I’d like advice on a kaki persimmon with swelling at the base of the tree.
I planted this Sheng tree 5 or 6 years ago, and it has grown more slowly than my other kakis and only ever produced a few small fruit that aborted when they were golfball size or smaller. It’s now about 8 ft tall. In the last couple of years, I’ve noticed this swelling and cracking at the base of the tree, where I presume the graft union might be. There has been some oozing of sap from these cracks, but not excessive amounts. Is it possible that this is a sign of graft incompatibility? I purchased the tree from an online nursery, and it’s supposed to be Sheng grafted to D. virginiana, but I can’t confirm that.
If it is graft incompatibility, do you think it might be worth mounding soil around the base of the tree to bury the graft union and potentially encourage rooting above the swollen area? Or is it better just to cut my losses and remove the tree?
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The close up pictures are from the north side (showing more swelling) and from the south side (a few cracks with oozing sap but less swelling).
I would bury the graft union for a try. I had a Meiwa kumquat grafted to Kuharske Citrange, not compatible. I did an approach graft with a Flying dragon seedling to save the near dead tree. It appears it might have worked. It put on a lot of twig growth these past few months.
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Upon closer inspection, I think I located the graft union a few inches below the swelling. There is the slight difference in diameters creating a slight collar. If it isn’t some kind of graft incompatibility, then I’m not sure what else it might be. Maybe I should cut into it and look for persimmon borers.
I usually see dusty insect frass with borer damage near the outlets of their holes. That almost looks like a fungal lesion or crown gall.
The closest thing for me are either a lesion as suggested by @Fruitfanatic (usually mechanical injury) or that’s often what happens with trees that are buried to deep. You get all that cracking of the bark and “openings” which attract everything bad under the sun from bugs to bacteria and fungus. Another big problem with landscape trees is mulched piled against the trunk that causes the bark to soften and open up and bring in disease…
That looks like bacterial canker oozing material…
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@Barkslip thanks for your professional opinion, I appreciate it!
