I have several wild dv in my field that are the size shown above. Those were bush hogged last (mid July) and grew 3-4 ft tall by October… most are 5/16 or so in diameter.
I plan to graft to them this spring.
Hopefully i get some scionwood to match that ?
I have some larger rootstock as well… some i will bark graft to.
I think my smaller wild dv rootstock… has a more advanced rootsystem in place already… they have been trying to grow in my field for years perhaps… and have been getting bush hogged down 2x a year.
I am hoping the smaller ones work ok for me this spring. Good or bad… i will ket you know.
I have grafted Persimmon many ways , one should pick the method best suited to their situation and desires. I often use the hot pipe at 81F in winter or pot them and graft when they start growing. One thing about grafting , if it fails you can try again in 3-4 weeks or try again next year. At 2 weeks it should show growth and at 3 good growth and 4 very good growth several inches , ones that grow weakly and stay small will probably fail so try again. Maintaining trees in pots is a skill in itself so planting things out is much easier but grafting them the first year is less likely to succeed Hot pipe makes it easy and one can graft them again in the spring if they fail . Choose a system that is best for you .I give away a lot of trees so putting them in pots and grafting when they come out works best for me. I usually have 50-200 in pots
It is not easy to grow potted persimmon in my area. We have hard water, high pH and the trees suffer micronutrient problems. I acidify the water and aim for a potting soil pH of 5- with 6 maximum. Also low phosphorus helps. I use peat based soil because it is what is available locally but bark based might be better and help keep pH lower. If one adds ordinary field mineral soil the situation is completely different but then lack of oxygen can become a problem if kept too wet and pH near 7 can be ok. Seedlings in pots do much better than field planted but one must harden them off by leaching and withholding fertilizer starting August 5 here or they may freeze off in winter. It can take a few seasons to develop a system for your water and other conditions in order to develop a system that is successful. If you have been successful , stick with a proven system.
Just put my MDC persimmon seedlings in some soil. Hopefully they break dormancy soon and I see what quality they are. Probably not going to graft into any of them as they are very thin
@TNHunter – Seeing buds pop so early for you guys in warmer regions makes me jealous. The only way I can cope is to bring some potted seedlings indoors and graft them there. So this year I brought 7 dormant potted seedlings indoors in mid-Feb. They leafed out a few weeks later. I grafted 5. I’m waiting on scions for the other 2.
Top pic shows the two growing seedlings awaiting grafting, along with grafted trees and some fig cuttings.
Bottom pic shows a close-up of one grafted scion, which seems ready to leaf out. Fingers crossed.
Trying to bring this topic back to life. None of my seedlings from MDC survived last year (mostly my fault) I am looking to purchase them again this year. Most of them that did come looked very thin so probably would grow them out a year. Id love to put them in pots for a year instead of in the ground just making easier for me to take care of. Any suggestions on this, Ive def read they do better in ground but I don’t know where I want their permanent location just yer.
I’ve grafted a couple dozen purchased bare root DV persimmons. Yes, I found the trees small as received; so I grew them out for a year in pots before grafting. Overall,. that worked well. Two caveats: Use decent-sized pots, at least 3 g. And make VERY sure to water regularly. It’s very easy to let the pots dry out, in which case growth stalls.
I think planting in-ground would be fine, but I’d probably use a shovel to sever roots in a circle around the trunk roughly Sept. That’d prep the tree for transplantation the following spring.
It even works well without a callus pipe. I get MDC rootstocks every few years and let them wake up indoors for a week or so. I then graft and hold at as close to 80 degrees as I can. Get minimum of 75% takes. The smaller ones get potted up and grown out to graft later. I get similar success rates on new and one year potted roots. The advantage I see for hot callus is the ability to work on it over the winter and have better control over the temps.
I pot all of mine in 4x9 tree pots, pruning the roots to fit if necessary. I’ve used 16" deepots, 14" treepot, and 2 gallon pots. I’ve seen no advantage on the average to using anything bigger than the 4x9 tree pots, at least for the size seedlings MDC ships out. Occasionally you’ll get a larger one with a nice root system that’s worth preserving in a larger pot, but usually some sort of 4x9 or 4x14 pot that air prunes at the bottom gets the best results.
I grew a few ‘rich tooie’ persimmons from seed a few years back. I ate the fruit then planted 3 seeds in a 16 inch wide by 10 inch deep planter pot… filled with compost and garden dirt.
I left that pot outside in the edge of my woods all winter. I never watered it or anything…
I planted them in my orchard in January the next spring and grafted kasandra to the larger one and nakitas gift to the smaller one.
They are both thriving in my orchard now… 12 ft tall, scaffold branches…
That is my only experience at growing persimmon seedlings. It seemed pretty easy.
I think I may have ideal climate for persimmons… they grow very well here.
