6

After 8 years, I finally got my persimmon to grow 13 big fruits this year. They started to turn yellow and are pretty hard to touch. My leaves are mostly green. When is the best time to harvest the fruits? I am in the Seattle area in Washington.

Click on pictures for larger size.

enter image description here enter image description here

Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GL
  • 6,215
  • 8
  • 39
  • 74
dave
  • 163
  • 4

2 Answers2

6

Those look like Fuyu persimmons, which are the non/less astringent variety. You should wait until they turn pumpkin orange to pick them. They will still be firm, and can be eaten immediately.

The other common variety of persimmon, hachiya, are more acorn shaped. They should be picked when they're dark red, and need to soften completely before they're edible raw.

Kai
  • 116
  • 1
  • 1
    I picked most orange colored 4 persimmons yesterday. We tasted one and it has a little bitter taste, but overall it is delightful sweet. I am going to let 3 picked ones ripen a few days. The rest of the persimmons are still on the tree, I will wait for a few days/weeks. – dave Oct 25 '15 at 18:38
  • 1
    Excellent! They taste best when they're a reddish orange, but in my area the squirrels get them first. Please 'accept' my answer if you found it helpful :) – Kai Oct 25 '15 at 18:42
  • 1
    Yes, your answer is very helpful! I have to reach 12 reputations and then I can vote up your good answer! – dave Oct 25 '15 at 19:38
  • @Kai, welcome to the site! Just a tiny comment about etiquette here - asking for upvotes or accepts is considered bad style. If your answer is good, both comes automatically. – Stephie Oct 25 '15 at 21:20
4

Ah, well its a bit more complicated than you'd think - some persimmons are astringent, and some aren't, and the harvesting/storing procedure is slightly different for both. Without knowing which one you've got (and you may not know yourself) then its probably going to be trial and error to some extent. Yours look to be the right size for Oriental persimmons, but they are also split between astringent and non astringent. If you have a label or the botanical name for your variety of Persimmon, that could help to decide which type you've got. Link below gives more information

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/when-to-harvest-your-persimmon-tree

Judging by the shape and size of the fruits, they may be the sweet, non astringent ones - another link below showing already harvested fruits similar in shape to yours, but there are hundreds of varieties...

http://justhungry.com/monday-photos-kaki-persimmons

Bamboo
  • 131,823
  • 3
  • 72
  • 162