Can anyone recommend a good dwarfing rootstock to be used in American persimmons? My main interest is American varieties, but it would be nice to be able to graft others into it as well, if possible.
I donât think any exist. Persimmons are grown on seedling rootstock.
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Horakudai (è±æ„œć°(ă»ăăăă ă)) a japense varity is the only dwarfing rootstock i know of.
it;s only avaliablr to japense farmer. and it;s not even start to sell yet.
https://www.naro.go.jp/project/results/5th_laboratory/nifts/2022/22_040.html
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Interesting, I wonder why dwarf rootstock isnât used in for native American persimmons.
There hasnât been (and isnât) much funding & research for domesticating American persimmons - most would say the fruit isnât even âmarketableâ, so there isnât much interest in developing rootstocks for hobbyists. They also donât grow from cuttings or air layers, so the only way to get an âown rootâ tree is to dig up a sucker from a known mother.
You could experiment with using an Asian persimmon interstem or rootstock, since many of those varieties stay quite small. Itâd be a gamble in your zone (6b), however.
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Perhaps a variety like Szukis could be clonally propagated?
I bet you someone on this forum could crack the code!
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