Descendants of the hybrid JT-02

General Fruit Growing
21

I already have it in my garden, thanks to @Mikatani .

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22

how far down and what time of year did you bury your jt-02? we have basically the same climate, has it died to the ground on you yet?

23

Mid-Missouri. I have lost Nikita’s Gift persimmon each of the last three years, not making it through the winter. They all were planted in my orchard and all looked very good going into winter. I wrapped each with a cloth tree wrap and put a plastic tree tube over the wrapped trees. I’m done. Too costly. This last tree was from Stark’s Bros. nursery.

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24

If it helps, there are a few other Ukrainian hybrids hardy to around -30 C / -22 F. But they’re hard to find and you might have to graft them yourself. Two other comments:

  1. Any tree is going to be especially vulnerable when young. You might grow in a pot or use covers for the first couple years.

  2. Effective winter cover requires heat and insulation. Unfortunately, your cover as described provided neither. Heat can be supplied actively (e.g., Christmas light bulbs on a thermostat) or passively (e.g., exposure to open ground). The cover must be air-tight. The insulation can be multiple layers of bubble wrap, fiberglass battes, styrofoam sheets, a huge pile of dry leaves, whatever. But you got to do something to capture and retain heat. [But not too much heat. You do not want to create a mini-greenhouse. The idea is to keep the tree dormant.]

Fig growers have been working on this problem for decades. There are LOTS of designs for effective winter cover within the Ourfigs forum. One quick-and-dirty idea: Invert a large (e.g., 32-40 g) plastic garbage can. Wrap the outside with fiberglass. Wrap the fiberglass with a water-repellant and infrared non-absorbent material such as Tyvek. Put the barrel over the tree and bury the perimeter to keep out winter air.

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25

I buried the graft union 8 inches below ground on this one. It died down to the ground level at my old house once about 7 years ago at -29F. I dug it up and moved to my new house 3 years ago. The lowest temperature since it moved was -17F this February and no damage whatsoever.

Tony

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