I’m in central Wisconsin and recently planted 10 grafted American persimmon trees. They were potted, fully leafed out, and about a foot tall when I picked them up from a plant sale in Iowa last weekend. I planted them the next day.
At the time, the forecast looked manageable. I did not see anything that looked like a major hard-freeze threat. A few days later, the forecast started showing lows around 28–30°F, so I went back out and covered the trees with frost cloth, tarps, and whatever protection I had available. Unfortunately, the actual low ended up being around 24°F.
When I uncovered them, most of the tender new leaves and soft green growth were damaged. On several trees, the newer succulent tips are blackened or limp. However, farther down the stem, the wood still feels firm and woody. From what I can tell visually, there appears to still be living scion wood above the graft on most of them, but I haven’t done aggressive scratch testing yet.
My questions:
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For grafted American persimmons this small, if the tender top growth dies back but there is still firm scion wood above the graft, how likely are they to push new buds and recover?
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Should I leave them alone for a few weeks before pruning, or remove the mushy blackened tips now?
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Has anyone had similar frost dieback on newly planted grafted persimmons or other grafted fruit trees, and what happened later that season?
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Is this likely just a temporary first-flush setback, or can this permanently stunt the tree?
I’m pretty disappointed because I drove a long way to get these trees and put a lot of effort into planting and protecting them. I’m trying to figure out whether this is mostly cosmetic/temporary dieback or whether I should expect some losses.
Any firsthand experience with young grafted persimmons recovering from frost damage would be really appreciated.