persimon, the date plum looses its astringency when fully ripe. The
flesh is then very soft and rich in flavour.

-Mark Lee, Seattle

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 12:33 PM, Matt Demmon <mdemmon@gmail.com> wrote:
> How did they taste?
>
> -matt
> z5 se MI
>
> On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 3:03 PM,  <bassgarden@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am not sure if it's possible for the tree to change its sex, but there 
>> are many persimmon varieties that have both male and female flowers.
>> I have tried a couple varieties of D. Lotus. One is at the Brooklyn 
>> botanical gardens that bears elongated fruit and turn dark when ripe. It 
>> is totally seedless with the absence of a male. The other is a seedling of 
>> a wild Korean persimmon. The tree produces heavy crop of small round fruit 
>> that is full with seeds.
>> I usually graft persimmon as soon as the rootstock starts breaking 
>> dormancy. Many methods will work for grafting but it has to be done at the 
>> right time. Make sure to select a shoot that is growing straight up rather 
>> than a side branch. Since persimmons often prunes its side branches.
>>
>> Bass Samaan
>> Zone 6, Pa
>> Bass
>> www.treesofjoy.com
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Mark Lee <mark.lee.phd@gmail.com>
>> Sender: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
>> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 11:54:16
>> To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio<nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Reply-To: nafex mailing list at ibiblio <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>> Subject: [nafex] Diospyros lotus
>>
>> Over 20 years ago I grew a Diospyros lotus tree from seed. This is a
>> persimmon species often used for rootstock for the more common
>> persimmon species, like Diospyros kaki. D. lotus is also known as date
>> lote. Like other Diospyros species, date lote trees are either male or
>> female. My seedling turned out to be male. I have a second date lote
>> tree that I planted 7 years ago. I can't remember where that tree came
>> from. I have lost track. I was thinking that this second tree was just
>> a clone of the first one, from a sprout that sprang up near the base
>> of the first one. To my surprise, I found yesterday that the second
>> tree has female flowers. The male tree is growing in the shade, the
>> female is in the sun. Could it be that the clone changed from male to
>> female?
>>
>> Another question: How can I graft on the persimmon? Every attempt I
>> have made to graft date lote end up dying. I want to get the two trees
>> near each other so I can get fruit in my lifetime. Maybe I should hand
>> pollinate.
>>
>> -Mark Lee, Seattle
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