So I now have a diospyros virginiana growing in my yard. Per the advice of some folks in this forum, I’m planning to graft some persimmons to it when it’s large enough. Hoping for 4 varieties.
After some research, these are the ones that I’m seeing that are most recommended around the internet:
Nikita’s Gift
Saijo
Hachiya
JT 02
Another possible one to replace one of the above with is Kassandra.
Any thoughts on those? Are they good choices?
Just as an FYI, I have an IKKJ tree next to this one to hopefully cover our desire for non-astringent persimmons. So for the above choices I was just looking at astringent.
One problem you will have is that each of your varieties has a different growth pattern. Pruning will be difficult at best. Any chance you could get 2 rootstocks.
Possibly could get 1 more. I’m running out of yard space, though. Hence why I wanted to fit as many on one tree as possible. Is 2 varieties per tree easier to prune instead of 3 or 4?
Yeah… don’t bet the farm on that z7 rating; I’m currently classified that way, but I’m not buying it. I’ve not grown Hachiya, but have had a number of D.kaki selections over the years that did OK… until they didn’t. Saijo was perhaps the longest-lasting, but it froze out in 2007. I’ve not bothered to try replacing any of them, though Cliff has sent me some kaki scionwood from time to time… but none survived.
What temp froze the Saijo? Now that I look, I do think Hachiya only shows tolerant to 5 degrees on one site. Is that true? If so, I couldn’t do that. Saijo is tolerant to -5 or -10 which we hardly, if ever, hit. (seen below -5 once or twice. Never below -10)
@Lucky_P … I remember 2007… we had a really late super hard frost that spring.
Ginseng tops normally come up the first couple weeks in April and that late frost was after seng was up. Killed almost all ginseng tops that year… the price that fall went over 1000.00 a pound… the supply was so low.
Oaks and poplars and hickorys had big leaves on allready and they all turned black… it was about a month later when they started sending out new leaves.
Is that what killed your saijo ?
I dont remember that winter being really bad… but that super late hard frost that spring was a killer.
interesting and I’m a little confuse, are you growing for eating…? When I think of persimmon, I assumed fuyu is everyone’s top pick. It is incredibly prolific and hardy. In my neighbor, anyone with a persimmon tree has a fuyu. Zone 7- VA . Personally, I can run through 4 in one sitting, and that’s with restraint.
I know people’s taste can differ, but just very surprise at your list… you are looking at astringent too (but you have Hachiya on the list)…and then again, I don’t collect persimmon, just have two fuyu trees, which fruited first time this year!!! (One of them was a gift.) but your list inspires me, maybe I should try to graft other varieties.
@joleneP You will find there are two different camps (or three, for those who love all of them). There are those who love Fuyu and won’t touch anything else (unless it’s a fuyu-like clone). But there are those who believe the astringent varieties are sweeter and have a greater depth of flavor.
I’m with you that I love being able to pick a Fuyu off the tree whenever you want and enjoy. But since I moved to Kentucky, I have to live without one since it would die here. But that’s the reason I just planted an Ichi Ki Kei Jiro. Hoping it’s just as good.
In order to see what the 2nd camp sees in the astringent varieties, I’m trying to get some of the best ones to see what I can do with them. My results will be many years down the road.
Thanks, woah, totally unaware of that. I never even considered that there are places too cold for fuyu.
well, if you’re up for an experiment, I wonder if you can graft fuyu on a branch (easily accessible) and in the winter time protect that branch, since your main plant’s roots can withstand the cold.
I’ve been looking into growing tropical fruit tree in VA, and recently discovered that people have been grafting sugar apples (a tropical fruit) onto cherimoya root stock because they can withstand the cold more. By doing this graft, they’re able to put sugar apples in the ground in colder areas and the sugar apple go dormant with protection. This news, almost blew my head off. I haven’t done it yet, but I’m growing seedlings to experiment with this because I love sugar apples.
Interesting. How cold of temps has your Fuyu survived? We’ve hit -7 in both of the last two winters. I was pretty sure a Fuyu would be long dead at that point.
not sure… I haven’t really paid attention to the weather until recently. Weather in VA- NOVA is all over the place. But we have been down single digits, not the average though.
I found this post on this site because I was also curious. A couple people shared Fuyu in zone 7a has survived winters. I think the graft and age of the tree helps.
