Saturday, January 25, 2014

Yamato Hyakume Japanese Persimmon

Recently I purchased (quite by impulse) a set of Persimmon graft (sold as Yamato Hyakume) by Martha's Secret. I say 'by impulse' because I usually don't buy a plant unless I have thoroughly researched all about that specific plant, fruiting style, how to care for it, etc.

Anyway,  after my purchase, I realized, I knew very little about this Persimmon and seller doesn't have a lot of information on it other than this:
Yamato Hyakume is one of the newer varieties introduced to the USA.  It produces a large fruit with a red skin. Yamato Hyakume fruits early in the season and yields a large crop with juicy firm fruit that has a spicy flavor.  You should see fruit on these trees in approx. 2-3 years depending on your climate. 
They were selling both from eBay store and their main site.  On eBay they had a picture to show how the fruit should look ...




They also mentioned that this Persimmon is an astringent variety.  That means, we can't eat them until the fruit is mushy ripe :)) .. Unless of course we don't mind our mouth being inside out. *eek*

After waiting a period of time, two graft arrived (dormant) which lead me to believe, these guys are not self pollinators.   Anyway, I planted them (hole was prepared and my soil mix with load of Great White Mycrorhyzza, Rockdust, and other good stuff :) .   

I later found out through a Gardenweb discussion that those are not for each others pollinating partner.   The seller just provided two of them as part of the package.

Anyway, I did some digging and found very little info on this other than meaning of Hyakume is Brown Sugar  and Yamato means Japan :)  - So I guess Japanese Brown Sugar? :)).

According to http://www.hort.purdue.edu :
'Hyakume'–round-oblong to round-oblate, somewhat 4-angled and flat at both ends; 2 3/4 in (7 cm) long, 3 1/8 in (8 cm) wide; skin pale dull-yellow to light-orange, with brown russeting when ripe; flesh dark-brown, crisp, sweet, non-astringent whether hard or ripe. Midseason. Fairly good quality; somewhat unattractive externally. Stores and ships well.
As we can see, this contradict with what I stated above (Astringent variety).     I guess I will know for sure when I get to taste the fruit ... (Maybe at the cost of risking my mouth inside out ... *EEEK*

9 comments:

  1. "After waiting a period of time, two graft arrived (dormant) which lead me to believe, these guys are not self pollinators. "

    I don't know what I meant above when I made that statement. If they arrived (dormant), what would that have to do with their pollinating behavior? LOL

    Latest News 5/17/2016 - Two plants are growing pretty much on their own without any care (I lost my beloved Fuyu Tree to some sort of Blyth, and last my enthusiasm to go that part of the garden (no excuse!). Anyway, I noticed two Persimmon growing. Hopefully I can finally taste!

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    1. Above, on the latest news from 5/17/2016 where I stated "I noticed two Persimmon Growing. Hopefully I can finally taste!" --> I should clarify that two Persimmon fruits growing on the Yamato Hyakume (one of which dropped or Squirrel stole as I couldn't even find it anywhere underneath). So far, one is still green, growing same shape as the one in the picture in the post)

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    2. So I did get to taste fully ripe one and it was extremely good! By far, I don't think I've ever tasted a Persimmon that sweet before that. Unfortunately the Tree died this year (I see the Cyan part is pretty much dead and root stalk growing new buds. I do have the other plant, so I plan to graft back when the right time comes.

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  2. Hi...I am interested...did you get to taste it? I want to start some of these trees but so unsure and so little info available. Can you email me at conan.bardwell@gmail.com I would like to start up a conversation.

    Thanks,

    Conan

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    1. Sorry, it took me very long to respond (I just saw this today) :( ...

      *I have tasted one last season. I had few growing but only properly riped right from the tree before I tasted and it was well worth it! It was like Candy and lost pretty much all the astringent taste (If I give a Farmer's market Hiychia variety 3, I give the one from my Tree 9).

      (But Alas! I lost the tree this Winter :(( ... It started budding out too soon and we had some bad weather bounce and it killed that Tree. Very Disappointed! I only have one now, and hoping I can propagate from hat tree.

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  3. So a quick update. Even though about 90% of the 'cyan' died, I cut down until I saw sign of life (barely left on top of the rootstock (which is an unknown variety). New shoot started to come out from the little cyan wood that was remaining (so super excited about it). I was just planning to graft again from the other tree to this one, but looks like I don't have to! Yay!

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  4. Tree is back but no fruit obviously; super excited. I had many persimmons growing on the second tree but all dropped or critters got to those. Hopefully this last one will make it.

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  5. Yamato or Yamoto: We had our first fruits last year. So far it is good, but not as sweet or spicy as Hachiya, and not as sweet as Giombo/Gionbo. I believe the same tree as yours is offered here with a slight variation in the name; Yamoto. This company is trustworthy, and they offer several varieties. If you wish to have a sweet or non astringent variety, the Fuyu is good. Matsumoto aka Matsumoto Wase Fuyu is a larger variation of Fuyu. The non astringent Korean varieties are believed to be more cold hardy, but a cold snap like you had after a warming trend is never good for our trees. Blessings, Ken H.
    https://justfruitsandexotics.com/product/yamoto-persimmon-tree/

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  6. If you have suckers that come up from the root stock, you can air layer them and also graft from your tree above the air layer, just before or right at bud break; Free trees.

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