It is going to be -4F on Sunday. The Non-astringent Icki Ki Kei Jiro and the Astringent Hybrid Nikita’s Gift got themselves a coat aka tarps and light bulbs in the center of their trunks. The lights will be on during the -F temp and off when the temp above 0.
Tony
Tony, are the cords grounded?
The outside outlets are grounded. I also wrapped the light connection with plastic to water proofing.
Tony
Here’s hoping for a mild winter!
Too much for me, Tony!
I still admired your efforts and your fruit results are well deserved!
Tom
Tony, have you ever measured the temp on the inside of the tarp with the light on and compared to the outside temp? I’d be curious to know the difference between the two during night time.
Rob.
I think the heat inside the tarp built up pretty good in that small confine space with no wind inside. Last year, the temp got down to around -12F for several nights straight and my Ichi Asian persimmon had no die back at all with the light bulb on. I should buy me a thermometer just to confirm the actual temp inside the tarp after the light bulb have been turn on for several hours.
Tony
I have Nikitas Gift, it is 4 years old, planted at 1000 m Slovenia (EU) unprotected! Except for the slower growth it is all right like that!
Optimist,
You can give it some Nitrogen in early Spring to give it a jump start. Too much Nitrogen later in the year may cause fruits to drop. In the first few years is OK to give them Nitrogen to size them up but later on there is no need for Nitrogen and just mulch it well.
Tony
Tony, when is your persimmon goes dormant? It is October 5 today, we should get out first freeze in 2 weeks. My persimmon leaves are so lush and green, no sign getting into dormancy at all. Is it normal? Would freeze hurt it?
Hi Galinas,
Not Tony, but I’m not to far from you and most of my persimmons haven’t started to show fall color yet either. I think that’s how it was last year too, and then we got a sudden hard frost and all the leaves fell off without much of a transition. It didn’t hurt the plants though, they just went dormant.
Hi Galinas,
If the weatherman is predicting a real harsh Winter for your area then you can forced your persimmon tree to go into a dormant state now by plucking off all the leaves now and that will start the dormancy process. I do that sometimes on my young Asian and Hybrids persimmon.
Tony
Galina,
I’m not Tony, either 
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Like @SMC_zone6 said, once we have hard frost, leaves will turn brown and drop. I usually wait until then before I start wrapping. Usually, around or after Halloween.
Thanks!
Thanks all, I will wait until first frost, then check, if I need to remove leaves. Then will cover the tree. I have a gazebo frame installed around it and a huge tarp to cover whole structure. Also planning to place straw bales around the trunk, and have another agribon cover inside the tarp. Hope, this is enough 
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Danilo,
I checked Slovenia’s plant hardiness zone. The coldest zone in Slovenia is zone 6b and warmest is zone 9b.
I don’t know where you are in Slovenia but the coldest zone in your country is not cold enough to kill Nikita’s Gift. No wonder your Nikita’s Gift survives without protection.
When does everyone unwrap their winter protection of persimmons? I think worst of this winter is behind us. I’m wondering when to unwrap my nikitas gift.
I uncovered my Tam Kam a few weeks ago when I saw how mild our winter has been. They shouldn’t sustain damage unless it goes below zero or stays below freezing for a long stretch of days/weeks. Nikita’s Gift should be even more hardy.
