Persimmon Trees – Male or Female

Q: Are some persimmon trees male and some female? If so, how do you tell them apart? We left ten in our field three years ago for the deer and this year only two produced.

A: It is correct that persimmons have some trees that produce male flowers and other trees that produce female flowers. You won’t be able to tell which is which until you see the flowers, which start appearing when trees are three to five years old. Female flowers appear singly on new green twigs. It would be unusual to only have two female trees among the ten. My guess is that more of your trees will have fruit in the future.

see Persimmon flowers

male flower…note the small green calyces at the base of flowers

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