Tamopan Asian Persimmon Tree

Whether you describe it as cantaloupe, peach, or even pumpkin, the unique taste of the Japanese persimmon, often called ‘Kaki Fruit’, is delicious and addictive. Very sweet and soft, children love it, and its aromatic flavor makes it a favorite with adults too. These fruits are only rarely available in stores in most areas, and they are always expensive, so growing your own tree makes a lot of sense. The tree is an attractive ornamental, making a good shade tree, and the leaves color beautifully in the fall. When they drop the big fruits are revealed, and they hang on the tree through the winter months, ripening, until you are ready to pick them. For a unique look, and a wonderful flavor, we recommend the Tamopan Japanese Persimmon, whose large fruits look like a yellow tomato wearing a cap, or an exotic miniature pumpkin.

The Tamopan Japanese Persimmon grows quickly into a medium-sized spreading tree, reaching 12 to 15 feet tall, with a crown spreading 8 to 10 feet across. In time, without trimming, this tree may grow larger, up to 30 feet, and it will give you lots of shade in summer, plus all the persimmons you can ever need – with almost no effort from you. The large leaves are rounded ovals, with a leathery texture and a glossy, rich-green upper side. The lower side of the leaf is covered with a soft, light-brown velvet. In fall the leaves turn wonderful shades of orange, yellow and red, making a gorgeous show, and earning this tree a prominent place in any garden. In spring unusual-looking flowers form, which are white or pink. White flowers make fruits, and on this variety they do that without any need for pollination. This means you don’t need a second tree, so it is ideal for a smaller garden. It also means that few if any seeds are formed in the fruit, so it is easier to eat. The high price of Kaki fruit is because they are fragile, and hard to ship without bruising and damage. It is not because they are hard to grow – in fact this tree is very, very easy to grow.

When the leaves fall the fruit is suddenly revealed, and even if you never ate them they are incredibly ornamental. They are 5 inches across, like a smallish grapefruit, and a beautiful glowing orange-yellow. They are round, like a beef-steak tomato, but with a protruding upper part, making a ‘cap’ over the main part of the fruit. The green stalk is large, and it holds the fruit firmly to the tree while it finishes ripening.

The Tamopan Japanese Persimmon ripens in October and November, and normally stays hanging on the tree, although when you have an exceptionally heavy crop some fruit may fall. This variety needs to be fully ripe and soft before eating, or it will have a sharp, astringent taste from the high tannin content. The fruit can be left on the tree or brought inside and placed in a warm spot until it is completely soft. It is fully ripe when it is a rich orange-red color, and the flesh has the consistency of jello. At that point it will be sweet and delicious, with a lovely aromatic flavor. It is ideal for eating fresh, and it can be baked into delicious muffins or fruit beds, as well as making unique and tasty preserves.

Plant the Tamopan Japanese Persimmon tree in a spot that is sunny or partially shaded. You can grow it out in the open, or train it to grow up against a sunny wall, where it will take up almost no space, look beautiful, and ripen the fruit better outdoors. Enrich the soil with organic material and also use it as a mulch in spring every year or two. Cover the root-zone but keep mulch clear of the trunk. Water deeply during extended dry spells, although this plant is moderately drought resistant, and needs little attention. Unlike most other fruit trees, which often need regular spraying for pests and diseases, this tree is free of any such problems, and it doesn’t need fancy pruning either – just plant it and harvest a bumper crop of those big fruits.

The Japanese Persimmon (柿), Diospyros kaki, is a relatively new fruit in the West, but it has been cultivated in China and Japan for thousands of years. It is also called the Asian persimmon, or the Kaki Fruit. It has a local relative, the American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, which grows wild in the eastern states, and that tree is used as the roots for our plant. Trained growers take stem pieces of the variety called ‘Tamopan’, and they attach it to seedlings of the American persimmon. They fuse to form a single plant, and the vigorous American roots ensure your tree grows well. This variety was introduced from China by the US Department of Agriculture in 1905, and it remains a consistent favorite with growers. Within 3 or 4 years your tree will be carrying lots of fruit, and you will have perfectly ripened fruit to enjoy at its peak, without paying outrageous store prices. The demand for these trees is very high, because Kaki Fruit has become very popular in recent years. We have a limited supply of excellent trees, so order now, as trees of this popular fruit are in high demand.