What’s going on Growers it’s James Prigioni coming   To you live from Jersey today me
and tuck are going to share with   You how to grow a persimmon tree and what
everyone should be growing on let’s go Persimmons are truly an amazing fruit and as
long as you live in zones 4 to 11 you can grow   Them look how absolutely stacked this tree is with
fruit right here is why everyone should be growing   A persimmon tree if you live in a cool climate
zones about four to nine then you could grow   The astringent American persimmon this persimmon
you eat when it gets really soft like jelly and   I’m telling you it tastes sweeter than even honey
or if you live in a warm climate zones about 7 to   11 then you could grow the Asian persimmon this
one is not astringent and you can eat the fruit   When it’s hard like an apple if you want you could
do what I did and go for The Best of Both Worlds   And go with the hybrid persimmon this one right
here is the Nikita’s gift a self-fertile hybrid   Persimmon that gets fruit large like the Asian
persimmon does but you eat it when it’s soft like   The American persimmon if you don’t know what
astringent means it’s a chemical in fruit that   Gives you that dry mouth feeling caused by the
tannins in the fruit so the American persimmon   Has high levels of tannins and these break down
as the fruit ripens that’s why you have to wait   For the fruit to get soft before you actually
eat it or it’s not going to taste good and it’s   Going to give you that dry mouth feeling on the
other hand Asian Persimmons have a low level of   Tannins that’s why you can eat them when they’re
still hard and they taste delicious which kind of   Persimmon Tree you grow is going to be dependent
upon your climate but whether or not you grow in   Asian persimmon or an American persimmon tree
you’re still going to have a fantastic tree for   A number of reasons first off persimmon trees
are low maintenance and easy trees to grow also   If you live in a cool climate like me you won’t
have to worry about an early Frost killing your   Flowers because the persimmon tree flowers very
late in the spring this is the last tree to bloom   In my whole garden also persimmon trees can
tolerate a wide range of soils they do best   In a fertile soil that drains well like most
fruit trees but they can manage in poor soil   Persimmon trees don’t need much fertilizer either
a thick organic mulch will conserve water and it   Will also break down and provide nutrition
for the tree these wood chips work great   I haven’t fertilized this tree since I put it in
the ground about five or six years ago and look   How much fruit it’s still putting out Tuck’s out
here with us like always the loyal pup he’s just   Wandering around doesn’t have a lot to do because
we’re not digging up any carrots or eating any   Baskets but still this guy’s the guardian of the
garden always paying attention always watching our   Backs so we love him out here I also wanted to
mention that we still are selling the merch the   Fall merch get get a nice hoodie so you can keep
warm as the weather gets cold we got some beanies   And stuff too so check it out at jamesprigioni.com
when it comes to pruning Persimmons it’s easy

Because the tree only needs a light pruning
to encourage New Growth that’s where the fruit   Will be but if you want you can also prune the
tree back a little harder if you want to keep it   Smaller the best time to prune your persimmon tree
is going to be when they’re dormant especially for   The hybrid and the American persimmons and what we
want is to grow this to a central leader form so   You’ll notice one central leader growing up the
whole tree another important thing when you’re   Growing persimmon trees and most fruit trees is to
encourage wide Branch angles so we want the angle   Of this Branch from the central leader to be at
least 60 degrees so a wide branching angle like   This makes for strong branches that can hold a lot
of fruit what we don’t want is branches with sharp   Branch angles so if you have a branch with a sharp
angle like this then it’s going to be much weaker   And it’s liable to break if you get crazy amounts
of fruits like this so when the tree is Young it’s   Important to train the tree to wide Branch
angles so it can hold crazy amounts of fruit   It’s important to note that Persimmons flower and
produce fruit on current season’s growth so this   Right here was the current season’s growth and
this is where the persimmon is so what you want to   Do is periodically take out some of your branches
so that new ones can grow and also what you want   To do is head back some of your branches so you
want to cut some of your branches back like this   What this will do is will it will encourage
more lateral growth and then you’ll get more   Fruit just as pruning is important thinning
your trees is also super necessary after your   Trees have flowered and fruited so you can see
how much fruit this tree has on it and I have   Already thinned this thing if I didn’t thin this
tree there would be a few adverse effects if I   Allowed this tree to produce all the fruit that it
originally had on it what could have happened is   It could have broken some of the branches because
of just the sheer number of fruit and the weight   That’s why having wide Branch angles is important
another thing is if I didn’t thin this tree the   Fruit would have been even smaller than it is on
here so what we want to do is thin the fruit so   We have some fruit that gets really big instead
of having just a really lot of fruit that stays   Small and the worst thing that could happen is if
you don’t thin your trees is your trees can skip   A year of production so if we thin our trees
out then and they don’t over produce then the   Tree should produce fruit every single year but
if we allow all the fruit to stay on it and it   Um it gets to a level of overproduction and
stresses the tree out a lot then it’ll skip a   Year of production so if we want to get fruit
every year thinning is very important if you   Have a young tree it may drop some of its fruit
but if you have an older more established tree   And it’s dropping the fruit before it ripens then
it’s a good sign that your tree is over producing   And you need to thin more even though I did thin
this tree I should have thinned it more than I   Did because the fruit is smaller than it usually
is I’d say I probably could have thinned it about   A third of what was left here that would have
really reduced the stress in the tree but it’s

Hard to take away the fruit sometimes and cut it
out even though it’s the right thing to do one   Of the best things about persimmon trees is that
they’re relatively Pest and disease free one issue   If you live in the south is persimmon Wilt but
if you want to avoid that what you should do is   Just plant resistant varieties so if you want to
compare something like a persimmon tree compared   To growing an apple tree growing a persimmon tree
is like a walk in the park but you don’t have   To sacrifice flavor for ease not to mention how
beautiful these trees are especially in the fall   When the chlorophyll starts to drop out of the
leaves they get this like yellow orangish color   It almost looks like the tree is on fire it’s just
absolutely breathtaking to see in real life one of   My favorite things about Persimmons is the fruit
ripens and is ready to eat when everything else   In the garden is finished all the other fruit so
when the season feels like it’s almost over the   Persimmon tree comes through with its impressive
array of production and Beauty there’s a reason   I stuck it in the front corner of my food Forest
so at this time of year every time I look out the   Window and every time I come out the back door I
get reminded that every season has its gifts for   The astringent persimmon like this the Nikita’s
gift it’ll start to ripen when the frosts come   So the exposure to cold causes cell damage
this releases ethylene this ethylene helps   To ripen that persimmon so now that is nice
and ripe we’re going to crack into it and uh   See how it actually tastes let’s open this baby
up another way to ripen these Persimmons is to   Actually put them in a bag I’ll show you later
oh my gosh look at that thing it’s like jelly   Absolutely stunning to see but let’s
actually get a taste in see how good it is   You got to grow fruit at home
to get this kind of Persimmon Oh my gosh So sweet and then like I say sweeter than honey
almost has like a fruity like citrusy almost kind   Of flavor but just I mean it’s hard to say with
words it literally just tastes like a like I would   Think a persimmon honey would taste so good if
you don’t want to wait for the frost a good way   To ripen the fruit on your own is the same way you
ripen green tomatoes so you can take a container   Or a brown bag take your Persimmons put them
in a bag and then put an apple in that bag the   Ethylene gas given off by the Apple will help to
ripen those Persimmons this way you could extend   Your Harvest over a bigger period of time if you
have you know a lot of fruit just like this one   You don’t want to come in all at once so you could
ripen them earlier the same way you do your green   Tomatoes overall in my opinion persimmon trees are
the kind of tree that everyone should have in the   Ground you only need one if it’s self-fertile and
maybe two if you need one to pollinate the other   Not only will they provide you with beauty but
they’ll provide you with consistent delicious   Harvest late in the season not to mention
how easy they are to grow that’s today’s   Video girls thanks for watching I hope
you enjoyed it I hope you got something

Out of it I hope me and Tuck encourage you
to get a persimmon tree in the ground again   It grows in so many different regions
it’s such a fun tree to grow and it’s a   It’s amazing to have that fruit late in the
season it’s just awesome you’ll notice I use some   Felco pruners got some new Falco pruners and the
people are over at Felco give us a discount code   For you guys if you want to use it if you want
to grab some Felco pruners because they’re the   Best quality ones you can get use the promo code
James10. I also wanted to mention uh look at this   Guy he’s just hilarious he’s always going to come
in for the final shot yeah he’s he’s shining it’s   The sun’s going right at him and he looks so
handsome love this guy also wanted to mention   To check out some merch at jamesprigioni.com if
you want a sweatshirt if you want to uh a beanie   Or something just something to support team grow
and I also wanted to thank one of our new channel   Members Jersey Dix1 one thanks for being a part
of Team growth thanks for having your hand in   Everything we’re doing back here it’s very cold
out the cold weather has definitely come we’ve got   The double layer on the hoop house but it might
be late in the season still getting fresh fruit   And still growing fresh greens James Prigioni and
Tuck will be back at you again real soon we out!