About J. Wayne Fears

Early in my career, I was bowhunting with Fred Bear on a remote private farm. We were scouting along a grown up fencerow, looking for a cut in the fence where the landowner told us a nice 9-point buck was known to cross. Our conversation came to an abrupt halt when Fred suddenly stopped and looked up. “Here is what I have been looking for,” he stated. I looked up to see a tree loaded with persimmons.

Fred selected a thicket to build a ground blind where the woods came up to the fence. Sure enough, within a couple of days he had the 9-pointer, and I had a new appreciation for the soft mast we call persimmons. Deer love this fruit when it ripens and falls to the ground in the autumn. It is usually available under the tree for a month or more, as only a few persimmons fall at a time.

The mature female common persimmon tree in full sunlight can produce a lot of food for deer.

Although deer browse the leaves and twigs of the common persimmon, the tree’s greatest benefit to deer and other wildlife comes from its orange, oval fruit. This colorful fruit is about the diameter of a quarter and is high in carbohydrates, starches, iron, potassium, sugar, and vitamin C. The fruit ripens on the tree after the first frost, so in the fall, it is a high energy source for deer that helps them build body reserves for the winter. Ripe persimmons start dropping during September in northern states and in late October or November in the South, just in time for early bow season.

I have received a lot of emails from Whitetails Unlimited readers wanting to know more about persimmons and asking if they can be managed in or around food plots. Here is the good and the bad.

Common persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), also called simmon, American ebony, butterwood, or possumwood, is found in USDA plant zones 4-9, from southern Connecticut and Long Island to southern Florida; westward through central Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, and central Illinois to southeast Iowa; and south through eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, to the valley of the Colorado River in Texas. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, it does not grow in the main range of the Appalachian Mountains, nor in much of the oak-hickory forest type on the Allegheny Plateau. It develops best in the rich bottomlands of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and in coastal river valleys. It is exceedingly common in the South Atlantic and Gulf States, often covering deserted fields with a shrubby growth, and springing up by the sides of roads and fences. It is frequently the first tree species to start growth on abandoned and denuded cropland. It is well-adapted to an environment of high sun exposure and low water supply.

The wood is close grained and sometimes used for special products requiring hardness and strength. However, persimmon is much better known for its fruit. When ripe, the fruit is a food enjoyed by people as well as many species of wildlife. The glossy, leathery leaves make the persimmon tree a nice one for landscaping, but it is not easily transplanted because of the taproot. The common persimmon is relatively long-lived and grows to a height of 40 feet or more.

	Ripe persimmons compared to a quarter.

It is important to remember that persimmon trees are dioecious, meaning a tree is either male or female. Only the female persimmon tree bears fruit. I have a friend in Virginia who found a tall growing persimmon tree along the edge of an abandoned field in a national forest. He spent much time and money fertilizing the “secret” tree for three years. He couldn’t understand why it never bore fruit. During the fourth year he took a forester with him to take a look at the tree … it was a male tree.

Determining the sex of a tree cannot be done until it is mature, usually 10 years of age or more. One method of sexing a tree is to examine the flowers; flowers hanging in clusters of two to six indicates a male, whereas each flower on a female tree hangs alone on its own stem. A much easier way is to search the woods in late summer or early fall to find trees that bear fruit.

Planting in Food Lots or Along Food Plot Edges

Planting persimmon trees as a food lot is a long-term proposition. When you purchase your seedlings, the sex of each tree is probably not going to be known. It will be 10 years or more before you will find out how many of your trees are female, and it is a safe assumption that only 50% or less will be fruit-producing females. Also, it will be another 10 to 15 years before the female trees produce fruit every year, since young trees usually only produce fruit every other year.

The common persimmon, left, compared to a Japanese persimmon. Don’t let the size fool you when selecting varieties to plant; remember ,the Japanese fruit do not fall to the ground easily.

Still, if you want to plant a food lot of persimmon trees, or plant a few around the edges of your food plots, you can purchase seedlings and establish them with a little work. You will want to purchase seedlings that are from 18 to 36 inches tall. Be sure to plant during the late fall or winter when the seedlings are dormant. While many land managers like to plant their persimmon seedlings along a fencerow where they would naturally occur, others like to plant six trees in a diamond-shaped grove, space permitting, about 10-feet apart. There should be seedlings of both sexes in each grove. This type of grove keeps the male and a female trees close for pollination, and provides a lot of food when the fruit is falling.

When planting seedlings, it is important to dig a large enough hole to prevent “J” rooting the seedling and provide natural root placement. These delicate young roots are sensitive, and when crowded, the result is usually a dead seedling.

Keep competing weeds and brush cut during the first few years of the tree’s life. Fertilize annually according to soil test recommendations or as stated for wild trees at right.

Seedlings can be purchased from several dealers found on the Internet. A dependable source I have used is The Wildlife Group (www.wildlifegroup.com) and at this writing, bare-root seedlings 24 to 36 inches tall cost $3.00 each (plus shipping).

The question that often comes up with planting persimmons is, if it takes so long for common persimmons to grow to fruit-producing maturity, why not plant the fast maturing (usually 3-4 years of age) Japanese persimmon, Fuyu or Jiro. It is true that these two Japanese persimmons produce fruit soon after planting, and in the case of the Fuyu the fruit is as large as a baseball. They can be grown in USDA plant zones 6-10. However, these persimmons do not readily fall from the tree when ripe and must be hand-picked, putting them out of reach for deer.

	A persimmon tree can be a good place to locate a stand.

Management of Wild Trees

Once you have located a wild growing persimmon tree and made sure it is a female, managing the tree is not difficult. Like most trees, the persimmon does best and bears more fruit when it is not crowded and gets plenty of sunlight. If necessary, clear out competing trees by cutting. The wild tree will be most productive when in full sunlight.

Each spring, fertilize the tree along the drip line according to a soil test recommendation. If you do not have a soil test, fertilize the tree at a rate of 100 pounds per acre of 5-10-15 fertilizer.

The common persimmon is just one plant in the wildlife manager’s bag of tricks. It is not a one-tree-does-all and does not grow well in all parts of the white-tailed deer range, but it can be an option for stand placement and food for deer.