I recently got onto the persimmon craze and have been planning on rapidly expanding my American and hybrid persimmon collection. I understand that cuttings will not root but I personally like having my trees on their own rootstock when there is no net benefit (ie dwarfing rootstock) that is added by grafting.
I have experience with tissue culture and luckily there have been several papers describing the best media protocols for American, hybrid and asian varieties. Even in tissue culture, it is rather difficult (low rooting/multiplication) but it is very possible to do. I have priced out how much this would cost and it would roughly come out to $400. I am bringing this up because I am wondering if anyone would be interested in purchasing some tissue culture persimmons (on their own roots) and what everyone thinks would be a reasonable price. I really just want to decrease the cost burden, this isn’t a long term endeavor to sell persimmons, just a fun side project.
I would love to hear everyones thoughts and see if there is any interest out there. If anyone also recommends specific varieties please let me know. I am currently looking at H63A, Barbaras Blush, Journey and some of the 4th generation Ukranian Hybrids although I may have to wait until next year on the hybrids due to Cliff not having much inventory this year.
Rootstocks like 90 chromosome Virginiana confer cold hardiness to the scion and also avoid getting frozen out.
Persimmons are particularly easy to graft with high takes. You only need one bud for the graft. There is definitely no shortage if you know who to ask.
Also they fruit within a year or two at the most after grafting. Tissue culture will delay this substantially.
Persimmon rootstocks are usually chosen for climate adaptation and pest / disease resistance. Another factor is import restrictions. A few western states prohibit the import of Diospyros on roots of any kind. Hence there are production nurseries out here which specialize in the propagation of rootstock from seed and scionwood.
I can reach out and try to obtain consent but wouldn’t that also be true for folks who are also selling scion wood like Cliff and other members on this forum that trade?
I did root some persimmon trees including Roseyanka. It is not difficult but takes time. The process I used is , graft potted rootstock as usual low at 2-4 inches, let them grow a year , next year raise the sides of the pot by placing a pot with the bottom removed 8 inches or so to be above the graft 3-8 inches, I then placed a piece of inner tube around the scion and a small hose clamp to hold it not tight just snug above the graft and filled the upper part of the rubber strip with rooting powder and parafilm around that and fill the upper pot with a mostly sphagnum peat mix and let grow. As it grows and expands the hose clamp cuts off the root and the hormone stimulates rooting. Worked well but takes 2-3 years. I still have dried specimens somewhere. Then one might think of producing trees by root cuttings from those trees on their own root. It can be done but is more difficult. I succeed on a few but never fully developed the process. If you just get root cutting and plant them , very very few will put up a top. I have some ideas to improve the process but haven’t tried them. One idea , take root cuttings in late summer or fall, pot and incubate them at 82F for about 2 months , then chill them all winter as you would a potted tree, next spring again place at 82F and cross your fingers. I did these things out of curiosity , no real advantage to own rooted trees in this case. I did root ONE persimmon plant under mist once ,extremely difficult. Yes I am interested in buying some tissue culture persimmon plants and I have a lot of the equipment you might need , for sale.
Seriously you are just making things difficult for no real improvement and producing something that is not really new. Now if you really wanted to make a contribution to the persimmon world, get some seeds from crosses between Asian and American or Hybrids and rescue them to make a brand new persimmon variety. Ask people to save any seeds they get from Nakitas Gift and send to you for fun!
Also to everyone else, I am not really trying to improve persimmons per se. I have a lot of other breeding projects on my hands right now and unfortunately I don’t have any room to breed persimmons. I like having persimmons on their own roots because then I never need to worry about winter die back and regrowth from the rootstock. It’s not a huge benefit but it is my personal preference.