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:
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?
Should I leave them alone for a few weeks before pruning, or remove the mushy blackened tips now?
Has anyone had similar frost dieback on newly planted grafted persimmons or other grafted fruit trees, and what happened later that season?
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.
That’s rough timing. Fully leafed out trees getting hit that hard is always a gamble but persimmons are tougher than most people give them credit for. I’d leave them alone for now and just watch for new growth over the next few weeks. The tops might die back but there’s a decent chance the grafts push new buds from lower down. The fact you got covers on them probably saved a few.
Sorry to hear about this. I have had this happen several times. The scion will re-leaf and grow again below the frost damage. I would not prune back till you know for sure where the growth is completely dead. Unfortunately, being as far north as I am new growth getting frosted on a newly planted grafted tree spells certain death for the graft next winter. My season is so short that the new growth will not harden-off correctly come October, and the tree will die back to ground level. Hopefully that is not the case for you. I don’t plant non-dormant grafted persimmons now until June.
Yeah, I did an inspection on all of them and it looks like the scion wood above the graft is still woody and alive. I have three more nights of 33 and 32 degree weather coming up before it finally gets warmer. I feel like that is not going to be as much of an issue, but may still cover at least the J-59 to be safe.
Every grafted tree died back to the rootstock. The rootstocks ended up having some leaves and new growth through the summer, so I know they’re still alive. But now, I just have seedlings without any of the cultivars I originally wanted.
Initially I was thinking of just starting over and buying all new grafted trees for this coming Spring 2027, but with these trees having gone through a whole season in the ground I assume this gave the existing root systems some time to acclimate.
Do you all think it’s feasible for me to attempt to graft these rootstocks with new cultivar scion wood or am I wasting my time?
I’m new to grafting, but I’m considering just cutting back the rootstock somewhat and placing on a new scion in the same way that I had received them when I purchased them.
I have only successfully grafted persimmons once. It is hard for me to get them to take because we heat up so slowly in spring because of the big lake. That’s the key to grafting persimmon; you need it to be consistently warm. I think for me, the best time to graft would be the end of June. Apples, pears, and plums are a good deal easier here in the north. Going into that first winter if you do get a graft to take, or if you order a new tree, that graft is going to be pretty cold sensitive. You need to protect it the first few winters by burying it. I bury mine under piles of leaves, and that coupled with our heavy snowfall does the trick. I don’t know if this would work in a place where the ground freezes deep every year. This is where hybrids shine; when you plant the tree you can bury the graft Union permanently 6 to 12 in below the soil line. The consensus on pure American is that this technique doesn’t work, it seems to only work for hybrids. I have not personally tried burying a pure American graft union, but I have a JT-02 and a Journey that got this treatment, and over a year later they’re doing quite well. Another option is to wait till your rootstock gets taller and better established. Then when they’re about 6 ft tall or so graft the tops. Not only will your root-stock be able to heal and push growth much faster, but your union is not so close to the ground where the coldest air settles. Also, being higher up it won’t be as liable to Southwest injury. I have not yet tried this myself, but have quite a few trees I intend to do it to after I determine their sex. Another positive with this technique is you’ll be able to find out for sure if persimmons can survive in your location, without shelling out a bunch of extra money for more grafted trees or wasting time on getting scions and getting grafts to take. I grew seedlings for about 6 years in this location, then when after all those winters I determined that some persimmons indeed could indeed survive here I diversified into getting grafted trees. I am convinced that persimmons do have a minimum temperature kill point, especially when the ground freezes solid, and that there are places in the upper midwest they simply cannot be grown. At least with the genetics we know of so far…
Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed response! I really appreciate hearing from someone experimenting with persimmons in a similarly challenging climate.
I was initially planning to regraft them next spring, but you’ve got me considering letting some of the rootstocks establish for another year or two first.
I’m also intrigued by your method of protecting young grafts with piles of leaves. Do you typically bury the entire small tree, or just the graft union and lower portion?
I currently have a 7-inch diameter hardware cloth around each tree, so I would consider filling up that cylinder with leaves, but not sure if it would be dense enough to insulate.
I don’t bury seedlings, just grafted trees. I don’t even paint them. For some reason I haven’t seen seedlings get southwest injury. I usually pack leaves inside the hardware cloth around the tree, and then make a leaf volcano around that up to about 16 inches to 2 ft with a tomato cage around to retain.