Bit of snow last night—found this fellow hanging out near an emerging persimmon bud.
I’ve been browsing the web on the subject of seedling persimmon and specifically wondering how long it takes to come into fruiting—I’m getting anxious/impatient. Everything I’ve read indicates 10 years at the earliest, up to 15 until the first fruiting. My seedlings are seeing their 10th leaf this Spring. I’m wondering whether any experienced persimmon grower out there might prognosticate on my chances of seeing fruit this season?
I did put in another grafted tree this last month—but haven’t had good luck with grafted trees up to this point.
I don’t know about how long, but there’s at least a 50-50 chance that it’s a male. If it turns out to be, you can always great it over to a known variety. Or it will be a good pollinator if you prefer pollinated persimmons.
I’ve had some fruit as quickly as five years from seed. Seven years seems to be the average. I should note that this is for hybrid kaki/american persimmons.
I think Cliff England told me it’s more like 2/3 are male.
Thanks Jay, that´s a good suggestion. I have about 10 of them. I am hopeful though that some of them might turn out to be reasonably decent in their own right, and would hate to prematurely graft them over before seeing what they can do. They´re seedlings of named varieties, so maybe I have a good chance. The Catskill mountains aren´t the best place for persimmons, even natives, so I´m hoping to win a genetic golden ticket and discover a tree that has the special qualities to do well here
Well, even with just a third being female, that would give me 3 females in the bunch, then the other can be grafted. I purchased some hybrid seed from England´s Nursery in a similar hope of finding a hardy tree for this area. How long do they take to germinate? I currently have them on a heating mat at about 72*F.
We´ve gotten into the low 80*s this week for the first time and the persimmon buds are starting to unfurl. Yesterday I was doing my inspection and noticed some axillary buds on one of the seedling trees.
I am quite excited–to put it mildly. I´ve never really paid close attention to the morphology of the persimmon growth, so I checked out the other seedlings and did not see any similar buds on the others. So my great hope is that these are flower buds. Of course, these may not make it to harvest as the plant is so young, but after 8 years (I miscalculated above) it´s thrilling for me
Yes, those are flower buds, and advanced enough that hopefully they will bloom and fruit. On my young trees they often wither and dry up before they reach that stage.
Well, no fruit set this season – but May is only 7 months away . Also, the Early Jewel graft took and continues to do well – will do more grafting in the Spring if I can source the scion I want.
Question : I have noticed with some of my individual seedling persimmons trees – their leaves have turned yellow while others nearby remain green. I feel certain the color change is routine and not due to disease, drought or pest. Can I safely assume that these trees would ripen their fruit earlier as well? As I´m in a cool/short season area, I want to leave the best suited seedling trees alone to see how they might preform here and use the others to graft over with known cultivars.
. Also, the Early Jewel graft took and continues to do well – will do more grafting in the Spring if I can source the scion I want.