persimmon plant from seed American Persimmon Tree Seeds

Native fruit that deer eat first. Humans eat second. And never forget.

Diospyros virginiana, the Common Persimmon, is the most undervalued native fruit tree in North America. When ripe, the small orange fruits have a rich, jammy sweetness that has been compared to dates and honey, intensified further after frost. Before they ripen, they are jaw-clenchingly astringent in a way that is impossible to forget. The tree that produces them is one of the toughest, most drought-tolerant, and most adaptable native trees available, growing on poor rocky soils, in abandoned fields, and along roadsides where nothing else bothers to try. And every deer, turkey, fox, raccoon, and opossum within range will know when your persimmons are ripe before you do. If you are looking to buy Persimmon seeds or grow native persimmon from seed, this is a tree that rewards patience with one of the most distinctive fruits in North American horticulture.

• Native fruit tree with intensely sweet, honey-like flavor when fully ripe after frost
• One of the most drought-tolerant and adaptable native fruit trees in eastern North America
• Deer candy, the fruits are among the most sought-after wildlife food available on any property
• Extremely long-lived with a deep taproot that makes established trees nearly impossible to kill
• Dioecious, plant male and female trees for reliable fruit production

Things you probably did not know about the Common Persimmon

The Algonquian word for it became the English name.
The word persimmon comes from the Algonquian word putchamin or pessamin, meaning a dry fruit. The fruit was a significant food source for Indigenous peoples across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, eaten fresh, dried, and ground into a meal that was mixed with cornmeal and fat for cakes and bread.

The green fruit can pucker your mouth for hours.
Unripe persimmons contain soluble tannins that bind to saliva proteins and create an intensely dry, astringent sensation that no amount of water relieves. The experience is so striking that encountering an unripe persimmon is the kind of thing people remember for decades. Ripe fruit, by contrast, is among the sweetest of any native fruit.

A single tree can fruit for 75 years or more.
Common Persimmon trees are extremely long-lived and continue fruiting prolifically well into old age. Trees planted for wildlife management in the mid-20th century are still producing heavy crops today. Few fruit trees offer the same longevity without replanting.

It is nearly impossible to transplant once established.
The deep, brittle taproot of the Common Persimmon makes it one of the most difficult native trees to dig and move once it has established. Growing from seed and planting in the permanent location while small is far more successful than attempting to transplant a nursery-grown specimen.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Diospyros virginiana
• Stratification: Required, 60 to 90 days cold moist stratification, recalcitrant seed, keep moist
• USDA Zones: 4 to 9
• Soil: Extremely adaptable, tolerates poor, dry, rocky, or sandy soils
• Light: Full sun to partial shade
• Height: 35 to 60 feet
• Spread: 25 to 35 feet
• Growth Rate: Slow to moderate, 1 to 2 feet per year

Plant it for the deer and discover the fruit yourself. Just wait until after the first frost.