Looking at buying a couple of these persimmons. Potted persimmons are a little hard to find but I have never heard of this nursery. Anyone familiar with them or know somewhere else with cheap potted persimmons? Thanks.
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Hey Robert. I ordered some trees from PMG four years ago- 8 pecan and 2 pears.
The pecans lasted about a year or two before all dying. They never seemed to get going here, but it may be because they were bare root trees, and didn’t have the best of roots on them. Or perhaps they didn’t like the climate here, either. I’m not totally blaming PMG for the failures, as I understand bare root pecans can be difficult to get going.
The pears though, have done very well. One of them, either Pineapple or Orient, is the biggest of all my fruit trees, about 18ft tall, with abt a 2in thick trunk. The other tree has done well, too, but smaller. It actually gave me two pears last year. They were gritty and bland, but at least they were the first pears we’ve got ever.
I didn’t buy any persimmons from them, so I can’t comment on those. But, considering they’re in pots, you might have better success with them, IMO.
I should also add I got the trees in about two weeks after ordering them, they were packed well. They were also good about replying to my questions by email.
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I bought some blueberries from them and they looked great.
Looks decent:
I ordered a couple pecans from them. Everything about dealing with PMG for those two trees was outstanding. I was really suspicious, because their prices were about half or a third of what I was looking at anywhere else, but the trees, especially the root systems, the packaging… everything was great and they really seemed to have their system very well together. I even got some excellent advice over the phone on growing (and maybe grafting – I can’t remember exactly) pecans. They were very generous with information on the phone. I only ordered two trees and it’s been three or four years since I did, but based on that one experience I couldn’t recommend them more highly.
Just curious as to what varieties you got, the caliper, and if they were bare root or potted, and if they are still alive.
I love pecans and was really hoping these would do well, but no luck. They’d be fifth leaf trees this year. Oh well.
They were both Amling, bare root. I’ve also lost pecans over the years, including even grafted trees grown and shipped in pots. Both of the trees from PMG have survived, though. I don’t remember the caliper, but I think they only cost me about $11 each, so they would have been the smallest size PMG carried. They were less than a year from grafting. I was very pleased with the root systems on the trees.
My inclination with pecans now is to direct seed nuts for rootstock, let several seedlings grow within a foot or two of each other, then pick the best ones to graft once they’re growing vigorously, putting on 2’ or more of growth per year (per Bill Cline’s advice on nothernpecans.blogspot.com) That has worked very well for me, and I really like having so little time and money invested up front. Direct seeded seedlings don’t hardly even seem to need watering to get established (although I’m sure it helps a lot.) I direct seeded a few more pecans this year, which I don’t think I found time to water once all year, and despite an extremely dry July-August-September (3 hot months with barely 3 inches of rain total), a decent percentage of my pecan seedlings survived.
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Thanks. So, how big are they now?
My trees were 3/8" caliper, I believe, and I think they were about $16 apiece. So, they cost me about $120, not good. I’d like to try some more hardy ones, but am a bit gun shy.
All my other 29 fruit trees are still living, to varying degrees of vigor.
Regarding your direct seedling plan, you grow them in close proximity to each other and then pick the most vigorous ones for grafting. Then what, do you cut down the others and do an in ground graft of the good one, and leave it there; or do you transplant the good seedling to another location, and then do your graft? Do you remember what varieties your seedlings are?
I looked at that myself. They had several reviews that were left by themselves for themselves. Considering it is mostly pissed off people that leave reviews I guess that’s not bad.
Yes, that’s what I’ve done.
I used Stuart nuts originally, just because that’s what I had. I also had one volunteer pecan come up in my pasture that I grafted right where it volunteered. And then most recently I used Kanza nuts for rootstock.
One of the two Amlings I bought is shaded by and pretty much underneath an older tree that I was planning to replace with the Amling but have since topworked to a variety I might want to keep, and then twig girdlers hit that little Amling hard, too, so that one hasn’t put on much size, although I think it’s doing fine, just making slow progress. The other is probably 6-8’ tall now. They’re both planted in rather poor spots, and I haven’t babied them at all, and pecans haven’t grown for me as well as other species, but those two trees have done about as well as any pecans I’ve bought. I think my direct seeded pecans have really done the best of all, though.
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I would wonder if the rootstock PMG used wasn’t sufficiently hardy for your zone 6 location. 6b isn’t too cold for pecans, but I think PMG uses Elliot for their seedlings – at least that’s what I think I remember them telling me when I bought my trees – and I’d definitely choose a hardier seed source for my rootstocks if I had a choice.
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Thanks, sounds like a good way to grow them. Do you do whip and tongue grafts?
When I bought mine their site said they used Caddo, but then I noticed them switching to Elliot.
I might try that, Kanza are more hardy than most varieties.
I don’t know if the cold did mine in or not. I kept them weeded, but didn’t fertilize them, and they weren’t in the best of soil. It might have been poor roots, other than a big tap roots, they didn’t have a lot of those smaller feeder roots. Elliot may be okay for here, but that’s a moot point now.
I planted a bare root pecan for my Mom three years ago in OK, and it’s still going. She said it’s about 4ft tall now. I got it at a farm store there, and the roots were packed in a plastic bag with moss around them. I recall it having a lot better root system on it.
I think if I want pecan to succeed here, I may have to try a potted one instead of bare root.
Thanks all who responded. Placed the order and got a great deal. Free shipping and a 15% off discount code. I got 4 potted persimmons for $112 total cost.
In case anyone else wants to use the 15%off code it is: dontgo
Varieties I bought. Not familiar with them so let me know if they are any good.
Giombo
Saijo
Nakitas Gift
Fuyu
They posted a new discount after I paid: NY20 20%off
“I think if I want pecan to succeed here, I may have to try a potted one instead of bare root.”
That’s why I was after potted. I haven’t had to many bare root tap-rooted plant survive. Great luck with the potted ones though.
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Ok, good luck with them, hope they work out for you. Those varieties are supposed to be some of the best, like Saijo, Giombo and Nikita’s, at least from what I’ve read on here. I have considered persimmons, but have enough trees as it is.
The price seems a bit high, but it may be because potted trees are a little more difficult to ship than bare root. But, I don’t know what a good potted persimmon costs, so it may be alright. Good that you got a discount and free shipping.
But, one good thing about potted trees is you don’t have to wait until a certain time of the year to plant them. Are you getting them soon, and if so, will you planting them right away? I don’t know where you are, but like I said you can wait if need be.
I hope folks didn’t get the impression that I’m saying all bare root trees will fail. I have planted 28 of them (apples, pears, peaches, pluots), some are four years old, and they are all still alive. They have other issues, like rodents, insects, disease, etc, but, have done alright otherwise.
BTW, sorry to derail the thread somewhat talking about my pecan tree woes.
Persimmons are pretty expensive and potted are hard to come by. Problem I found with tap rooted bare roots is they always chop the tap root. I’m not really a fan a bare root anyway. Most of the time they have a couple year stall on them. 30’s 40’s here. Planting immediately.
Something for thought. I bought a ton of walnut trees where they were grown in pots then they washed the soil off for shipping. I lost none of those so far. Compared to the field grown where they yank them out and the tap roots are lacking.
Stay away from them - ordered a Gold Prince Peach, turned out to be a Belle of Georgia. Ordered several other fruit trees, all of the tress were not healthy and eventually died.
I had pretty good success with Bottoms Nursery in Georgia. The persimmon came in a 3 gallon pot with lots of roots of course. It even flowered and tried fruiting the first year when I planted it. I believe it was $35 for the tree and $15 for shipping.
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@PharmerDrewee I looked at them, but they did not have any that I was after. They do have several other items that I was interested in though. Glad to hear someone say they are worth buying from. I bought four from PMG. They had free shipping and a 20% off discount code. Four potted $112 total cost. Cheapest I could find. Hope the quality’s not cheap.
I’m pretty sure this is the place I got persimmons from. I ordered a big Saijo and tacked on a Fuyugaki to get free shipping.
The Saijo turned out to not even be a Kaki, I think it was Virginiana. Wound up grafting it to Claypool selection.