Pecans as a Tree Crop in Michigan

Posted on February 25, 2026 by Biologicalenrichment

One of the most underlooked tree crops for Michigan and other northern short season areas is the pecan. The pecan has a ton of research behind it. It has the mechanization. It has shakers, crackers, dryers and sorters. It has mechanized pecan picker uppers whatever that is. It has a human support network like no tommorrow! Go ahead and buy that Costco bag of pecans. (Sure. The sugar encrusted cinnamon ones. Do it. I dare you. ) Look at the countries of origin and how many countries grow pecans. The U.S.D.A. has devoted resources for its improvement over a span of 100 years. Hey, it even has its own extractors for oil. After its debut almost 50 years ago as a northern crop from the University of Nebraska and the germplasm rescue from the Northern Nut Growers Association few farmers took on the challenge. The most northern forms of it are viewed as hobby like and okay for the horticulturally adventurous. This highlights the oh-so-slow acceptance of a new crop in a new environment. To me it is the poster child of an unknown known crop. The drain pipe for the ultra-northern pecan is plugged.

I was unsuccessful to get it into nursery production outside of my farm. I tried to give my cultivars away to other nurseries. It’s very specific in rootstock and scion capabilities and requires a production system that demands strict protocols. To make a northern pecan industry in Michigan possible you would need large areas devoted to it. I would say a thousand acres would be a good start. This would allow for the costly mechanization and processing facilities. For Michigan that would be mostly in the southern region of the state. You would need a willing and able farmer based enthusiam for the crop because having others produce the crop with you allows for an industry to develop. I’ve seen individual English walnut orchards come and go only because there is no broad support for it. It requires time and patience to establish an orchard. The only thing I can think of that is a little like this is the Northern Spy apple. On a standard rootstock, Spys take 17 years to fruit. Even seedling pecans are not that tardy and grafted pecans are half that to producing nuts. Of course, money has to be devoted specifically for this crop to kick start it into commerce. Let’s treat it as not experimental and not native to Michigan because it is neither. We should treat it like a crop and raise it to fruition under organic conditions. For the northern pecan, this is very easy. It’s a food and oil crop widespread throughout the world. It’s been done before. There is no frost damage as it flowers in June. There are no insects or disease and the nuts literally shake out of the trees covering the ground.

In synchronizing with the fall season, its home is here in Michigan for this indigenous North American plant.

The mature northern pecans I have at my farm were all found originally along the Mississippi River in central Illinois and Iowa. It turned out that people had a natural inclination to move the pecan inland and northward. Some say the crow did it and others say boat loads of nuts were carried in canoes long ago by the Native Americans even into southern Wisconsin. The season for ripening was the limiting factor not the trees hardiness. What would happen if you took a southern selection farther north is the nuts never get past the milk stage. The nuts never fill and solidify because the heat units are too short. Michigan has roughly half the heat units needed for most pecan varieties. This was exactly what I found at my farm. The term northern was widely applied and northern was not northern enough for some seed sources that I grew. I really had to do research on the nuts I was buying for nursery stock. Through the Northern Nut Growers seeds from Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota soon filled my seedling plantings. They were northern enough and then some.

It’s ripe. It’s September.

Today I am harvesting older and over planted pecan trees for my woodworking projects. My northern seed grown trees from the James and Shepherds farms in northern Missouri are being thinned in my old planting beds where the rows were once 12 inches apart. It’s bit too much to pack them in like that. It’s not a telephone pole farm in the form of a red pine plantation. I was told by a fellow nut grower, the late John Gordon who was a great pioneer of the northern pecan, to leave only the most vigorous of pecan trees in the seed beds. He was emphatic about it like he discovered cold fusion. He said that these super fast growing plants are also the most productive, precocious from seed and early ripening. He was right. This type of advice is precious because who in their right mind would grow pecans in New York? Oh wait. Me in Michigan. We must be related.

Enjoy.

Kenneth Asmus

Pecans in Michigan
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Sprouts Hiding in The Grassy Meadow

Posted on January 23, 2026 by Biologicalenrichment

The Grassy Meadows Have Delicious Food

The seed tells a story of a plant. If you’re willing to listen, you will benefit from your experience with the plant. Such was the case for some of the plants I grew at my farm that by seed were considered challenging.  Phragmites was one. Remarkable and a powerful perennial grass, Phragmites can do it all. It is a well-known as a plant silt stopper in the wetlands of North America as well as a circumpolar plant found throughout northern Europe and China. It is growing in places where few other plants can tread. Once it’s job is done, it quietly fades into the background.  Even the cattails can’t do it like phragmites which often grow right next to it.

Could you grow the Phragmites like the picture of my farm pond above as you would any other crop plant and harvest its sprouts and high sugar leaves? Could this be replicated in dry soils?

 It was only natural that I try growing it to test its adaptability in non-wetland conditions. I was quite fond of the sprouts of phragmites flavor.  In the spring, I would pluck a few and nibble my way around the pond. In many ways they were like mini-bamboo sprouts found near the base of the canes. I have several edible wild books touting Phragmites as a delicious edible plant found widely in North America. Like another wetland species, River cane bamboo, the sprouts are completely delicious, crispy and worth harvesting.  The first place I took the roots home was my home garden. I told no one because people have strong negative reactions to any stoloniferous grass that can skip on the surface of a pond twenty feet in a year. I hid in my grassy meadow of ideas with my eat-the-sprouts philosophy. I did have company. I joined the muskrats. They had figured this out and were not bashful in decimating the populations every now and then. The bluegill and frog populations exploded after Phragmites and cattails first appearances at the pond. The high sugar content of the leaves brought in colonies of aphids which also fed other insects willing to dine on their sugary excretions. I carefully plucked out several roots from my family’s farm pond and put them in my garden. It took less than a month and they died quietly. My next attempt was from seed. I gathered a grocery bag full and layered them in a propagation tray. Six seedlings came up out of several hundred thousand seeds. Obviously, the Phragmites plant does not need the seeds too much to continue its existence. Because of their rarity, once the seedlings were grown, I plunked them carefully into a sandy dry hillside next to the river cane bamboo. It too is found in wetland conditions but will grow perfectly fine in dry conditions.  This time it took a little more than a month to die out. My perennial sprout farm and grassy meadow dream filled with phragmites was a no go and fading fast.

River Cane Bamboo from North America grown at my farm. Along with it’s seeds, it could be both a sprout and grain plant given the right attention to selections and understanding its value as a crop plant.

 Not to give up entirely, I moved on with cattails. Cattails have sprouts that are wonderful fresh. Pure white and crispy is the cattail sprout. This time I found a cattail colony on a steep bank off a major highway intersection in Michigan. It was just plain weird this colony was growing over 40 feet uphill from the native soils below.  I pulled over and picked a grocery bag full of heads and drove off. As people stared at me driving by, I repeated, “Nothing here. Move along now.”  Many of the seeds blew around in my cab as I drove away. Like a snowstorm of seeds, I had accidentally left the passenger’s side window open which left me fully engulfed with the fluffy seeds as I headed north on I-69.  I eventually took them to my farm and put them in a propagation tray of which nothing came up. Luckily, it rained and I had left that same window open in my truck. The seeds that stuck to my carpet on the floorboard sprouted. It wasn’t like the blow molded alfalfa sprout package density but a few here and there. This too failed and it was obvious that growing a good cattail root for eating would take only wetland conditions. For the record, the F-150 floorboard is not conducive to cattails.

I still have this idea and cannot shake it. If you were farming your meadow of sprouts, it would not make sense to convert a wetland to your perennial green idea. The same is true with running irrigation in non-wetland conditions to make the whole system work. This is not a crop like cranberries so well known in modern agriculture. Few will care about your love of sprouts. The Phragmites for all intents and purposes is the running bamboo. I tried a sterile Miscanthus for a while. It was a good landscape plant growing in my dry soils but the flavor and toughness was not good. There are many hydrologically damaged ecosystems done entirely by humans that could be used for species like cattails and phragmites. But since the actual crop yield and desirability is in question you need a representative planting where that could be measured and tested that same way you would grow a new tree crop. The same questions apply and yields could be done by selecting seedling characteristics which show a greater propensity for dense sprouting along the long stoloniferous roots. I have seen this characteristic on all plants while digging thousands of plants by hand over the last 40 plus years. Even the potato has it. This type of selection would be a highly dense sprouting plant with more of a clumpy nature with dense sprouting just like asparagus varieties. It is no different only you harvest the plants before the cholorophyll gets a chance to fill in. It is also possible it could be grown in darkness in the spring to allow the sprouts to develop to larger sizes the same way asparagus is done. The vigor of the species is most evident in the spring as the water temperature heats up.

I once tried to talk to a company about installing certain woody plants in a wetland area that was a superfund site. I was planning on donating the plants as I had many extra Michigan holly plants. I thought we could bring over some employees from my farm to help too. Win-win. I had the thought, I will just knock on the door and show up with my great idea. The company that got this massive contract had this trailer parked out front with people working in it. It was near the Kalamazoo River. After the second time, I noticed that the office in back would get mysteriously quiet when I walked in. The office manager wanted me out of there and said please do not come back in a very nice way. Before I left, I tried to share with her some of my ideas, thinking certainly she is interested. She said, “Please do not come back.”  She was very nice. People don’t want to hear new ideas because the old ones are already bought and paid for. You can’t interfere with that.  Today there is grass and nothing but grass and this grass is mowed ever now and then. Of course, it looks very nice.

Swamp Rose hanging with the cattails and phragmites.

The story of a grassy meadow sprout farm is within us. That is where the meadows can start and flourish without the noise and misinformation from the outside world. Phragmites and cattails help create the grassy meadow. In this meadow, you could grow sprouts and eat them like many have done for thousands of years. Maybe we can hide there with the muskrats and bluegills for a while and enjoy the flavors. The laws of nature in the grassy meadow allow it. Here you can uncover and quietly enjoy the delicious nature of the world. But let’s keep that a secret for now. The sprout farm will have to wait.

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

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ZEA

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Biologicalenrichment

ZEA

Zea is the genus name for corn. It is the Greek word meaning bread. The first Zea grain goes back to at least 12,000 years ago. Evidence was recently found in a cave in Turkey that Zea grains were cultivated from wild plants in the region.  Zea highlights the power of an ancient grain shared cross culturally as a staple food filled with health giving properties much like corn is today. Farro is closely related to Zea. Occasionally I will buy the whole grain farro at the health food store and make a porridge out of it for lunch at my farm. Alexander the Great consumed it. The ancient Egyptians preferred it. Kenny the farmer from Michigan ate it. It is the ‘life giving’ grain mentioned in the Illiad.  I began wondering if corn had a similar origin as a grain which also contained life giving properties. For me the northern highland teosinte was the North American Zea. It too was untended and found growing in the rocks and cracks of a high elevation mountain desert. It too was shared cross culturally as a form of popcorn and made into porridge. This was the Zea I was looking for.  Here is what I found.

Plate one; Zea mays var. mexicana selections

Plate two; Zea mays var. mexicana x pop and sweet corn

Plate three; Zea mays var. mexicana x pop corn mixtures

Plate four: Zea mays var. mexicana x heirloom purple sweet corn

Plate five: We’re going to need a smaller sheller. Not adapted to modern or even a quasi-primitive hand held corn technology. Is Zea a grain without a means to make it useful on a broader scale?

My experiences:

  • dwarf annual grass
  • 30 day corn
  • dark purple pigmentation in foliage and kernels
  • popcorn from an ancient grain
  • diverse progeny in an open pollinated population
  • low water-xerophyte of a common food plant
  • Nutrient and Mineral Dense Grain
  • self-seeding
  • freedom of expression-you cannot stop it
  • continuation of wild corn without boundaries
  • new evolutionary and ecological trajectories for ZEA.
  • lunch
Teosinte corn bread made with 25 percent Ashworth sweet corn flour. Ground in an old Vitamix blender. Like grinding buckshot, the kernels were incredibly hard and heated up the metal top quickly. The sound could be heard for miles! I wore protective eye and ear gear. The flavor was mineral like with a strong corny flavor. Betty Crocker recipe.

Enjoy,

Kenneth Asmus

NEOSINTE-TEOSINTE SEEDS AVAILABLE

Available only within the U.S.A. Supporting my seed sales helps me continue my search for Zea. Thank you.

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The Year of the Buffalo Gourd

Posted on December 20, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment

Of the many crop plants that I grew for my retail nursery, the buffalo gourd was one of the most fascinating. Frequently I searched for perennial versions of common annual food plants like squash. The buffalo gourd fell into this gourd-squash arena as a perennial plant. It was not cultivated and I think I was one of the first few nurseries to produce and sell the plants. It was a remarkable vine with super clean tidy foliage completely immune to animal and insect predation. What I didn’t know was that this crop plant was not a food plant as is. Like many gourds it was said to contain high amounts of alkaloids along with bitter compounds and saponins deep within the seeds and flesh. At the time, I quickly put the plant in my nursery catalog category as “Cover Plants.” The buffalo gourd fulfills the green cover aspect of a fast growing perennial vine with large tuberous roots and the ability to grow in hot climates, dry soils and uncultivated environments. It was the coolest looking vine that I had ever grown. Even the flowers were amazing and very showy. The smell from the foliage was pungent and difficult to work around. Just brushing up against the leaves sent out the message of stay away please.

I had first read about buffalo gourd in one of my Michigan botany books being found not too long ago near a railroad line 40 miles from my farm. It was thought of as a kind of botanical fluke in many ways as it seemed so out of place that many thought it was brought there by the early Native Americans to the region. In southwestern Michigan, we have remnant prairies in many places. I was fortunate to visit some of these locations with an ecology professor in my class of “Ecology of Southwestern Michigan” taught at Western Michigan University by Dr Richard Brewer. I began to wonder if I could grow it and see how it performed as a perennial squash. It was Eric Toensmeir’s first seed company that came to the rescue along with the great J.L. Hudson Seedsman. (Originally a Michigan seed company) I tried to coax a customer in Oklahoma to send me a box of buffalo gourds she had found along a creek bank and creek bottoms on her property. She said it looked like a field of golfballs in the fall. This type of location is typical for buffalo gourd where ticks, poinsonous snakes and in ground bees make a living. They don’t care how much you were paid to harvest gourds either. Cash doesn’t give you special access. She said no thank you. I fully understood. Her teenage son refused as well. But wow, a field of golf balls? I told another Oklahoma customer of mine I wanted to vacation in Oklahoma to collect gourds. I suggested the state promote gourd hunting. It doesn’t run away and no one will eat it. But it does make a nice rattle after drying.

I began propagation and put as many of the plants near my barn on a slope of a hill with mulch mats around them. There they grew for about a decade. The moisture levels in the soil during winter and the cold hardiness was an issue. The last few plants finally grew large enough to fruit. Only two fruits were produced and finally the planting died out entirely. When it came to actually taste testing the fruit and seeds and you get past the fetid smell of the foliage, it is not possible to eat. It is extremely bitter and rich in saponins. That soapy feeling lingers. Just putting my tongue on the cut fruit took a good five minutes to recover despite several rinsings. My employees noticed me hung over the sink with the water running full blast. The seeds once dried are equally as bad. I never had enough to roast or boil for further tests. I was kind of thankful for that. If you were to go to the Wikipedia page of Buffalo Gourd you will see the word ‘edible’ over and over again. You will read how the fruit is eaten by humans and animals without blinking an eye. Why is there such a discrepancy between my experience and the reader guided writings of Wikipedia?

I have several theories. Direct experience is left out entirely. Not mentioned is the specifics in processing the seed for oil, feed or the cultural ties of the native Americans and how or if they processed them for food or medicine or both. Many vendors of the seeds say point blank it is a poisonous fruit and seed and should not be eaten. There is a little wiggle room according to some in that the immature fruits can be eaten yet you do not see this in the literature of historical use. My green gourds never ripenened fully in Michigan and did not turn yellow. I did not roast or boil the seeds and process them in some way to make them palatable. I had a small seed source from one plant which is a very small of sample. Maybe I am missing the bigger picture. You do see the reaseach on biofuels, root harvest and potential for its edible oil but without any whisper of what the heck are those bitter alkaloids and saponins doing in there and how to remove them easily?! Thank goodness for YouTube were only direct experience will do. Both a forager and a permaculturist in their attempts to make it edible say “Nothing to eat. Move along. You could get sick and die too.” If you take a look at Moerman’s “Native American Ethnobotany” there are many important uses for it’s medicinal properties by many tribes in North America. There are very few mentions for its food value of which one is listed under unspecified. The resources needed to make buffalo gourd safe to eat would have taken considerable time and energy to prepare is one reason. The other is there were already the edible squashes and pumpkins in North America which were already completely free of compounds damaging to the human physiology and they tasted delicious. Flavor makes it happen.

Not to give up entirely, I purchased both seeds and plants from as many vendors as I could find this fall. In the range of a widely distributed plant like the buffalo gourd, the first thing you will notice there is a lot of other gourds called buffalo gourd. And those labeled with scientific nomenclature also show quite a bit of variation whether it is in southern California or Texas. The plant is also found in Ohio. There is likely some misidentified plants too. Botanists tend to dislike that but to me it is another discovery. I don’t care if its misidentified. I kind like that someone found something and they too do not know what it is. The reason for this is the buffalo gourd is a complex hybrid of two or three plants and stabilized on its own due to isolation over time. If you bring some of those other plants in its vicinity again, then the hybrids will spontaneously form again. To me this shows that the variations could easily produce a pumpkin or winter squash. It is just you don’t want to be the first person to make a pie out of it and feed your family. Scientific testing would play a strong role in the perennial pumpkin idea to make sure it is not toxic or damaging in any way. Another aspect of it should be noted: is this really of value? How can this benefit people including farmers that grow it? Or is it locked into your private breeding dream rich in fantasies with little effect ?

The buffalo gourd represents the dynamic nature of plants and their ability to change over time. It contains within it the seeds of a delicious edible squash and oil crop. That edible crop plant today is not fully expressed in terms of its outward population and in terms of human applications. It is medicine for the environment but it is not food. You could create a new crop from it as a perennial pumpkin or squash as food. You never know what you will find until you cultivate the plant and experience its natural tendencies. Once a long time ago at my farm I successfully hybridized a wild form of pumpkin by accidentally crossing two very distinct species, one of which was poisonous. The results were amazing. A single vine grew over an half an acre in size tapping down on each node an immense root system. The result was a completely seedless squash. The fruit had a nice aroma. It had a slight bitterness to it. No seeds were formed out of a whole bushel of fruit. I found that very fascinating, Eureka! I had found hollow pumpkins with no way to replicate it. It highlights the power of plants moving in unseen directions. They are following a trajectory of least resistance and maximum effect. This in turn connects you to the buffalo gourd with the goal of a perennial pumpkin and squash. I truly believe I saw the beginning of a one plant per acre pumpkin capable of reproducing itself from its perennial roots tapping into the rich soils and subsoils so critical for human health.

2026 is the year of the Buffalo Gourd. We will grow deep, spread far and be fruitful. Like all plants, the buffalo gourd improves everything it touches. I will try to follow its path and do the same. Join me.

Cucurbita foetidissima  Michigan Oikos Tree Crops Farm

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

Diversity Discovered: The Wild Gourd https://biologicalenrich.blog/2024/11/09/diversity-discovered-the-wild-gourd/
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Persimmon Ideals and Species Fruits

Posted on November 10, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment
Start with the seed.

The wild Missouri black gooseberry was a plant I discovered under the powerlines near my farm when I first started my nursery. I reproduced it from seeds and found unique high yielding individuals in the populations. This was one way to not transmit virus and rust by always starting disease free with the seed. Usually Ribes are produced by cuttings. It was easy to grow and spread to other places on my farm. Under cultivation this species fruit excelled with high yields and delicious fruit on a long lived rather thorny plant. This is the Power of the species fruits free of breeding.

My farm is dedicated to creating small collections of species of fruits. Whether they came from the wild or a cultivated collection, they were of great interest and value to me. Species fruits can be more than just something to breed and create varieties from. The species can be used as it exists in nature with no selection whatsoever eliminating the need for clonal reproduction. This can provide a means to spread and reproduce via animals which in turn ecologically enrich your land. Each successive generation becomes more adapted than its previous incarnation. The plant is essentially ‘gaining knowledge’ and broadening its genetic base with increasing complexity as time goes on.  This can be the part where a human can play a role to help shape and form the plants in an edible world of unique culinary possibilities. This is the tree crop agroforestry model of a food rich landscape redefined. Here is the breakdown on much of what occurs at my farm. It falls under the banner of ecological regeneration and crop development as one force of nature. It includes all the world’s food plants and was a key into the world of the Diospyros genus.

It begins with the seed and a vector of transportation.

Birds do it all. From eating fruit to gaining health and then deposting the seeds with a bit of fertilizer I soon began seeing the benefits of the flocks of cedar waxwings at my farm. Gray squirrels were particularly good at expanding my shellbark hickory plantings. White footed mice hoard plum seeds away from the original plantings. Some are not consumed. Blue jays drop pecan nuts and they get covered in leaf litter. The whitetailed deer step on the seeds and bury them in mulch as they graze and fertilize their way across your land.

Plants begin to grow in increasing complexity as a community of opposite values.

Scarification occurring within of the birds intestinal track along with the cold and warm dormancies allow the plant to grow in its location. Think of mulberry. Mulberry trees are said to be all bird planted. Nuts and plum seeds go through dormancy sprouting a long tap root in the spring. Some seedlings fade with time. Others are protected by multiflora roses and honeysuckle which make a mini-nursery in their understory. This is the new community replacing my pasture.

The plants begin to fruit even in the shade of other trees and the rather compressed foliage making best of what light is available. More ‘vectors’ move in to fulfill the transition to forest.

The tree creates more fruit to be further assisted by future generations of birds and mammals. Humans also may take an interest in making something delicious from it. They begin to care for it in some small way to make it more productive while creating new culinary possibilities. This is the new orchard scenario where humans gain strength and health as a by product of random plants in unusual locations. The apple will fruit in the shade of an oak tree. The species is not an orchard usually but could be used that way. It has far more flexibility than the clonal fruits we know. During pruning in the winter, I leave specific seedling trees and prune them skyward and cut to the ground other shrubs to enhance their fruiting capabilities.

This wild apple was grown from seed from a gratted tree called ‘Hewes’. Hewes is a larger form of crabapple called Virginia crab and used specifically for cider. By selecting for healthy foliage and stronger growth, I was able to find heavier bearing fruiting trees with smaller fruit free of insects and diseases. The flavor was changed dramtically making fresh eating difficult. Too much tartness yet perfect for cider and syrup.
A wild form of pear found in Florida represents an Asian pear species where small fruit size along with astrigency and tartness create the perfect crabpear not possible to eat fresh yet used today to make the Florida Pie Pear. Once the fruit blets the astringency diminishes and fruit can be used as a pulp rich in high density pear fruit flavor. Pretty much the opposite of the pears we eat today. This is a species fruit able to create flavors without being in an orchard system with extremely small inputs to maintain it.

Biological novelty is the key to successful species fruit cultivation.

PERSIMMON IDEALS

I followed these same ideals with the persimmon genus. The persimmon genus has 500 plus species of tropical and evergreen trees and shrubs. There is a dozen hardy persimmon species but only one of commercial significance. I wondered why there was such a low number. Seeds of the other species outside of the American species virginiana were difficult to obtain.

My line up seedling species persimmons included:

Diospyros kaki, Diospyros kaki var. silvestris, Diospyros oleifera, Diospyros cathayensis, Diospyros duclouxii, Diospyros lotus, Diospyros texana, Diospyros rhombifolia 

Diospyros rhombifolia
Diospyros rhombifolia


The seedlings of the above species were planted in my field in carefully tended spacings. Today only the Diamond-leaf or Princess persimmon, Diospyros rhombifolia exists. It is considered a zone 6-7ish plant but likely it can make a zone 5 once established. For years the plants grew slowly. Today they take up a small but growing row of stoloniferous shrubs up to two foot tall. No fruit yet but it does look like a few flower buds exist. I end up visiting the Trees and Shrubs Online every now and then to see what the fruiting possibilities may look like in the future. It gives me inspiration with the Princess persimmon. It is interesting that this species is thicket forming like the American plum. This species is rather new to North America and there are very few locations that have fruiting individuals. This species could be used as a persimmon berry.

Only a new seed will bring a new crop. It will not be clonal in nature until a new species fruit comes forward in unexpected directions of ecological proportions. It is from there a cultivated fruit can emerge. From that point, it can be a self sustaining wild population increasing in diversity and complexity. It will be shaped by the laws of nature of climate, plants and the animals surrounding its new and ever expanding domain wherever we decide to take it.

Enjoy.

Kenneth Asmus

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Persimmon Roots and Their Underground Network

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment
‘Magnifico’ American Persimmon, on the top of a steep sandy slope.

In the beginning, I had a pasture. It was a good pasture used for hay to feed livestock. It consisted of steep hills with flat parts which was almost barren of trees. All I had to do was add trees. I had twelve trees of black cherry, green ash and black oak on thirteen acres. As time went on and I continued my sneak-it-in-when-I-had-time plantings, I soon found myself surrounded by trees and fruits of all types from many different continents. I would like to think that I had expansive knowledge of what I was doing while creating an affect I was fully aware of. In reality, it was far more complex than I thought it would be and my rather carefree attitude was a good state of mind. When I continued one of my apricot plantings on the farm’s steepest slope, I noticed walnut roots over 50 feet away from the parent tree dipping into the mulch resevoirs around the trees. One very vigorous hybrid black and english walnut tree seemed particularly good at finding these mulch and fertilizer repositories.This would in turn increase the walnut root mass around the apricot trees I was planting. You would see lots of root hairs in these areas with a main structural root intersecting the mulch. When I would cut them off and plant new apricots in this area, it was only a matter of time that both walnut roots and as well as nearby persimmon roots would encase the downward slope of this area. Eventually the apricot trees took hold and grew around the other roots tapping into the sand and rock filled soil. In the middle of the farm over two hundred feet away, I began finding the jet black roots of American persimmon. My farm was being encased by persimmon roots. This network took only 25 years. I am pretty sure my farm is now the root highway of cosmic proportions. You just don’t see it unless you dig a hole and notice the jet black roots.

Today when I dig, there is woody plant roots everywhere. I still have the wild asparagus, orchard grass and alfalfa roots but now there is a larger community of plants spreading out in all directions. The roots of these trees and shrubs have transformed the vegetation to the point, I am now discovering many new species of plants never seen before on my farm and a few not found in Michigan. This type of biodiversity is a mixture of native and non-native plants each benefiting the other. Without one, the other would not be there. I could not do a better job. You can ‘set the stage’ of ecology but the ‘actors’ come on their own. Their performance will only add to the next layer to arrive in successive order far greater than you anticipated. Ecological integration is the key to biodiversity. The American persimmon is a good example. Once established it brings in a huge array of animals all searching primarily for its sugary treat. Here come the squirrels, chipmunks, birds, deer, skunks, racoons, neighbors pig, coyotes, cats, groundhogs, weasel and garter snakes. Everyone is welcome in the shade of the persimmon. It can only give. It’s only natural that other plants want to live in it’s shade.

Amur honeysuckle under the American persimmon. This species is pruned to the ground every now and then which then adds to the organic matter in my soil while feeding the deer with a high protein browse as it resprouts in the summer. This is my fertilizer for the persimmons. Amur feeds American. American feeds Amur with its leaf litter.

Magnifico American Persimmon

One of the methods I use for selecting seedling trees is to look at the leaf of a plant. For American persimmons, I would choose seedling plants with large leaves that remained free of any foliar diseases. One seed source good at generating this type of tree was the Pipher tree in Illinois. (A special thanks to Ralph Krieder, Jr. for collecting and selling them to me for many years.) Magnifco was from this seed source. The large fruits start dropping in mid-October and are down by the first week in November. The fruits are clean and firm when fully ripe and free of astringency. It has a nice mild flavor and is of course sweet. It averages 5-6 seeds per fruit. The fruit is produced in great abundance and drops when leaf fall occurs. A few fruit will remain in the tree in November.

Pipher seedling taken at my farm. Good production is expected from this seed source. It was also a very winter hardy selection with zero seedlings dying to winter damage compared to Missouri seed sources.

Persimmons rarely self seed. Once the fruit falls, it begins fermenting. Unlike apples or pears there is no cellulose outer casing to protect it against alcohol and excessive moisture and soon the alcohol passes through the seed coat and the embryo is destroyed. Seeds consumed by deer seem to pass through their digestive tract and those too are destroyed. The only ‘natural’ seed dispersal may be by squirrels moving the fruit and partially eating them and deer stepping on the fruit crushing and smashing it in the ground removing a few seeds outside of its pulpy enclosure. One way to random plant of kindness would be to throw the crushed fruit into leaf litter. The seed itself is not eaten by most mammals making it an ideal plant to direct seed. Just cover the fruit with 1/2 inch of soil in the fall. Specific individual plants seem to have a greater propensity to spread by runners. This is more apparent on a hillside with thin topsoil or there is damage due to herbicide or loss of topsoil where the roots are exposed to light in some way.

The American persimmon seed without its coat.

Enjoy.

Kenneth Asmus

Imperial moth: Image from my farm in southwestern Michigan. Host plants include American Persimmon
Box turtles are common in this area filled with pear, persimmon and pawpaw. They often hibernate under the trees.You can find their exit holes in the spring if you’re lucky. My guess is they were led there by their noses and the smell of fruit as the location is rather isolated from other more conducive habitats. You can find their bite marks on the fruit once in a while. They may also eat the nearby plums in this area.

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The Very Wild Texas Peach

Posted on October 18, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment
Texas peach flowering. Surrounding plants include Korean nut pine, Nuttall oak, pawpaw and hybrid American chestnuts.

The Texas peach represents a great human plant introduction into the southwestern U.S. native flora. It integrates into its surrounding environment and continues to broaden its genetic diversity. When botanists first looked at the peach thriving in the southeastern U.S., they thought it was part of the indigenous plants in North America. Even Bartram believed. Started by the Spanish explorers and later discovered and used by the Native Americans, it was continually being moved throughout the plains states. Over time this wild progeny of Prunus persica may have even crossed with the native desert peach, Prunus andersonii making it even more adaptable to its new home. The genetic connections grew stronger over time. Who knows what is found within it’s genetic make-up? I tried twice to grow the desert peach, Prunus andersonii at my farm in Michigan. It was not possible for the same reason I cannot grow cactus. The moisture levels in the soil and air are too much along with the cold hardiness. Texas peach comes true from seed and is a gold mine of evolutionary history. My single representative has no insect damage or disease issues so common in cultivated peaches. The small white tart flavored peaches ripen in October and drop freely from the tree in perfect condition. This is not a peach we know. It’s small. It’s white. It’s furry. It is a juicy peach rich in flavor. It is tart. The Haven series are not here. The patented Jim Friday peaches are also absent. Wild peaches are found throughout the world. Some were distributed by the Romans in the early trade routes pitching seeds along the way into the high altitudes of unamed mountains. Today Iowa boasts a germplasm from these connections grown as the clingstone white peach found in a ditch abandoned and almost forgotten until the turn of the century. We may not recognize it with our eyes but one taste will bring us to a larger and more delicious peach universe.

After all it’s a peach of a plant.

L-Heritage Iowa peach, Waukee 1920’s. Wild Texas peach 1500’s. Southern Texas

From pit to pit, the peach continues its journey outside the confines of plant breeding and the peach industry. Like the wild apple, only nature is involved with its ability to change over time to adapt to new locations untended by humans.

From the level of the pit, the peach much like the lotus seed can have a dormancy lasting decades until the right conditions for germination. The pit itself has a high modulus of elasticity making the seed coat impervious to breaking. Only the suture can split and release the seed intact. At my farm, I’ve noticed that even squirrels and chipmunks do not bother. Every once in a while you will see the incisor marks on the outside of the pit. It’s futile. The chipmunk tells his friends, ‘Won’t work. Modulus of elasticity too high.’

Wild Texas peach

The pits slowly split along the sutures allowing moisture to permeate the seed. If the seed is not fully mature, a warm period will allow the embryo to continue to grow until finally a cold dormancy sprouts the seed. It could be a two or three year process to germinate under natural conditions. We use to put them under the bench grinder to speed germination by grinding off a portion of the suture.

A cold and lightly moist period of 60-90 days will then cause the seed to sprout overcoming any biochemical restrictions to germination.

Wild Texas peach anyone can propagate. Take a pit and plant it. Paul Friday peaches are patented, restricted and unavailable to the common person to propagate. The pits are protected by laws.

Patented varieities are not allowed to be used as seed sources. It’s off limits. The peach is in legal limbo there. Seed strains from wild germplasm are free to follow your share the peach attitude to all who wish to experience your discovery without such limits. Could someone make an orchard of pit grown peaches? That is a good idea. Now a few trees can produce a colony of like minded plants covering hundreds of acres. No need for grafted peaches all cloned in uniformity forever. Break the dam of genetic stagnation of clonal peaches and allow the peach to flourish in what we think is non-peach environments.

Wild Texas Peach. Small, furry and white clingstone. Easy to raise.
The way we experience peaches today. Red Haven. Freestone, big fruit, difficult to raise.

The Red Haven was developed using seed grown heirloom peaches in the beginning. Now it is cloned but still open to grown from seed plants should you want to test your peach pit ideas. Why not?

A Peach Pit Discovery: Peaches First Introduction Into North America: Link below:

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/100-years/object/peach-pits/

Florida Museum Peach Pit Exhibit: When Peaches Were First Introduced Into North America.

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

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Tree Crop Pioneers and New American Persimmon Varieties

Posted on October 15, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment

One of my first persimmon seed sources for trees at my nursery was from a persimmon cannery in Mitchell, Indiana called Dymple’s Delight. I used the cannery waste for producing trees. The seeds were extracted prior to cooking. The seeds cost six dollars a pound and I purchased 50 lbs. which was a lot of money for me back then. (Mid-1980’s pricing.) They primarily used Early Golden as their main variety but they also used specific wild collected trees for their canned pulp. As time went on I found other individuals who had small plantings of grafted selections known for their higher quality fruits. All of these selections were discovered as wild trees within the persimmon’s northern range. The late Ralph Krieder, Jr., a great tree crop pioneer, had many of these selections growing as well as friends who allowed him to collect fruit. I purchased lots of seed from him from several cultivars. Eventually I made the trip down to visit him and a day later we found ourselves at the late Jim Claypools’ American persimmon plantings. Ralph and I took some time and also visited the original Pipher tree which was a giant tree all alone in a front yard in a small town in Illinois. I grew a lot of seedlings from that one tree which proved to be a great winter hardy seedling producer.

L-R Ralph Kreider, Jr. James Claypool holding his book Planting Record Diospyros hybrids

At that time, Jim was continuing his breeding project and evaluating all his fruiting crosses including using them in his favorite recipes. His breeding was aided by another horticulturist, Professor J.C. McDaniel from the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois. He would go to him for advice once in a while when he was in doubt. He would say “Make the cross Jim.” He said for the persimmon, the right male tree is critical on what the seedlings will be. Since the male tree has no fruit, it was not an easy choice but he had honed in on a few. It took time to figure that out. The one thing I found inspiring about the planting was he was taking out a few rows of corn every year to expand the long 1/4 mile rows. Jim also worked out a system for grading persimmons and cared deeply about what you thought they tasted like. He said nothing as you snacked away. He wanted to know which selections were the most appreciated. He didn’t care about his own tastes but obviously used it as a source of direction. All of his crosses were done with great care and determination. He told me he was concerned about inbreeding depression and changing the overall health of the tree making it susceptible to foliar diseases. I was told later that this issue is apparent in his orchard some of the years making the tree loose its foliage early. Besides the amazing flavors and high quality fruit, the one thing I noticed when visiting is that his location in central Illinois is over a month ahead of southern Michigan. You have to tack on another 30 days of ripening to even out the ripening period. This is often lost in the descriptions of varietal persimmons where ‘early’ is a subjective term spanning a subjective space in time. (It’s a paradox in the space time continuum of nursery lingo.) Today you will see some of Jim’s selections in the nursery trade under copyrighted named selections and once in a while a series of confusing numbers and letters.

Jim Claypool’s American Persimmon plantings

By the time I made this visit, my persimmon seedling planting was near completion at my farm. Although we did not collect many fruit for seeds, that did not matter. Obviously, that was not why I was there. I now had a vision going forward and it had little to do with my nursery. After having lunch with Ralph at a local diner, I drove home contented with a much greater scope of understanding the American persimmon and those who have unearthed its sweet treasures for all to enjoy.

Oranges American Persimmon

ORANGES

Firm fruit, low seed count and no astringency even when picked from the tree, “Oranges” is a great representative of the American Persimmon. Bright orange color with a red blush on one side. A light bloom covers the fruit. Along with the green cap which stays on and doesn’t discolor this selection is perfect for packing in trays and sold as fresh fruit. The dense sweet fruit has only 3-4 seeds compared to the wild forms of American persimmon which can have 8. “ Oranges “maintain its color without shriveling. But like all persimmons, it shrinks down slowly over a month period. Ripening starts in late September and drops quickly within two weeks. Heavy yields to the point the branches hang with ‘orange’ like fruits. Earlier than other cultivars with a great flavor and texture.

Oranges American Persimmon
Date-Me American Persimmon

DATE-ME

Selected American persimmon that ripens and dries in the tree turning into a date like consistency very quickly. Chewy and sweet the orange fruit turns darker as fall goes on. It has 4 seeds per fruit. All of the fruit drops fully by the first week in October which is prior to frost usually. This is a low moisture level fruit with a sweet and non astringent flavor which is easily stored. It is fibrous but easy to chew with a low moisture level. It may need additional drying for long term storage. It does not ferment on the ground. The yields are very high with fruit clustered all along the branches. The early ripening along with the date like consistency is an excellent storage persimmon.

Date-Me American Persimmon
An American Persimmon seedling at my farm.

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

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Two New American Persimmon Varieties

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment

Starting in the mid 1980’s I began growing American persimmon trees on my farm in southwestern Michigan. I initially grew them within my nursery to sell as seedlings. Eventually I planted many in my open hay field surrounding my farm creating a hedgerow around 1600 ft. long. I had never tasted an American persimmon and only knew one extremely large tree with no fruit on a nearby college campus. I was using only knowledge in books and other people’s experiences to guide me. Eventually at a fruit growers meeting I was able to taste the fruit from other grafted varieties grown in Michigan. The limiting factor was the length of the growing season and having the fruits ripen fully on the tree. Unlike other fruit you cannot pick them early and ripen them indoors. They need the warm sun of fall until the fruit drops off on its own. I remember one tree crop pioneer who lived in my hometown of Saginaw told me his “Meader” persimmons were perched on a radiator in his home. “Ken. We need to reevaluate this.” I had a “NC-10”persimmon that did the same thing. Both of these are considered super northern varieties too yet fully ripened fruits were not possible. I am starting the process of naming the selections I planted so many years ago. When I had them in production, we used the seeds from these varieties to produce seedlings. All of them originally were grown from the northern most range in Illinois and Indiana.

Sugar Cream American Persimmon

Sugar Cream is the most luscious of the fruits with high sugar and bright orange color with only 2-3 seeds. The fruits ripen over a month period starting in mid to late September. The tree is a yearly heavy producer. The leaves are very large. The tree is very vigorous. It can be reproduced by grafting. The seeds are valuable in this cross because of the unique flavor profile and texture plus it’s much earlier than Early Golden.

Sugar Cream American Persimmon
Tango American Persimmon

Tango represents an almost seed free American persimmon. Small fruited-an inch in size-Tango has a rich orange pulp free of the usual compliment of 8 seeds per fruit. This variety is very heavy bearing and begins dropping in early to mid September. It is much earlier than Early Golden. This particular variety can be grafted. The seedlings can provide an avenue to develop a fully seedless fruit much like the origins of the Kaki persimmon varieties. This tree was totally seedless in the past. It would be worth testing to see if it is a self fertile variety. The yields are very high and can fluctuate some years to the point of limb breakage and then back again to medium heavy. This variety is not as soft as Sugar Cream and doesn’t smush easy as it falls from 40 feet up.

Tango American Persimmon
Tango American Persimmon Tree

American persimmon has a large range and easily could be commercially produced organically in southern Michigan as a fresh fruit. Clonal varieties could play a role in smoothing out the acceptance of the fruit. The farther north you go, the shorter the season and the shorter the ripening period.The tree would grow fine but the fruit would be high in astringency and not useable. I happen to grow them in one of the cloudiest areas in Michigan similar to Grand Rapids. The zone of hardiness is fine but ripening of the fruit is the priority and may be lost if you have cool falls. Frost is not the ripening agent. Heat is. In the last 30 years of production of fruit, there was one year that little fruit ripened on my farm. Most years the fruit ripens to maturity but some selections are more reliable in this attribute. Those selections will be highlighted in future blog posts.

I have noticed the ripening followed the sugar content of Concord grapes which surround my location. If the sugar content does not get high enough in the grapes, then there is no harvest for juice. This is very similar to American persimmon and follows the degree days above 50F. Otherwise it’s a ‘no whistle week’ of dryness and mouth numbing astringency. This year the reflection of sun by the Canadian wildfires delayed everything by 1-2 weeks and pushed it back despite the high temperatures in the summer and fall. There are many influences in ripening the American persimmon fruit. Even after 40 years, I learn so much from them.

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

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Watermelons Grow in Trees at My Farm

Posted on September 27, 2025 by Biologicalenrichment
Wild watermelon at my tree crop farm growing up and over my American plum hedgerow.

One of my first attempts at growing watermelons was a huge success. I was working full time at a garden center and much like all of my co-workers I had a large garden. My garden extended the width of the lawn running along a horse pasture separated by three strands of barbed wire fencing. Three horses would frequently hang out in front of our home and if they could reach, nibble a few of the vegetable plants. At the end of the season, I had way too many ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelons so I began tossing them over the fence for the horses. I felt it was a reciprocal relationship as they provided me with fertilizer for the garden. To my surprise, they consumed them quickly. Sometimes late at night with our windows open, you would hear their flatulence fill the calm night air. My wife suggested to me maybe I should back off on the quantity I was pitching over the fence. Good idea. It was keeping us awake. This ‘Sugar Baby’ experience led me down the road to the power of a annual vine crop and its possibilities in agroforestry. It could feed people and animals all at once merging the power and longevity of tree crops into animal health via annual crop plants. The seeds could be roasted and eaten. They could potentially self seed creating a thick lush cover under the oak trees.

As time went on, I had to refine my ideas of cultivation of the ‘wild’. It was refined and defined in a way that would allow the crop to grow to its fullest even as a uncultivated food plant. Like groundnuts and Jerusalem artichokes, I had to expand it to undeveloped species level crops that are currently used and highly bred by modern agriculture. I wanted to see what the species offered in terms of edibility and growing characteristics. Michigan is not the epicenter of watermelon production and the climate favors only certian varieties. I was searching for the abandoned or feral watermelons. Better yet, I wanted the species watermelon before it became the giant sweet red basketball sized fruit sitting on pallets in the grocery store. The watermelon still has wild versions represented in South Africa. There are also many satellite populations scattered around the world carried by humans as a means for survival in harsh desert climates. Australia has a few. Botanists are confused. How did that get here? There is even some information that watermelon was also found in North America as a desert plant used by people to survive long treks across unforbidding landscapes. I was fortunate to get seeds from a seed company that had access to the original wild watermelons in their native ranges. I began by growing only a few plants at first. When the vines extended up to 100 feet in length and grew up and over my American plum hedge, I knew I was home free. Here you have the potential for using the watermelon for both its edible seeds and its fruits for humans and animals alike. There was one hiccup. The fruit was like a juicy piece of cardboard barely sweet. It was heavy in fiber and rather difficult to chew. The fruit itself could be dropped at Dave Lettermen like high altitudes off tall buildings and it would not even crack. For our own amusement we tried climbing up the tallest ladder and dropping it on the driveway. Nothing happened. Some forms were bitter and had compounds within them that were considered poisonous in large amounts. When the intern working for me helped me taste test the melons it became a trial of nerves who could last the longest. Finally we broke down laughing after a few dozen fruit. The vast majority of the seedlings were edible but had little flavor. They were more like lightly sweet cucumbers. Processing watermelons for seed was exceedingly slow. I did not have a Dybig Seed Processor and that time which meant we had to smash watermelons via the Gallagher method. This involves a sledge hammer and soil tamper. (If you are in the front row, wear plastic over your clothes.)

Baby wild watermelons are cute. Cute in the evolutionary sense: the long hairs slow evaporation as it develops a thick impervious rind to protect its progeny.

I no longer maintain my collection of watermelons. I still dream about them. Every now and then late at night I hear the sound of horses in front of my home. Once in a while, I walk by the plum trees at my farm where they made their first giant leap into the trees. There they hung like green volleyballs smiling at me with their rich seeds and fiber. Who would eat this I would ask myself? Did I find something of value? I may never know. But I do know this: I found another plant that could do it all. Will we accept its offer?

Some fruits were volleyball in size.
Other seedlings produced fruit rich in seeds with bitter pulp.
Hulless watermelon seeds provide an avenue for a crunchy high protein and oil seed similar to hulless pumpkins. To extract this type of seed is very simple. You crack the fruit and let sit for a few days. The pulp turns to a jelly like substance and you then just rinse off the gel. The seeds have a light peppery flavor.
Many of the largest fruited types had seeds with very hard seed coats.
The hulless seeded fruit are high in bitter alkaloids. It is a type of fruit to crack open and let the pulp break down into a clear liquid which is easily washed off. They are small fruit averaging 3-5 inches in diameter. The vines appear to be somewhat shade tolerant and have potential as an understory crop for use as an edible oil and seeds.

The seeds are reaching out to you. Time to regenerate the world.

Enjoy. Kenneth Asmus

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