My favorite graft of the year! I hope it heals up nice! @JCW
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Has anyone here had success using green wood scions to graft persimmon? It works very well with other fruits if the growth buds that are growing under the leaf axils are mature enough. I have not tried it on persimmons. I have a 2 year old graft union that I want to remove and reutilize the scions it has grown on stronger branches to get a more reliable and stronger graft union than my initial graft. What is the best time of summer- fall to do this?
Dennis
Kent, wa
Well on my WS8-10, Kassandra and JT02… i selected a central leader and cut back the others a bit.
On my JT02… that smaller shoot that something ate the growing tip off of about a month ago… above is what it looks like now.
So i guess that is what to expext if you tip a growing shoot.
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Ive been astounded by the vigor of jt-02, it pushed an unbelievable amount of growth from a couple of single bud side grafts. You probably want to head it at 6’ + to get the scaffolds the way youre describing. Id probably wait until winter myself, and take that wood as scionwood. More important is to get the graft stronger before it has side branches, at least IMO.
I had deer raid my persimmons for the first time last year. I saw a 6 pointer stand up on his hind legs, reach up, and tear down a whole limb. I wound up making a daily sweep for limbs he’d torn down (they were still loaded with fruit, the wasteful bugger!), and let them ripen in a bowl. They turned out fine, and the tree did too for the most part. He was easily reaching 9 ft. or more into the canopy though. Cheeky bugger. We had a sizeable black bear- a boar of maybe 300 lbs.— who came and raided our bird feeder in the fall. I couldnt help but think what he’d do to one of my persimmon trees in the event he decided to climb it.
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Thanks @hobilus I will take that advice and warning.
Many years ago I was clearing the land behind our home manually taking out brush, bushes, small trees, to extend the view… and I was doing that in the spring.
Found a wild plum tree in full bloom… wow… so nice.
I cleared all around it and left it standing there all alone. That fall a buck rubbed it and not just rubbing… but broke and twisted the top off it.
A single small tree standing all by itself in my back yard or field… has a very good chance of getting demolished by a buck deer. That is why I have cattle panel cages around all my young trees.
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Some late season persimmon grafting. This is early golden. Added 4 grafts of this one. Persimmons love heat! Used cleft grafts on all of them.
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Neither of my Kassandra persimmon grafts took. All other pear and mulberry grafts were a success. For whatever reason, persimmons have been 50/50 for me. I typically graft early May after leaf-out and temps around 80 for a high, so I need to figure out something to increase my odds. Perhaps I’ll just bark graft when rootstock gets a bit larger diameter for better odds.
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I did 6 whip toung grafts to smaller diameter rootstocks (5/16 to 1/4 inch)… and got 5 out of 6 takes.
I did bark grafts to 6 larger trees from 1.5 to 6 inch… and 4 or 5 of those took. One is still on the iffy side.
My larger trees bark grafted were all in part sun locations… my smaller rootstocks were all in full sun.
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Had a larger, double-trunk persimmon along the orchard perimeter that had survived and re-grown following borer attack. Cut them off at about 4.5 ft above ground and stuck 3 or 4 pieces of Barbara’s Blush and another selection(? - I don’t remember what it was, if not BB) on as bark-inlay grafts. 2 of 4 and 3 of 4 took. Looked like this in February, after one year of growth (25 yr-old rootstock really pushed the growth!)
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@Lucky_P — wow… I was thinking 2 or 3 years growth. That is awesome.
Are you getting fruit on those this year ? They sure look like they could produce fruit.
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I haven’t looked, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see fruit.
That’s one season’s growth…25+ y.o. root system…and right at the edge of the neighbor’s septic leach field, to boot…recipe for vigorous growth.
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I did 2 whip and tongue grafts and a cleft persimmon graft this year using one scion. The scion looked good at the time, but maybe that was the issue. In prior years, I’ve done a combination of methods. However, it was at a distant location where it was tough to pinch off growth from the rootstock. That may have decreased my success rate. At any rate, everything else I’ve grafted seems to have much better luck.
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Very nice … what varieties? Make sure to write down your tree map; those tags won’t last long. Even the nice plastic ones don’t seem to last long for me.
That masking tape just temporary. Have metal tags.
Mostly Lehmans varieties 100-42,43,45,46, prok, Yates, h-120 claypoole and early Jewel. Did 28 grafts.
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Very nice collection of varieties. Hope all your grafts take. Would love to hear comparisons between the cultivars.
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finally did some persimmon grafts. they were set way back by the may 18 frost but are prime now.
grafted so far, ~3 of each
jt-02
kasandra
chuchupaka
bozhyj dar
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lots of last years grafts died back near the graft after vigorous growth followed by rough winter and late frost. oh well, id thought about heading them off anyway
and Dar Soviyivki pushing well now
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I love all the side grafts! I’ve also started to really appreciate this graft and now use it predominantly.
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its very versatile, easy to do- especially in the field- As my pictures show, you can get lots of surface area even for a small scion. You can do multiple grafts per stem and have lots of options for scion placement. The stem above makes a ready stake and bird perch the first year
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