True Root Nursery

American Persimmon Seedling Bareroot

Species: Diospyros virginiana

History: Native to the southeastern and central areas of the United States, American Persimmon has had a long history of cultivation. The word 'persimmon' is an Anglicized version of the words 'putchamin,' 'pasiminan,' or 'pessamin,' which all mean 'dried fruit' in various Algonquin dialects, reflecting the fruits' usage. It is also common in southern states to trick the unwary into eating the unripe fruit which has an incredibly astringent flavour. Other historical uses for the American Persimmon include turning the seeds into buttons during the American Civil War and using the wood to make items such as pool cues and golf clubs.

Why We Grow It: This unique fruit tree produces a succulently sweet orange fruit that must be extremely ripe before you can eat it. Although it ripens in the summer, the fruit can withstand freezing and hang onto the tree until December. The fruit can be used to make a variety of sweet and savoury dishes and are also very popular among wildlife. Steph has found them great for baking into sweets such as tarts or the pecan and persimmon cookies pictured here!

    $19.50

    Size:

    Out of stock

    Fruit Traits:

    Recommended Use: Fresh eating, cooking, baking, juice

    Fruit Size: Small, begins bearing at 7-10 years

    Storage: Keeps for up to two months if refrigerated when unripe but only a couple days when ripe

    Harvest: July

    Plant Traits:

    Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5

    Soil Preferance: Deep and well-drained loam

    Flowering Time: Spring - Late

    Pollination Requirements: A male and female plant is required for pollination

    Sun/Shade Requirements: Partial to full sun (approx. 6-10 hours of sun daily)

    General Growth Habit: Depending on soil conditions the tree may reach 15-100ft tall. Can grow in zone 4 but fruit generally only ripens in zone 5. Begins bearing fruit at 7-10 years. Flowers in May/June, harvest in July/August

    Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of plants across Canada. We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

    Pick-up: We also have thousands of plants picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc.

    American Persimmon seedlings are divided into the following grades:

    -1 year plant - 15-30cm

    There is some overlap in size since we are also taking the age of the plants into account. Some older plants may not have put on quite as much vegetative growth but will have larger root systems.

    All of these heights exclude the roots since seedlings and some berries will often have a lot of root growth but relatively little vegetative growth (ex. our Shagbark Hickories seedlings are often 5-15cm above the soil but will have roots that reach 20cm+ in length).

    Not all of our berries and seedlings will be available in all of these grades since growth rate can vary significantly across species and even varieties. While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively.

    Why plant small? It's best to transplant when a plant is young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot plants tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted ones planted at the same time, after a few years.

    Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "too small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the plants are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

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