Wild Persimmon Pre-Mature Fruit Drop

[Backspasm]

Anyone have an explanation of why all the native wild female persimmons in my hunting area drop a lot of premature unripened fruit? It seems like despite varied sunlight conditions and growing sites I find a lot of the fruit falls unripe and early in the summer and never reaches maturity. Often its a dark brown or blueish in color on the ground and small, not a green unripe fruit. Thoughts from the experts? @Native Hunter ?

 

[Native Hunter]

Persimmons will shed some fruit early just like apple trees sometimes do. However, it should not be an excessive amount unless there is some problem. If you are still getting a good number of ripe fruits that fall at the correct time, I wouldn't worry about it. If not, I would look for some environmental factor that is stressing the trees in some way. I see some premature drop in my trees too, but still happy with the amount of fruit I get at the right time.

PS - There is a strain of wild persimmons that drop blue fruit when ripe. My neighbor has one. It doesn't sound like that is what you are getting, but I just thought I would mention it. Also, it's not uncommon for the fruits from some trees to have a bluish cast in the last stage before turning orange.

 

[Backspasm]

Persimmons will shed some fruit early just like apple trees sometimes do. However, it should not be an excessive amount unless there is some problem. If you are still getting a good number of ripe fruits that fall at the correct time, I wouldn't worry about it. If not, I would look for some environmental factor that is stressing the trees in some way. I see some premature drop in my trees too, but still happy with the amount of fruit I get at the right time.

PS - There is a strain of wild persimmons that drop blue fruit when ripe. My neighbor has one. It doesn't sound like that is what you are getting, but I just thought I would mention it. Also, it's not uncommon for the fruits from some trees to have a bluish cast in the last stage before turning orange.

Thanks that is helpful, I think it’s probably outside of my control. I believe all these trees are orange when ripe in past years but I did think about that. I think they are too small to be mature as well and the animals arent really touching them so I would wager that they are premature. So pretty much all wild persimmons do some annual early shedding is that right?

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks that is helpful, I think it’s probably outside of my control. I believe all these trees are orange when ripe in past years but I did think about that. I think they are too small to be mature as well and the animals arent really touching them so I would wager that they are premature. So pretty much all wild persimmons do some annual early shedding is that right?

Yes, but it shouldn't be nearly as many as the good ones that are left to reach maturity. It can vary somewhat from year to year as well. An extreme drought might cause a few more to drop prematurely than normal, but it's not uncommon to see a few drop like that in any given year.