I'm a big fan of hachiya persimmons which I like better than the squatty little fuyu kind. I see that persimmon trees of various fuyu-like varieties are available on the island, but have not yet seen a hachiya. Do the two varieties have different climate tolerance? will hachiya not thrive in the eastern Van Isl coastal zone? please forgive my ignorance, but my last garden was quite a bit further South :-) still trying to get the hang of the local climate.
I've seen persimmons grown in the Similkameen Valley in the interior and the Okanagan Valley. There were American species its hardy in zones 5-9. The Asian persimmon is hardy from zone 7 and above. You could try hachiya there although it might be marginal there. Have a look a the link I've attached it should help you out. http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/persimmon.pdf Nafex www.nafex.org This a good website for information on persimmons. You also have a look at this link as well. http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/391-473.pdf Hope this helps Cheers
Maybe you can find information somewhere about which cultivars are being tested at the Summerland station and what has been determined about them so far. http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1183641595812&lang=eng
Ron There are several growers in the Okanagan trying Persimmons with mixed results. The American cultivars are hardy enough for the Okanagan, the oriental persimmons not so much. Temps can dip below -15C sometimes even -25c in the Okanagan. Cheers
windmill point farm http://windmillpointfarm.ca in montreal says the american persimmons they have are hardy to zone 4 so you are laughing, they sell easy, szukis and oreo varieties you may also want to check with http://fruittreesandmore.com in Sidney on the Island...they have lots of different things
