Lullaby for persimmon

Also the younger the tree, the less resistant to cold.
I plan on throwing on construction garbage bags over my trees… hoping that will be enough for wind protection.

They seemed to make a very clear difference last winter. I haven’t compared them to anything else, so I don’t know how other bulbs would do. It would be really nice if there were a simple and easy way to warm the whole area by 5 or 10 degrees instead of just warming the immediate surrounding branches.

Today I used temporary warm up to 26F to place one remote thermometer inside the persimmon cover and second one on the deck, right near the house wall(which is not real outside temperature as well, but about 2 degrees F higher) First one showing 20.6, second one 16.8 at 10:15 PM. So real difference between outside and inside the cover should be about 6 degrees F. Will see how different it will be in the morning, and most interesting, over weekend, when they expect -11F. My thermometer can register daily low and high. That would be interesting to see as well.

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I added pipe freeze protection cord to my persimmon cover - placed it around internal cover under the tarp. This morning it is -5F on my deck. And cozy +11F in the cover. I also found one more plus in the cover. yesterday noon, the temperatures were around 15 and inside the cover it was 36, but my deck thermometer showed 53F while it was exposed to south sun. I bet the branches of the tree can heat up as well on sunny day and that will create a huge jump between the day and night temperature. So despite under the cover it heats up on sunny day, it is not that dramatic as if the branches are exposed.

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The lowest temp here at my house was -18F. I gave in and threw a large tarp over my multigrafted Hybrid persimmon loosely because of the 10 feet in height. I turned a 100 watts light bulb on for 4 days of -F temp. It will be interesting to see if the tree survive in the Spring.

Tony

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I unwrapped my persimmon today. Sad news. Almost all the branches are completely dead. I mean no green under bark even near the trunk. Looks like it died long time ago, because it is really dry now. I only find one branch that could be still alive, and also on top of the tree couple twigs may be alive too. So what was wrong? Could it be it got too dry during the winter months when tarp was over the structure? I removed the tarp about a months ago after severe cold was over, but kept burlap and added row cover on top of it. Or may be it is in fact not the Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro I got from Stark’s but something mislabeled and less winter hardy?
@tonyOmahaz5 and @mamuang, can you share your experience, any hope for this tree in that condition? Or may be I have to try it again but order somewhere else? I don’t what to loose a year waiting till May to see if it wakes up…

Galina,
So sorry to hear that your tree is barely alive!!!

The way you protect it was better than any protection I have done on my Nikita’s Gift. I don’t know what had gone wrong? How tightly packed you put the leaves in. When I packed with leaves, I packed them in very tightly before burlap.

This year, I used mulch so it is packed tightly. I am waiting for the high temp to be in the 50 p’s for a few days in a row. It arrived today but last only 3 days so I don’t know if I should remove mine yet.

I could not remember where you bought your tree from. It is possible that iy was a wrong tree, the less cold hardy one.

@tony or others who know more about cold hardy persimmons could chime in.

I didn’t pack the leaves, more air in between - more insulation. I bought it from Stark’s… Did you have any experience with persimmon tree bouncing back after more than half of it dies? Can’t decide if I have to start over and order in different place while they are still in stock.

I have not. NG is the only persimmon I have had for 4 years ( this spring). The only two are rootstocks planted last fall with no protection!!!

Galina,

Sorry to here about the died back on your Ichi. If it is green above the graft then you are Ok. Let it grow like crazy this summer. You can protect it again this late fall but I would stuff some dry leaves to pack the whole tree and no air space. If you decided to have the air space then add a light bulb in the center of the tree. Turn it on for the few nights below -0F.

Tony

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The thing is, we didn’t even had bellow 0F this winter - it was one night and I had a heater and it was +5F inside. I suspect it is not true to kind… Can you please look at photos in this post and comment on my questions there? I trust your experience… Best way to deal with this dying persimmon? - #4 by andrew_SWMO

Galinas,

The photo with the green bark above the graft looks promising. It will take off once the weather is warming up. Let it grow and prune off the dead branches later in the season.

Tony

Thanks, why do you think it died so badly? Could it be the wrong persimmon?

I think the little Ichi was not fully dormant and not harden up yet when you Winter protected. I also think that Non astringent Kaki will not survived beyond -7F without protection. I think Bob Vance TamTam died at -8F. I don’t think Starkbros sent the wrong tree. I stripped the leaves on some of my Hybrids in early October to put them in early dormancy to harden them before Winter.

Tony

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Thanks, I didn’t strip the leaves, I guess that was a mistake.

I checked the temperature log. We had less than 10 negative days, the worst was -9F. But from that day on I had heater in. Before I installed the heater negative days were -3, -2 and -5, and I only had cover without heater. I think I will do it much better next year. I will make insulated walls and roof from reflective insulation and install heater with thermostat set on +15F. I will not mulch it though, letting soil to heat the enclosure when it is not severe cold. The roots do not have to be protected that much, as they hardy anyway. I also ordered a new tree, just in case I have the wrong one - I do not trust Starkbros that much. I ordered it potted in 3 gallon container. I even think may be i should keep it potted first year to move into garage when temperature expected to be bellow +15F? At least it will get it some time to mature, what do you think?

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Matsumoto and Coffeecake both ground killed last year even with protection. Zone 6b, Perry County, PA. Nikita’s Gift made it through no injuries. Trialing Chocolate, Jiro, and Fuyu this year to see if it’s feasible to grow.

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I am not surprised. Those varieties are more for zone 7 and warmer. After a while winter protection for those not winter hardy persimmons was a chore that I got tired of doing.

@mamuang How do you think Saijo, Chocolate, Fuyu and Jiro might fair? Saijo, I expect ground kill this winter, but I’ve seen many reports (and websites) of zone 6 for Fuyu, Jiro and Chocolate. I’ve read all forums on here relating to Zone 6 persimmons and sadly will have to swing back around to England’s hybrids, but I always enjoy moderator input on these experimental Kaki’s.

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I gave up on Saijo in zone 6 NJ. Mine suffered extreme dieback this past winter. It’s a shame because it had a great couple of years of productivity after milder winters. I now keep it in a pot but don’t expect much.

I also have fuyu and fuyu imoto- both are non astringents. Both are well-established but pencil-sized limbs and smaller all died. They’re growing back nicely but have few fruit because most of the energy was put towards green growth. These also were very productive following mild winters. My wife prefers the non-astringents.

My advice is to stick to the hybrid astringents. There a lot of great options out there now, and I prefer the astringents over the non-astringents.

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