I had a chance to enjoy a JT-02 (Mikkusu kaki hybrid) persimmon today. I didn’t grow it. Cliff England was kind enough to send me a few with my fall order. But boy was it excellent! Rich and syrupy. The pictures below show JT-02 next to a normal size Hachiya persimmon. You can see that JT-02 is a mottled blue/black in the picture. Cliff says that’s not normal, that they’re normally completely orange but that he had a strange year for fruit (like many of us did). He also said the coloring doesn’t affect flavor
As for flavor, these were excellent. Rich and dense with a butterscotch/honey/apricot/persimmon flavor. By comparison, they made Hachiya taste like honey-water while JT-02 was more of a syrup. The best part was I found a few seeds to grow out. Exciting night for me!
Most of them are newer Ukrainian selections and it’s possible some are the seller’s creation since he is also active breeder - not just persimmons but also paw paws from what I heard. That place is only about 10min driving from my place.
His stock goes out pretty fast. It’s good to call around May and reserve them. I think he gets more plants after July but those sell out quick as well.
You can also check here but ask about availability before you go all the way up there
Thanks Tony. I’ve had good germination rates with NG and Risseyanka seeds in the past. I’ve got 10 JT02 seeds total. I’m starting six inside and will do four directly in the ground.
I ordered a few Japanese persimmons from Willis orchard Company who claimed they were hardy to zone 6. Not True! They have died down to the rootstock which appears to be kaki. Now I am looking for something to graft onto them. I found a website Asian Persimmon Tree and American Persimmon Tree Catalog that describes some promising options. @tonyOmahaz5 Have you tried Kasandra, Zima khurma =NB-02, Korea Kaki or Cinebuli?
Interesting. I’ve always considered growing them here, but we occasionally get down to -20F or colder. I’ve eaten them before and enjoy the flavor (when fully ripe), but I don’t care for the consistency and I’m curious what most of you do with them. There’s another thread on the board about raccoon damage and I have to admit to once making a huge pot of raccoon fruit paste bait out of some wild persimmon. It worked great.
Rossyanka can handle the cold to -20F without no Winter damage. JT-02, I Winter protected it the first year and now on it 3rd leaf and can handle -12F for several nights the last few years. I got my scions from England.
Parallel,
I got a 7 years old Nikita’s Gift Hybrid. I have baby this one for all those years with Winter protection. The fruit is excellent but not very cold hardy for a Hybrid. Lots of died back at -10F. I liked Rossyanka a lot. Very productive and very cold hardy to -20 F. I Winter protected it the first year to get the bark harden.
JT-02 has very rich and sweet taste per Cliff and SMC.
I got 2 Kassandra but one of them died at -9F last Winter without protection and the other survived with protection. I will baby it for a couple more years to get it bigger and I will test it without any Winter protection. So it is not as cold hardy as Rossyanka and JT-02.
Chinebuli died at -9F.
I will topwork most my American persimmon understocks to JT-02 because of the excellent taste, cold hardy to my Zone 5 and the leaves are large just like a Kaki.
