1. Princess persimmons are smaller in all respects than the standard fruiting persimmon. Fruit, leaves, and overall plant size is smaller; twigs are finer.

2. It (usually) takes two to tango, and both have to be ready to dance at the same time. Princess persimmons generally have male and female flowers on separate plants. Some plants do have both kinds of flowers, but they do not seem to fruit well – they may still need another pollinator. Also, the plants must flower at the same time; there con be 4-6 weeks difference in flowering times between early and late flowering plants. Females flowers are distinguished by their “winged” sepals.

3 There is a wide variety of shapes, colors, sizes, textures, and spotting on fruit. Shapes can be round, cylindrical, pear-shaped, top-shaped or triangular. Colors range from yellow to orange to red. Size can range from about 3/8″ to 1-1/2″. Fruit can be clear (without spots), with very fine spots, or very large spots. Fruits may be thick- or thin-skinned.

4. Persimmon fruits are long-lasting. Fruits with heavy texture last the longest – up to 4 months. Fruits start turning color in Sept./Oct. and can last until Feb./Mar.

5. Princess persimmons need a lot of water and not too much sun to grow well. With too little water, princess persimmons will drop flower buds and immature fruit. With too much sun, leaves will burn (black spots on the leaves) and fall off early, leaving the fruit unprotected. Some will be sunburned (black shoulders). Plants need extra iron, particularly if they haven’t been re-potted in a while, to handle full sun.

6. Trees grow vigorously when roots are not disturbed, slowly after roots are disturbed. New shoots can grow 3-5′ in one season with really strong thorns, if unrestrained – good for healing pruning scars, bad for shaping branches. After transplanting (and severe root pruning), the plant will sulk and grow slowly for a year. Plants will re-sprout from the trunk readily if pruned back hard and roots are undisturbed.

7. Princess persimmons can be propagated easily from root cuttings, layers and seeds. A mature plant can produce 30+ root cuttings. Air layers are possible, but less vigorous than root cuttings. Seeds are best sown while still wet; germination is not as strong if seeds are allowed to dry out (as occurs if seeds are imported). The pulp will stain your fingers orange – wear gloves.

8. Princess persimmons can be treated like most other deciduous trees. Except for the extra water, princess persimmons can be handled as you handle other fruiting or deciduous trees. When cutting back branches, cut back to an active bud. Princess persimmons branches tend to bolt if left unchecked, causing scars on wire-wrapped branches. Treat as you do other deciduous trees – let branches grow to -5 nodes, then shorten to 1-2 nodes or node distance < inch.

9. Styles for princess persimmons should highlight their fruit. Choose styles that work for thinner trunks (bunjin, semi-cascade, slanting), or crooked broom.

10. Princess persimmons have few enemies. Other than scale, most bugs don’t bug princess persimmons. Use horticultural oil to control scale.