@JustPeachy – Thanks. I’m trialing H63A and Dollywood, which fills my quota for Claypool varieties (including one Early Golden offspring), as well as Morris Burton and Barbra’s Blush, which fills my quota for American varieties. Plus the Prok that doesn’t work for me. I guess I’m curious what Claypool was trying to accomplish and whether he thinks he succeeded. But I’ve placed enough bets for now.
This is a video of Jerry Lehman and Jim Claypool talking persimmons.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XeWvr2tP0Ho
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That video of the two legends is a gem.
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Hello, hope everyone is having a wonderful spring.
I just posted some information about a hybrid breeding project I am involved with which has received some grant funding. Looking for a specific type of pollen ASAP for the breeding work.
See thread here: Urgent: Hybrid Persimmon Breeding Project Needs Pollen
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This is just some data, providing a nuanced view of cold tolerance.
Two years ago, I grafted JT-02 both (1) to branches of a 6th year Prok (D. Virginiana), and (2) to the central leader of a 2nd year seedling rootstock (also DV). I grew the small grafted tree in a pot for a year, then planted it in the ground – roughly 15 yards away from the Prok. So last winter, both of the JT-02 grafts endured basically the same weather and growing conditions, except for their rootstocks. Specifically, one rootstock was a fairly mature (adolescent?) DV tree, whereas the other rootstock was a young seedling.
This past winter was generally mild, but there was one night when temperatures dropped to -7 F.
Here are pictures taken 5 days ago. The first picture is the JT-02 grafted on Prok. As is evident, the buds show no damage. Rather, they are popping green shoots.
The second picture is the JT-02 grafted to young seedling rootstock. It may not be obvious but the buds are toast. The top ~6" of the former incipient scaffold branches appear dead. There are, however, new buds popping from the trunk – so he tree is very much alive. But shoots and buds of a size that survived on the Prok rootstock have been damaged on the young seedling rootstock.
This suggests to me that the cold hardiness of JT-02 may be very dependent on the maturity of the rootstock tree.
p.s. This is off the topic of hybrids, but I should also note that I grafted the Kaki PCA variety Miss Kim to the same Prok tree at the same time as JT-02. The Miss Kim grafts are doing great. Despite the -7 F night this winter, they show zero damage. The branches look very similar to JT-02 on the same tree, pictured above.
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If the tip still green with a scratch then the buds still OK. Give it sometime to buds out.
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I wish. The tip isn’t green. But there are numerous buds popping further down around the area where the branches meet the central leader as well as lower on the central leader itself. I’m gonna guesstimate that at least 1/2 of each branch is dead. In any case, I’m just gonna let Nature take its course, see what buds and what doesn’t. I’ll report later. 
I may end up having to re-grow the scaffolds, which would not be a tragedy.
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All my 3rd leaf JT-02 survived the -14F for 2 nights this last winter with no died back and budding out now.
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Thanks. To be clear, when you say “3rd leaf” do you mean starting 3rd leaves now or completed 3rd leaves last season?
All these JT-02 trees were 4 to 5 years old in 2019 when the Polar Vortex of -31F that killed all of them at the ground level. Re-graft on 2021 so they are going to 3rd leaf the rootstocks are about 6 to 7 years old. Bigger rootstocks faster tops growth.
So our grafts are the same age but your rootstocks are 6-7 yrs old whereas mine on the tree with damage is 3-4 years old. Mine without damage is on a tree planted 8 years ago, so the rootstock is roughly 10 years old. Maybe that’s what made the difference.
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Cut that dead wood out, you never know when you will get attacked by Ambrosia Beetles.
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Great point. My problem is that Tony is correct – what looks like dead wood may not be. After our dialogue above, I scratched the branches. There was more green cambium than I expected. And in the transition zones it’s a little ambiguous. I took out ~6" dead on one and 2-3" on some others. I left some wood on each branch that is probably dead, but no more than a few inches. I’ll keep an eye on it.
FWIW, the buds really are toast. Any new buds will have to pop out of the bark. That’s what they’re doing lower down on the tree. Then I just pick four to let grow.
How high are the two respective grafts? There are major temperature differences between the first 3 feet above the ground vs higher up. If one graft is at 2 ft and the other is at 6 feet, I would expect the higher graft to have less damage. This is a very well documented effect with persimmon.
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@Fusion_power – That’s a good point. The grafts on Prok are ~4’ off the ground. The graft on the young seedling is ~1’ off the ground.
But there is a persuasive argument that the height of the graft (and related temperature) is not the issue. The ~1’ of seedling rootstock is healthy as well as ~2’ of scion wood, including both a few inches of the original graft plus a couple feet of subsequent growth. The only damage is at the upper / outer extremities – the highest and presumably warmest areas of the tree.
The maturity of the rootstock still seems a more plausible explanation, though I admit I have no idea why the maturity ion the rootstock should affect the cold hardiness of wood 2-3’ higher up the tree.
My JT-02 survived the winter nicely. We had -18 F here. It was 50 F the next day! Mine was topworked onto a ~7 or 8 yr old seedling. It pushed a tremendous amount of growth.
Dar Sofiyivki and Bozhyz Dar, on the other hand are in similar shape as your JT-02. I wasn’t given the scionwood until late July. I grafted it immediately, and it actually grew a fair bit. The same fellow gave me some wood Aug. 1 or so, and it wouldn’t even push. They’re not looking good though. I’m hoping there’s some viable buds down near the graft union. It’s disappointing to lose a hard won variety, and I’d been excited to be growing them, especially Dar Sofiyivki.
All other hybrid grafts look good. Journey, Kasandra, Rosseyanka show no signs of damage. Little if any winterkill to report on any persimmons, really. I’m guessing grafting so late was not helpful for winter hardiness. Persimmon buds are swelling now (quite early) so I’ll keep an eye on things. Fingers crossed
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I looked now and Dar Sofiyivki grafts appear to be alive to within an inch or so of the union. All top growth has winterkilled though. Bozhyj Dar looks less promising. Before the cold arrived, I covered all of my 1 yr old hybrid grafts and as much of their stems as possible with 1” foam pipe insulation. I’ve used it a few times to help get tender things through their first winter. At a buck or two per 8’ piece, It’s cheap insurance.
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I have a stick or two of Bozhy Dar I could spare if you need to re graft.
Looks like one night of -6F was fatal for Sestronka grafted two foot high on existing rootstock in 2021.
All other hybrids un fazed.
Never tried protecting, might be worth a try.
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