I recently planted a Fuyu persimmon tree and wondering if I can graft a Hachiya scion to one of the branches. We had a few juicy tree-ripened Hachiya persimmons this past season - their flavor is extra-ordinary! I am super new to grafting and I only see examples Japanese persimmons grafted onto American native rootstock. I wonder if there is any issue with Hachiya on Fuyu. Also what would be a good time to graft persimmons in Bay Area/Nor. Cal weather? This is my first season of growing persimmon but I read that they wake up quite late compared to other deciduous trees and might be better to wait until there are some buds leaving out. Let me know. Thanks!
Both are diospyros kaki so it should be no problem
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Hi Udhay,
I attempted 4 grafts of Hachiya scions to Fuyu trees last year. All were successful. In the previous year I attempted 8 grafts and all failed.
March 8th of last year in Vallejo, Ca, I used an unusual technique called “Z” grafting with a long (2" to 3") vertical cut. Then tightly wrapped the joint with electrical tape and covered the entire scion with parafilm to prevent dessication. Two months later the scions began growing.
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Dan, any reason why the earlier grafts failed?
Graft when leafing out. Good luck! After grafting, remove any fuyu buds near your graft sites. This will increase the likelihood that your hachiya grafts will take.
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On the first attempt I did not protect the scions from the weather. My guess is that the scions dried out and died on the earlier attempt. In my limited experience, persimmons are a lot slower to heal than many other fruit trees.
quick question for the experts - does grafting Hachiya on the same tree as Fuyu pollinate the latter and thus the fruits end up having more pronounced seeds?
Don’t you have to graft on lotus rootstock when you are in California? If your sions are in good shape, you can graft now, no problem.
No idea. Let me do some research. I already have a Fuyu (or is it actually Jiro?) from DWN which I planted last fall and is loaded with flowers. I wanted to add Hachiya on a few branches but wondering if it will pollinate the Fuyu flowers (not this year of course) and establish seeds. I guess I am not too worried as each house in my neighborhood has multiple established persimmons so they will anyway get pollinated.
Californicus, I am planning to do the same, graft Hachiya onto a Fuyu (Jiro) persimmon that I bought from DWS. How did it work out for you? Did your scions take? I am in Palo Alto, so not far from you. Did you ever get an answer to the cross-pollination question regarding more pronounced seeds? Curious about that too.
thanks for sharing your experience!
Margarita
I have a Jiro Fuyu type from DWN three years ago and couple years ago I grafted coffee cake and chocolate scions, the last couple years had flowers but drop them off. For grafting is best when the leaves started to come out, make sure to remove any branches below the graft.
Welcome @paloalto Margarita!
I wish you guys in California would hybridize d. californica and d. kaki. A more cold hardy sapote would be awesome.
@paloalto Welcome to the forum! I didn’t graft Hachiya but planted another Hachiya tree. I did graft Chocolate and Coffee Cake on Fuyu (exactly like @Ruben) and both of them took - 6/6 success. My Fuyu tree is only two years old and produced a decent crop (thinned out 100% of the first year fruits and 70% in the second year) in 2020. The Chocolate scions did have some male flowers but can’t tell if that caused more seeds in the Fuyu fruits. Also, as I said, all of my neighbors have big Fuyu trees, so pollination will happen regardless. For grafting, I waited until the rootstock started pushing buds like many recommend here.
I caught the American Persimmon bug this season 
, so as an experiment I am grafting a lot of hybrids (Nikita’s Gift, Gora Roman Kosh and others) to the Fuyu and will attempt grafting pure American D. Virginiana varieties (Prok, Early Jewel, etc) next year using these as inter-stem. I can update how they turn out next year.
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Thanks for the thorough reply! I would love to hear how your experiments turn out, so do keep us posted. Good luck!