My Tam Kam tree (5 or 6 yeas old, I think) seems to have SDS. Can anyone confirm and provide some guidance? I can’t seem to find much info on control or diagnosis. My other persimmon trees are fine.
1 Like
Is the damage throughout the whole tree or certain branches? It does look like some other pictures I’ve seen online of reports of SDS.
3 Likes
So far certain branches, but I believe it’s spreading. Just noticed it the other day.
1 Like
If you cut a cross section of a branch and if the wood is darken with black veins then possibly SDS syndrome in Kaki due to early cold damage.
2 Likes
If so, do you think the tree is a goner?
There are some small black lesions under the bark.
1 Like
From my experienced in the past, the affected tree will slowly declined and died. In your situation, I would just wait and see and hoped it wasn’t SDS.
2 Likes
Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully it doesn’t infect my other trees!
2 Likes
Anyone have this trouble? Didn’t know there was a known cause. First appears as unusual growth on branch Ys. We have it in Texas and it is spread by glassy eyed sharpshooter, the same spreader of Pierces disease in grapes. Can’t grow wine grapes here near Gulf Coast due to Pierces disease, can only grow muscadines or hybrids.
Persimmon Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), an affliction that causes Asian persimmon trees to die within 2 to 5 years, is the only common disease of any significance that occurs in the United States. It is currently believed to be caused by Xylella fastidiosa, a bacteria responsible for a few other serious problems, such as Pierce’s disease in grapes. X. fastidiosa was found in 16 out of 18 symptomatic trees studied throughout the years in addition to the symptomatic trees sampled from a Fuyu orchard recently planted in Telfair County, Georgia (2016).[1] Viruses and viroids were also discovered in these samples, but, unlike X. fastidiosa (or so it was implied), they were also present in trees that were non-symptomatic.[1]
Xylella fastidiosa is often spread by large leafhopppers called sharpshooters. The primary vector, the glassy-winged sharpshooter (Homalodisca vitripennis), can only survive in regions with mild winters, and based on their distribution map, this should be around hardiness zone 8a or warmer. Sharpshooters were not mentioned for spreading X. fastidiosa directly to Asian persimmons, but it did imply that the primary source of infection came from grafting Asian persimmon scionwood onto infected, but asymptomatic, American persimmon rootstock.
Before Xylella fastidiosa became the primary suspect, a considerable number of Asian persimmon trees grafted onto American persimmon rootstock showed mild to severe decline in two Israeli orchards, but some of them did not show any symptoms. Those grafted to Asian persimmon rootstock showed no signs of decline as well.[2] They concluded that there may be a latent pathogen in some American persimmon rootstocks that are asymptomatic to the species but potentially harmful to the Asian persimmon.[2] However, the symptoms displayed by the Asian persimmons were much less severe compared to SDS in the United States, hence the word “decline” rather than “sudden death”. This implies that there is another source causing incompatibility between the two species
3 Likes
@ampersand What does the trunk look like? Any bark missing, flaking? That’s my first sign here of mysterious kaki decline starting at 10 to 15 years. I paint trunks white just in case it’s southwest/sun injury.
1 Like
Yes, I assumed it was old damage from cold but makes sense if it’s SDS.
1 Like
This is a major issue in the southeast! If I may ask, what state are you located in?
1 Like