American Persimmon Rootstock (“Turkey Lake” Parentage) – Seed

Persimmon is a fruit with a lot of potential throughout the state of Florida with proper variety selection. In our view, starting with well adapted rootstock genetics is the first step to success. American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) is native from high latitude North America down into the Florida Everglades, with 3 distinct populations with different chromosome counts. In our estimation, a species with that wide of a native range is likely to have a lot of variability in performance when moved to other areas. When we buy grafted persimmon trees from the nursery trade, we do not know where the rootstock seed was sourced from. Starting your own rootstock is a great way to get a guaranteed locally adapted rootstock that can hold up to Florida soils. Fortunately, Asian persimmon is graft compatible with American persimmon. This allows us to graft high quality selected Asian varieties onto a rootstock that is native to our soils.

“Turkey Lake” is a native American persimmon selection made by our friend Craig, the Florida Fruit Geek. This persimmon was found somewhere in the Orlando area with unusually large fruit and good flavor compared to typical wild persimmons. Craig kindly gifted us a tree some years ago which has been producing well. Tampa fruit wizard Paul Zmoda reports that Turkey Lake seedlings have been making healthy, vigorous rootstock trees. Aside from grafting, one may also choose to plant seedlings and hope for American persimmons of good quality. Be advised that at least half of American persimmon seedlings will be non fruiting males.

We have found that potted persimmons from the nursery trade often fail to thrive. There could be many variables at play. Aside from the aforementioned issue of poorly adapted stock, it also seems that persimmons do not recover well from being pot bound. For this reason, we suggest customers set out young rootstock plants and let them establish in the field with a plan to graft them directly where they grow in the future. Some people may even find success caging over a well prepared spot and attempt direct seeding where a tree is desired. This will likely only work with regular watering. Fortunately, grafting persimmons is very easy so do not be daunted if you are a new grafter. In our view, this slower route is much more likely to yield long term healthy trees than buying containerized stock. In the future we plan to publish more on grafting techniques and persimmon varieties with promise in Florida.

This seed stock was harvested in the late fall of 2025 and stored for cold stratification in the refrigerator in lightly moist soil. A good amount of seed germinated with no cold stratification, so we expect these seeds to germinate even better. Germination percentage unknown.

Diospyros virginiana

20 seeds