Burnt Ridge persimmons dieback

I have some seedling American persimmons from Burnt Ridge Nursery.

For the third year in a row now they have died back to about 6 inches from the ground.

I am sort of wondering if their seedlings aren’t from less hardy cultivars. I’d probably recommend planting seedlings from known northern varieties if you are on the northern edge of persimmons’ range.

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I tried persimmon seedlings from B.R. and a few other places at my old location in southcentral WI. They all died back to the roots every winter. I finally tried a couple of England’s Orchard hardiest varieties (at that time anyway). They too died after their second winter. Then I gave up on persimmons :slightly_frowning_face:

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I had a few die this year too and they seemed unusually whippy (i dont do caliper but some were maybe twice as thick as a pencil lead or even less which is getting tight for my whip and tongue)…if buying persimmons only I would probably buy seedlings from Oikos But I always find myself getting other things and I try not to blow 25 bucks shipping at three or four different stores if I can combine my orders at a single one

My experience has been that persimmons generally are very difficult to transplant, so I think that could be contributing to the die back. I think it might be best to pot them or plant them and let them grow. Let that root system get established for the rest of the year. Then, graft next June. I don’t think cold storage is a great thing for persimmons because I feel they are especially prone to transplantation shock.

I really doubt it is transplant shock given that I transplanted them 3 years ago. But growing them up in pots is probably a good idea, because bigger diameter stuff might be more hardy here than the whippy growth that comes from always dying back to the bottom 6 inches. I guess I should put my grafted seedlings in the ground and see how they do this coming winter. Most are approaching 1" in diameter.

I’d say this is more likely for my site. Though, interestingly, only a few dozen feet away pawpaws are doing fine. I sorta figured the pawpaws would be less winter hardy.

I’ve noticed that younger persimmon trees are less cold hardy than mature ones. So, pot them up, and put them in the garage when the cold weather arrives. Hopefully this will prevent the cold weather dieback.