Persimmon

MMR,

Just give it more times and they will leaf out. Next Spring with one season of growth, they will leaf out a little earlier then the newly planted trees.

Tony

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Be careful about “pushing” an asian Persimmon fruit tree - esp. young ones. They tend to be stubborn and grouchy.

tony & Richard,

Thank you both of you. I will wait and do regular care for those plants as normal for them. No exceptional treatment and no “pushing”! Thanks!!

Yes, thanks @Richard and @tonyOmahaz5 ! Good to know the persimmon pecularity! @tonyOmahaz5 what Persimmon are you growing as you are in zone 5.

@MMR_Tulsa6B I too got my HanaFuyu from Ison around the same time as you

@Roundface, good to know!

I will inform at this thread if I see any change at my Fuyu plant.

@MMR_Tulsa6B thanks. I will do the same! Here is wishing both of us good luck!

RF.

I got some in the ground and some are potted.

In the ground:

Nikita’s Gift hybrid persimmom. Grow on the South side of my house for micro climate and no North wind. Winter protection by covering the tree with painter cloth and hang a high watts light bulb in the center of the tree and only turn it on if the temp drops below -4F.

7 yrs old Nikita’s Gift hybrid persimmom

8 yrs old IchI Non-astringent Asian persimmon. Same winter protection as the NG above.

6 yrs old Rossyanka Hybrid persimmom without any Winter protection.

I also have 2 yrs old Sheng, Saijo, and Kyung San Ban Si Aka Korea in the ground buried a foot beyond the graft union in case of Winter killed at ground level and re-sprout with the grafted varieties instead of the native rootstocks. All these also get Winter protection like the above Nikita’s Gift.

I also got a bunch in pots grafted last year: Izu, Giombo, M.Jiro, 20th Century, Kawabata, Pulu (PersimmonBob Name this one. he found it at his Grandmother place I forgot where, maybe Texas),
T4R 25 (seedling from UC Irvine persimmon collection possibly to be name after the late Dr Schroeder who was the head of the persimmom program there.

I will grafts more in a few weeks from the scions I got from UC DAVIS.

Tony

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It seems that your question has been more than answered, but I just wanted to let you know that I ordered one last year and it arrived in late March and I planted it immediately. Just like yours, it didn’t come out of dormancy for MONTHS. I called the seller and they said it was fairly common and that persimmons sometimes go a whole year before coming out of dormancy the following spring. I don’t know about that, but my fuyu didn’t break until JULY 1. Even then it grew every so slowly. This year, however, it broke dormancy about the same time in March as my other trees and it got off to a great start.

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@thecityman thanks so much for letting us who are new to growing persimmons know that it can take that long

I had a hana fuyu that didn’t leaf out until a good month after all my other persimmons (native and Asians). That was last year, coming out of its second winter in the ground. I think the late start of growth was due to winter or early spring cold injury, though. When it finally started to grow it grew fairly well considering the less favorable weather (soil moisture, etc.) conditions of the later start but then about a month/month and a half after that it suddenly just withered and died back to the graft. Persimmons do break dormancy late, but even my latest/slowest persimmons (which seem to be more a factor of micro-climate than anything else as they’re all in the same area at the bottom of an east facing slope) have been leafed out for at least a couple weeks now. Further north persimmons might still be dormant, but I’d suspect cold injury if a tree was more than a couple weeks behind other persimmons in the same region, at least based on my very limited experience.

Cold injury can be a problem in marginal zones. I have Chocolate and Coffeecake Asian persimmons on Diaspyros Lotus rootstock planted in-ground in my Zone-7a backyard with no protection. They survived this past winter with flying colors.

I also had a Meader American persimmon on Diaspyros Virginiana rootstock planted in-ground at my mountain orchard, Zone-6b. Meader was bred in New Hampshire and is supposed to be the most cold-hardy American persimmon scion available. Two winters ago (the really bad winter), the Meader scion died (split down the middle by the cold). The rootstock survived and shot out new sprouts the following May.

i see @Matt_in_Maryland. I am in zone 6/A. I prefer persimmons that are non-astringent, ones I can eat when they are firm like apples. i hope my Hana-fuyu will do Ok in container as it is hardy to zone7

@tonyOmahaz5 Wow, that is some nice persimmon specimens you have there! Are you in zone 5? just curious? I too intend to do some grafting (starting with apples end of July) Opting for bud/T grafting. what type of grafting will U be doing?

@Roundface, good luck for your Hana Persimmon too!

My all persimmon trees are rated for Zone 7-9. I am at Zone 6B. Any way I planted those trees at my backyard because I like persimmon and want to give them a try. I am crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. It seems like I will never learn the lesson not to try to grow a plant that is not rated for my zone.

@MMR_Tulsa6B same here too :slight_smile: but not as daring as you. Still your weather is a smidge better than where I am. so fingers crossed, you may get away with it, if you protect them at least for the ones rated for zone7. As for the ones rated 8-9, I would be very surprised if they will survive :frowning: keep us posted

Sure, I will post all update about my persimmon trees.

Winter protection is something I am not feeling interested to do by my own. Sure, I like stories and ideas about how others are doing winter protection for their trees. I will do all the care that are required for my trees except some drastic winter protection. Trees are their own, if they survive that will be good for me. If not, I will try other plant, may be some hybrid or American persimmon, but that will be my next step.

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RF

I usually do bark graft on larger understock and simple cleft graft on smaller understock. Aftercare is more important than the graft method. Just have to rub off all the new growth below the union every 3 to 4 days. The sap only goes to the scion only.

Tony

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A few other things I like to do besides removing water sprouts: I first like to wrap the scion in parafilm-M to keep it from drying out. Second I use aluminum foil to create a sun screen. Finally, I strap a piece of bamboo to the tree along the scion so birds are not tempted to land on it before it has taken.

I’ve grafted 17 native trees so far this spring with some more planned for then next couple weeks.

Tony,

Does the Ichi give you fruits and how prolific is it? I pooled with my brother, bought 4 pawpaw and a Fuyu this year. I also sent him your persimmon’s winter protection instruction link and wished him lucks!

We’re in the same zone 5. I’m still contemplating about that but have not make my move yet.

Tom

Tom

I think Tam Kam non-astringent Asian persimmon is better choice for you than Ichi because of the larger and sweeter fruits. They both rated for zone 6 which is about -10F but you better cover them up and use a light bulb when the temp dip down to -4F and beyond to ensure survival of the tree. I am going to graft 5 more Tam Kam on the hardy native American persimmon rootstocks to do some more trial by bury some of them about a foot deep and some about a foot and a half deep beyond the graft union to see which depth will survive the -20F and re-sprout of the same cultivar in the future. In addition, I am doing a trial from Cliff England’s Kasandra and JT-02 Hybrid persimmons which could handle the low of -11F at his place in Kentucky without any cold damage. The future is looking good for the Northern folks whom love the taste of Kaki because these Hybrids taste almost the same and sometimes better…

Tony

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