Dont think our TN persimmons are that picky.
Coons and possums eat them and deposit seeds all over my fields and many of those evidently germinate and thrive… my fields are full persimmon seedlings.
Plan to graft to some of those next spring.
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The “Texas persimmon” (D. texana) is a very different species with a limited natural range compared to the American persimmon (D. virginiana). My guess is the different germination requirements of the two species are a big part of why their ranges don’t meaningfully overlap. D. texana needs dry soil to store the seed and then consistently warm soil after rainfall to germinate, while virginiana prefers cold stratification (a winter in the soil) and regular rain during the growing season. Here are their respective range maps:
We are in the zone between the native ranges for both varieties and both have grown well (although slowly) for us. We also have some Asian persimmons. D
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That is about right from my experience. They are slow growers. D
I’m also starting to have success with seeds I got on Etsy. I followed the same moisture and temperature protocol. My logs are here if anyone is interested.
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Summer heat in 80s/90s triggered almost all of my seeds to sprout.
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Lots of my seeds germinated back in October, but the seedlings have been very sad with the winter greenhouse temperatures since then:
Most of them are still alive, but I’m waiting until it warms up a little to separate them and pot them up or plant them out. Here’s one pot, I have a few like this:
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Here is the corner of seedlings that germinated in October, they definitely look pale after the cold winter, and they are near the top of my list to be planted out or potted up (a few of each).
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Hi Trev,
I am wondering if your cultivar there is different from the DV where I grew up near Somerville, TN. For several winters I have had my nephew send me persimmon seeds to attempt germination. They appeared to be very healthy when I planted them outdoors last fall in about 1” deep in compost. Each day now I go by hoping to see some germinating but so far none are. Could it be they are not fully developed?
Dennis
Kent, wa
@DennisD … not sure if they might be different variety. Per the DV zone map above i am pretty much in the center of that zone.
Best i remember i planted those 3 seeds late October … and just left them outside in the edge of my woods all winter.
April 25 I found them up… pic above.
I would think that yours should be up by now if they are coming up.
Ps… i have provided seeds from my sisters persimmons… to others here. I know they have had good luck growing them. Would be glad to send you some this fall if you want. Just remind me mid october or so. I ship them fresh in a little persimmon pulp… very fresh when you get them.
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The reason I asked about the variety is because in my container where I planted about 10 seeds, I have only one new seedling that might be a persimmon, but it’s not exactly what your seedlings look like. You seedlings have red stems and mine is more a green stem. Your leaves are a different color and texture than this plant. But this plant does not resemble any of my local weeds so maybe after a few more weeks I can tell if it’s a woody plant once the foliage matured.
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Soil temperatures in the PNW are still a lot lower than in TN, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they sprout significantly later here.
Cotyledon shape is a dead ringer, I think you do indeed have a persimmon.
This reminds me that I still haven’t figured out if this mislabeled “texana” seed is actually virginiana or lotus, this is year three from seed:
And the actual texana seedlings still haven’t been separated or potted up, but surely I’ll get to it any day now:
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- DV Persimmon has little or no inherent dormancy.
- Does have temperature and moisture requirements to germinate
- So long as both temperature and moisture are acceptable, viable seed will grow.
- Even with acceptable temperature and moisture, my seed take about 3 to 4 months to germinate
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@DennisD … i looked around online at images of persimmon seedlings and found a lot that did not ID the variety… and most of those had very green stems.
I found a few that did ID as DV that had stems that were green with a reddish tint to them.
My sisters persimmon seedlings have very red stems early on. Not sure why on the stem color differences.
I’m in the kitsap peninsula and the d. virginia seeds I got off of etsy are just beginning to grow roots
Stem colors are from anthocyanins produced in the stem and leaves. They may vary with temperature, soil, and particularly with phosphorus availability. So it might be the genetics, it might be the soil, and it might be how they were fertilized. Either way, no concern. The plant grows with what it has available.
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I noticed the reddish and pointy leaves on rootstock dv from Edible
Landscaping, asked him about it, he used eastern 60 chromosome dv. I had only seen 90 chromosome Kansas native and cultivars.
This is my d. lotus that dies to ground each winter, resprouts.
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Finally planted out some of the texana seedlings over the weekend, photos of a few here (including 2-in-a-hole where the roots had already fused in the starter pot):
I’m still not sure of the ID for the unknown persimmon, but I’m leaning toward calling it a lotus rather than virginiana based on the growth habit and leaf shape:
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Here’s the largest seedling from the seeds I got about a year ago, definitely a slow growing tree:
Even though they are usually listed as drought tolerant, I lost 4 of them this summer when I didn’t keep them watered enough. Still have like 10 left, though.
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Hi Winn,
Nice job, the rounded leaf ones may be lotus as I don’t have anything to compare, but the pointed leaves look a lot like my dv seedlings that germinated this spring from seed I got from my nephew in W Tn. Mine are only about 6”10” tall now
Dennis
Kent,wa