Persimmon feedback from NE Carroll County:
1. We machine planted 100 seedling persimmon trees in an old field in 2011. At least 50% died or were killed by deer browsing the leaves. 6 years later: no fruit
2. I hand planted 25 seedlings from the Forestry nursery in 2012. Deer browsing has kept most of these from growing over 6' tall (Lesson: fence what you want to protect)
3. In the 2012 hunting season, I picked a few seeds from coyote scat... washed them and put them in a flower pot in the garage. All the seeds sprouted. I selected the best sprout and allowed my then 4 year old daughter to plant it in the front yard. That little tree has produced an enormous amount of persimmon (lucky it was female) over the last 3 years. My golden retriever loves the fruit!
What all eats the persimmons on my farm? I've got several female fruit producing trees near hunting blinds. I have seen racoon, coyote, red fox, deer, and my golden retriever eating the fruit.
Hurricane Harvey rains and winds came through a few weeks back. One of my 8" diameter female trees blew over into a clover food plot. The tree roots remained in the ground with the tree top only a foot off the ground. I put a deer camera on the tree to see how animals responded. A 1-week camera survey had coyotes and deer taking fruit directly off the tree. Interesting enough: the fruit isn't orange and must still be bitter. Also, as I knew from planting the seedlings without fencing: Deer also have been eating the leaves.
For what it's worth: I also have apple, crabapple, plum, pear, and fig trees. The deer will walk into our mowed 2-acre backyard to eat apples during the middle of the day! I believe their preference here has been: apples, pears, persimmons. Due to the ease of growing, I'll only plant more pear trees for deer in the future. Persimmons seem to naturally spread throughout my farm (courtesy of the critters).
