Cold Hardy Hybrid persimmons for Z5

General Fruit Growing
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February 15, 2021 was the second coldest day on record for Omaha Z5 at -27F for one night. The record low was -32F on 1-5-1884. The good news is all my Hybrid persimmons; Rossyanka, Kassandra, and JT-02 survived this brutal cold night but all these trees are older with thick bark. The age range from 3 to 7 years old. If you want to grow Hybrid persimmons in Z5 then try to protect them the first couple of years by putting a wire cage around them and filled it with dried leaves. The third year should be hardy enough to tolerate -27F. This good news for you Cliff England @KYnuttrees . You can add this infos to your nursery website.

Tony

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Tony good news. This made me wanting to add persimmons in my yard. Do they fruit and ripen in zone 5 easy?

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So far, Rossyanka and JT-02 ripen at the end of October into the second week of November. I can also harvest them hard in yellowish stage and let them ripen on the counter is fine too. They are all Astringent soft ripened. Kasandra hopefully will hold on to the fruits this year.

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Have you left any hang on into colder Freezing weather .
Say into December ?
Would they still remain edible hanging on the tree through several freeze thaw cycles ?

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I left a fews Rossyanka fruits hang into December and
they turned into a nice persimmon popsicle.

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Tony, how big are the fruits? do they have hard seeds inside? If so , big seeds, small seeds, many seeds, or few seeds?

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2 to 3 inches fruits. No seeds so far unless you have a male tree. The top choice to grow is JT-02.

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Tony, do you have Zima Khurma? If yes, how did it do?

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I grafted a branch and it died at -14F.

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Tony it sounds great, thanks. Where did you get yourJT-02?

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nuttrees.net. Cliff England nursery.

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Hopefully it would do better with a couple years of growth. Hope you’d be willing to try again!

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I am very happy with JT-02 and top worked majority of my persimmon trees to JT-02 a super cold hardy to Z5.

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Glad you’re super happy with the variety. I have JT-02 grafted. Looking forward to trying it in a couple years!

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I forgot to mention that Our member Dax also sell Hybrid persimmons.

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got it, Tony. Thanks a lot

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@tonyOmahaz5

Would this be quite early to assess a total damage?

Do you think your trees esp. fruit buds could sustain damage that would show up once spring arrives?

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Persimmon flowers on new growth so I am not worry about it. All the woods are green with no damages.

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Great report Tony! I hope you can give us an update on twig damage variety comparrison this summer. Do you still think JT-02 is the hardiest? I hope your new Chuchupaca graft is ok. :slight_smile:

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JT-02 is the hardiest for sure. Chuchupaca grafts didn’t not make it at -27 F. I am good now with JT-02.

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