It used to have 53 different kinds of persimmons, all have fruits. I heavily staked it all around. One day, there was a very strong almost tornado like wind that lifted up the fruit laden persimmon branches and the stakes fell off, and the tree broke at the trunk. Couldn’t save any of my collection as it was summer time. I’m slowly rebuilding another persimmon tree again but then it is harder to collect cultivars this time. Many of my old friends who are persimmon collectors have gone to heaven already.
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That must be awful to see all your hard work gone in second. Well, good luck on your next persimmon project.
Tony
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@JoeReal Nice stuff cowboy. I love bark grafts! I see you do too! You just can’t get growth doing other styles well there are exceptions such as banana grafts and budding on good caliper stuff.
I’ve been amassing a collection of persimmons but not a lot. Jerry Lehman has been my scionwood go to source. This year being the second year. I had the opportunity to visit Jerry last fall and taste a lot of stuff. I decided which one I really like. Same with my buddy that went along. We’re both ‘full-time’ grafting ‘nuts’!
We set bark grafts at another friend’s place as well as at his lake property which is a jungle of stuff.
I’ll try to help you regain some things. I’m sending a message now.
Dax
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The most vigorous grafts for me are unquestionably side grafts. I think the reason could be that the scion makes a lot of cambium contact to a larger thicker part of the tree that probably has more energy flowing through it. And the wound is minimal in comparison to a bark graft. I’ve not had nearly as much success with bark grafts. They seem simple and easy but I’ve had several take but not thrive and later follow by dieback of the stump. With a side graft you are adding a scaffold anywhere on the trunk that you want without making a major pruning cut so very little trauma. The only downside is that they sometime form narrow angles. But strength hasn’t been a problem for me. Some of my side grafts are hard to distinguish from actually scaffolds.
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I’m not sure I know just how to do a side graft, but I recall you talking about it before. Do you have a favorite description, or maybe a link or video?
Thanks.
Here is a thread I shared a while back. Watch the video in the first post. Around the 3:00 mark in the video he demonstrates a side graft.
That’s an excellent thread- thanks for linking it.
Has anyone experienced their grafts breaking dormancy while the rest of the tree is still dormant?
I like it because it’s self seating: meaning if I bang it, bump it, nudge it, or are otherwise misaligned, it just grows crooked or I only have to shove it down and it doesn’t fail. I also, as others have said, use it for top working trunks.
I have had good enough luck with apples with cleft grafts to not bother with anything else. Splice is probably equally easy but I honestly find wrapping field grafts kind of a hassle so I think cleft is easier to hold and wrap at the same time.
One reason splice is easy for me is that I usually have a wide range of diameters with scion wood I use. when you have a close match, any danger of pulling off line while taping is minimized. However, I’ve had lousy success with persimmons and probably need to use bark grafts or something else for more difficult species than pomes and prunus (I also do OK with paw paws and mulberries are no problem). The only success I’ve had with persimmons have been on root suckers, once on one that had grown that spring and grafted in June.
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No problem. Did you watch the other video I posted near the end of the thread where a guy demonstrates a really interesting modified side graft with 2 tongues? That one is very intriguing and looks super secure. I am going to try that the next time I need to cleft graft
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I watched that vid and admired Mariani’s skill. He’s obviously been doing it for a long time. (For me, it’s too soon old, too late wise!)
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There are a bunch of grafts I’ve left out completely. It’d be nice to see those described.
You are an experienced young man! Thanks for the endorsement.
Impressive! Is that a bark graft then?
Yep, Konrads. Notice that if you look closely, it’s actually reached entirely around the top of the tree to the backup graft that has been trimmed.
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T bud has worked very well for me on persimmons.
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I had a teeny tiny scion last year that i attached to a teeny tiny branch.
I couldn’t think what kind of cut to make on such tiny diameter wood, and my knife skills are sub par so I was stymied.
What I did was just shave off the top most layer of bark, leaving the green part exposed. on both scion and branch.
Then, I just tied them together as tightly as possible so I knew I had the green parts flush against each other (note, I did not cut either of them flat, but left them rounded. This meant I didn’t have to match up tiny portions of the cambium- the entire length was cambium, so I just mushed them together, wrapped and tied tightly, and hoped for the best.
The graft took. The jury is still out on long term how this will grow, but it just proved to me that fancy knife work aside, what really matter is getting the green parts as much contact as possible.
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I have some really late to leaf out apples and when I added grafts to them I saw this. But, not very often. Now I usually graft after the trees have already broken dormancy so no chance then.