Persimmon

[cowroy]

I was hopin a Floridian would chime in here about the persimmon trees they have down there. My sister lives about 40 mins north of Orlando in orange country and she gave me some persimmons one time that were almost as big as a baseball, and really good to eat too. The ones we have around here don't get but about the size of a muscadine grape :msp_confused:

 

[ShaneLogs]

If u split the persimmon just right, U can split it fairly easily with a maul.

Shane

 

[unclemoustache]

The premiere species for wood golf clubs. One of the best wild fruit trees. Does split like a bear.

Not too fond of it myself. I've got a large persimmon on my property, and don't like it. It's ugly, leafs out after everything else, and drops its leaves first. It drops those nasty sticky persimmons all over the yard, too. I'd cut the stinker down, but it's the only tree with a decent branch for my kids' rope swing!

He has a quick wit....:hmm3grin2orange:
The Bible lists about 30 varieties of Trees. #Of those, the Dogwood is not mentioned.
##The Apricot is called 'Apple'. #The Cypress is called 'Gopher'. #Aspens are called 'Mulberry'. #Acacia (similar to our Honey Locust) is called ####tim. ##But no dogwoods.

Neither does it say anywhere that any kind of wood cannot be used for building. It does mention a few times where certain woods should be used, though - building of Noah's ark, and of the ark of the tabernacle, and the temple.

I have some persimmons here with a 12 to 14 in base. These persimmons seem to get to a certain size then die. None of mine are over 14 inches without dead branches falling.

I've got one that's probably a good 30 inches right now. Maybe it's a different kind of Persimmon that what you have.

 

[Hedgerow]

Unc? If you got a 30" presimmon, you got a real bruiser... I thought we had the biggest ones around... 30" is astounding... Couldn't tell you how old it is...

 

[jdc123]

The Bible thing is just folklore, and here's some more: split a persimmon seed in the fall, you'll notice there is a white mark in the center; if it resembles a spoon it will be a mild winter, fork, a bad winter, sometimes it looks like a butter knife, don't know what that means. Had an old preacher friend who preached a whole sermon about the dogwood and all it supposedly symbolizes concerning the crucifixion, had to recant when he realized it wasn't in the Bible, neat story though.

 

[unclemoustache]

Unc? If you got a 30" presimmon, you got a real bruiser... I thought we had the biggest ones around... 30" is astounding... Couldn't tell you how old it is...

I'm tempted to go out and measure the thing now, but it's 11 pm. If I remember in the morning perhaps....

 

[Preston]

That is ginormus. I mean super large for a persimmon. :msp_w00t:

 

[Lurch2]

The Bible thing is just folklore, and here's some more: split a persimmon seed in the fall, you'll notice there is a white mark in the center; if it resembles a spoon it will be a mild winter, fork, a bad winter, sometimes it looks like a butter knife, don't know what that means. Had an old preacher friend who preached a whole sermon about the dogwood and all it supposedly symbolizes concerning the crucifixion, had to recant when he realized it wasn't in the Bible, neat story though.

Fork means cold, spoon means snow, knife means easy winter.

 

[JeffandTamara]

Is this a Persimmon??

This tree was Standing Dead...My wife thought it was a persimmon, after we started looking at other trees, I think I agree View attachment 263153View attachment 263154

BTW, It wasn't too bad to split, but you can see the grain is not straight at all. But still split better than Black Gum...That stuff is impossible!!!

 

[dumbarky]

Most of the large persimmon trees we have are not fruit bearing. The old timers call them male persimmons. I know where several of them are. Most are 18" - 24" diameter, but there not very tall for the diameter compared to other trees. On another note I found several large sassafras trees over the weekend that I wasn't aware were in the area. They are really tall but not over 12" in diameter.

 

[old cookie]

Several years ago i cut a sassafras the way i remember it it was 18" or so.I didnt know they got that big.

 

[Preston]

The persimmon tree around here have a sorta thin flaky bark. The bark on that one, from what I have around here is a sour wood. The sour woods here mostly are hollow too. They grow very crooked and leaning. I've not seen one straight one.

 

[mountainmandan]

A few weeks ago some of my friends from school where at my house shooting clay pigeons. One of them is from russia originally. So long story short, he had never experienced the joys of the half ripe persimmon. All of the other guys are from the ozarks so it was not new to them.

I have several in my yard, so I pick a ripe one for me, and gave Dmitry a less ripe one. All of the guys had a good laugh over it. I remember as kids we would always try to get the new guy. We where not being mean, it was just a joke that kind of welcomes you to the group.

Dan

 

[Platoon Daddy]

Persimmon fire wood

We have a lot of persimmon on our farm here in the northern edge of the Missouri Ozarks...burnt a lot of it growing up as a kid and I still use it now as most of the time its straight as an arrow, grows in small groves and doesn't have much limbs to deal with until you get to the tops. Most of it averages the size of a large coffee can, so doesn't require a lot of splitting. The downside is that it does take a long time to cure properly, but when it does it produces BTU's just a hair under our Osage Orange (hedge)...that's pretty darn hot!!

 

[Platoon Daddy]

Persimmon eg:

Firewood Chart A: Sorted by BTU Content

Common Name Species Name Pounds /Cord MBTU /Cord

Osage Orange (Hedge) Maclura pomifera 4,845 30.0
Hop Hornbeam (Ironwood) Ostrya virginiana 4,250 26.4
Persimmon, American Diospyros virginiana 4,165 25.8
Hickory, Shagbark Carya ovata 4,080 25.3
Dogwood, Pacific Cornus nuttallii 3,995 24.8
Holly, American Ilex Opaca 3,995 24.8
Birch, Black Betula lenta 3,910 24.2
Oak, White Quercus alba 3,910 24.2
Madrone, Pacific (Arbutus) Arbutus menziesii 3,825 23.7
Oak, Post Quercus stellata 3,825 23.7
Locust, Honey Gleditsia triacanthos 3,825 23.7
Hickory, Bitternut Carya cordiformis 3,825 23.7
Beech, Blue (Ironwood) Carpinus caroliniana 3,825 23.7
Mulberry Morus rubra 3,740 23.2
Locust, Black Robinia pseudoacacia 3,740 23.2
Maple, Sugar Acer saccharum 3,740 23.2

 

[Hedgerow]

I am extremely pleased with the way the persimmon is burning this year...
Only have 1 small stack of it... But it's a winner!!!

 

[Chris-PA]

I'm pretty happy with it too. It was a bugger to split, I had to noodle a lot of it as it just didn't seem to split along the grain, just kind of chuncked out wherever. The tree I have was at least 16". I can't say it's really that noticeably better than anything else I burn, but it's certainly good seems to light pretty easily too. I cut a lot of the crotches up for use in the little stove, still have a fair amount left for that.

 

[leo58]

A persimmon tree close to my barn was about 6" diameter when I first remember. I am now 55 and it is now about 12". I will not be starting seedlings for fruit or firewood as i realize my mortality. Our illustrious University of Ky will probably recommend it as farm crop alternitive as they did walnut tree farming a few years ago.Supposedly you could plant walnut trees,harvest walnuts,sell the walnuts then when mature sell the logs for a premium. That would only take 75 to 100 years. Sound reasoning from the basketball school.

 

[Preston]

Makes sense to me considering you're doing it all for the grandchildren. Right?

 

[Chris-PA]

On one hand you have to survive so you need to produce things to keep you alive. On the other hand there are things worth doing that don't benefit us directly. If someone had started those persimmons or walnuts in a previous generation it would be a matter of continuing the process.