Many of us know how attractive the American Persimmon can be to wildlife, especially whitetail deer. But how many of us have spent numerous hours in the field scouting for these fruit bearing trees only to find a large persimmon tree with no fruit on it at all?
What many people are unaware of is that the American Persimmon tree can be either a male or a female; females produce fruit, and males produce pollen. Determining a persimmon tree’s sex with the naked eye (outside of seeing fruit) is impossible. So it’s important to do some scouting during the right time of year to figure out which trees are male and which are female.
Early fall is a great time to let Persimmons tell you whether they’re male or female. Pre-season scouting will allow you to flag the fruit-bearing persimmons so you can come back to the “flagged” trees during hunting season. Gamekeepers can also increase wildlife utilization by returning to the “flagged” trees during the spring for removal of competing vegetation and fertilization. Vegetation removal can be as simple as using a backpack sprayer to spread some herbicide grass killer. Once you’ve removed the vegetation, fertilizing the tree is another great way to help persimmons increase fruit production in the future.
