Haha, I agree! Part of your problem could be that the soil is too rich in N. I thought that was the problem last year… but the tree has been in the ground since 2013 or 2014. The N in the ‘good dirt’ I bought must have been uptaken by the tree by now, and I have mulched it which serves as a N sink… so, it will be converted to a multi graft next spring.
This year, my Nikita’s Gift is a full 4 years old tree (planted in the spring of 2015).
It sets over a hundred flowers. So far, most dropped. I don’t even know if any would be left on the tree.
No fertilizer, no mulch but lot of rain. Maybe, NG does need male flowers to help it hang on to its fruit. It’s frustrating to see baby fruit on the ground everyday.
Nikita’s gift oversets and drops excess fruit. Last year I had my little tree set over 60 fruit and finally ripen only 9. But for such a small tree 9 was still a good number.
Other persimmon varieties also overset but carry them. As a result they break branches and get into alternate bearing patterns.
Nikita’s gift doesn’t have these problems. I actually prefer that this tree drops excess fruit rather than destroy itself in the fruiting process.
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Dropped fruit excessively is OK. Dropped ALL the fruit is not !!!
This year it has probably over a hundred fruit. I shall be very PO if it dropped all the fruit.
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Axe it next Spring. I will give you JT-02 to topwork it!!! I did.
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I didn’t end up multi grafting one of my NGs because I didn’t want to start over… I mentioned it in another thread, but I think NG is very sensitive to rain, and location (as much sun as possible). I have a second NG that gets more sun, and it holds onto more fruit.
Overall, I am disappointed in the fruit drop of NG. For such a large tree, I would expect it to hold onto more fruit. But I love the taste, and I have to remind myself that I don’t grow them to sell them. My other persimmon trees aren’t mature yet, and others took on winter damage. So I’m happy to have any fruit I can get from them.
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In a real surprising turn of events, both of my NG did very well this year. My one problematic one held onto a lot of fruit this years. Looking forward to posting pics in the fall. Cliff England gave me some advice to wait until the tree is fully mature to decide whether to take an axe to it. Glad I listened to him.
Based on my experience, the key to success with NG is hoping for a dryer than normal spring, no fertilizer, strategically prune, and plant in direct sun. I sprayed fungicide a couple times, but I don’t think it would have made a difference. I consider myself very lucky this year.
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I believe persimmon is one fruit that no spraying for anything is needed.
We had very wet, too wet than normal spring and then by July it was a mini drought. No fertilizer. My 4th year NG had 100+ flowers, set 20+ fruit. By the end of July, all dropped. If this continues next year, it may get an axe.
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Tree needs to mature I think.
My tree sets over 60 fruits last year. Only matured 9. This year set maybe 40 but maturing about 30.
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I was going to cut down one of mine too, but this year it did great. It took 5 years to get a yield that I say was satisfactory. Last year was an embarrassment with maybe only 4 fruit.
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And the flavor is great, too. Of the 10 or so varieties of kaki and kakiX persimmons that have fruited for me so far, Nikita’s gift would have to be the favorite of everyone in my family.
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That’s the key phrase “grafted on an established rootstock”.
Everyone seems to agree that NG needs to be matured before it settles down to hold on to its babies. Another year for me.
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Most persimmon like manganese and potash for fruit retentions, no nitro except a 16-16-16 during the late winter only. A light application of stem also help.
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I love the flavor too. I prefer it over saijo. I will be tasting Korea, steiermark, and Kasandra for the first time this fall.
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@aap How often does one apply manganese to persimmons? I’ve read this before about manganese helping persimmons retain fruit and applied some this year.
@RUenvsci I’m looking forward to your report on how those persimmons taste. I grafted Korea this year and have Kasandra on order for the fall.
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if you have room, instead of axing NG consider experimenting w/ & w/o fertilizer, w/ thinning, observe if yield improves with maturity. it’s all about experimenting. your insights could help others. we have NG, 4yo, medium sun exposure, near a downspout so it gets more water than the other trees, set 100 this year, dropped 50 to date. for a tree its size i’m happy w/ 50.
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I don’t have a lot of room. NG is in a 70% sun. No fertilizer for the past two years. No mulch. Our weather is quite wet, too wet sometimes, so it does not really need extra water.
4 years old. NG is somewhat borderline cold hardy here anyway in zone 6a (sometimes 5b). If it lives, it lives. Next year, if it survives our winter, it should be mature enough to keep some fruit.
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Peter’s makes STEM, you can use as a Foliar spray , I usely dump a couple of tsp in a 5 gl pail after petal fall around the drip line.My trees usely overproduced flowers, the more the better so I don’t have to thinned them. They come in one lb container through Amazon, last a long time.
I buy all my stuff from The Landscaper Store, Miami, Fl.
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