Steve, I meant to e=mail you some pictures of my American persimmons growing here in Michigan, but I couldn't figure out how to do it -- not very good with that aspect of the computer. Anyway, yes, they will grow and fruit in partial shade, don't know about deep shade. My one seedling persimmon that was planted many years ago in the shade of a black walnut and a wild black cherry has fruit every year, but the tree is much more "wispy" or "wimpy" than the two just a few dozen feet away that get more sunlight. It is smaller in every respect -- not as tall, not as full, and not as big of a trunk. Meader is the kind of grafted persimmon I have -- great tree, beautiful fruit. I picked a nice crop last fall, very late, around Thanksgiving. Pulped them and froze them for my sister, who makes a persimmon spice bread with them. I only regret that I could harvest about half of the tree, since many of them were too high to reach, and the branches on persimmons are too brittle to pull down on too much. But, I still ended up with probably 20 cups of frozen pulp. I was hoping that the rest of them would fall on their own at some point when I could get them, but we had too much snow to go back there often, and the animals (probably deer) seemed to have eaten them all off of the ground as they fell.

Thanks for your responses. I just found my tag. My persimmon is Nikita's Gift and it does say it is self pollinating. Yet, for two years in a row the fruit is formed the size of tiny grapes or chickpeas (for reference) and then fall. One year i was away in August and we had a dry spell so i thought it was lack of water. This year not the case and still they all fell. Where can i buy a male and cheap? And another question, i have my tree fenced in from the deer. If i manage to get a male, can i place it outside the fence? Since the male does not bear fruit, will the deer let itbe?

I looked up the two cultivars you mention, and it said that 'Szukis' is a fruiting variety that also produces some male flowers, so it sounds to me like it's primarily female. Would it make enough pollen to pollinate two trees? I don't know. I'm not familiar with anything but the wild types on my property, which come in male and female only, as far as I know. I'm wondering if 'Szukis' has some Oriental "blood" in it, since the name sounds Japanese. My females flower and produce fruit, even though none of them get much sun - up your way, they may need more sun, since you have less heat. Any tree that grows in a narrow area is more likely to be narrow than if it were in a sunny situation, but it isn't always true. I've got an American beech tree that keeps growing as far wide as it is tall, even though it's in the woods - it's growing into and over neighboring shrubs and trees. However, the persimmons grow according to space afforded - I've got some tall, fairly skinny trees in the woods. Maybe somebody else can help you more with these two cultivars than I have! Sherry

If true native do not eat before they are completely ripe. Generally this happens after several frosts. Unlike Japanese persimmons I have no luck being able to eat after fruit leaves the tree. If you want to know what an unripen persimmon will feel like take a very small pinch of alum the kind that is sold in grocery stores.