Kassandra persimmon. Fruits can take on light frost.
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I don’t doubt that it’s Kassandra. But I was also highly skeptical that it could be on its own root. That implies propagation by cutting or layering.
Ps. My Kassandra is from England’s. The transition between rootstock and scion is obvious as the bark changes.
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I’m not 100% certain. So I removed my comment. I did not see any graft mark…
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Here I just do not think any of us is in the position to say how this tree was grown, either grafted or on own root. When I first bought this tree, I never saw any graft mark. After several years, I still do not see any graft mark. I do not see any transition from rootstock to scion wood. Anything is possible.
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I’ve grafted really low, directly almost to the root and the graft has taken. You wont see the graft union unless you dug into the earth.
I believe it is impossible to have a named variety that isn’t grafted. Unless it is THE mother plant.
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On the road to our local walmart…
I may be the only person that has noticed this little persimmon. It is about 8 ft tall and wide.
Has around 30 fruit on. None ripe yet. Many have changed color but still quite firm.
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This is my Kassandra. The transition between DV rootstock bark and hybrid bark is obvious, approximately 18" above the ground. Also the rootstock is very slightly thicker.
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For persimmons, I assume that’s true because methods of asexual vegetative propagation (e.g., cuttings, airliners) don’t work.
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@jrd51 … check out this difference in rootstock / scion diameter…
That is my CHE… and best I remember the rootstock is osage orange.
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Here is one of persimmon. See how different the rootstock and scion can be.
The rootstock is far less vigorous than scion in this case
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Wow!
Mine is nothing like that. Still can’t see the graft mark…
I just do not think that is 100%. I asked some fruit farm owners and they said otherwise.
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What technique do they use?
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Do you know what type of graft this was originally?
@jrd51 … sorry do not know… got it from Cliff at Englands Orchard. It was quite small when i got it… like 1/4 inch diameter.
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I have a couple of trees that were grafted very low. You cannot see the graft union. It is the most likely scenario with your tree.
Growing persimmons vegetatively is possible from root cuttings. This is the technique used to produce dwarfing rootstock in Japan.
But it is not possible to propagate vegetatively from shoot cuttings — to the best of my knowledge.
Micropropagating/tissue culture might be possible. But I don’t think it is happening widely.
There are lots of experts on this forum. They will no doubt weigh in.
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From the research articles I’ve been reading, it is possible but challenging. First, there’s a lot of genetic variation and some clones are more likely to succeed than others. Second, it seems to work best if those shoots come from root suckers (which gets back to needing access to the ortet). The reason for this is because the root suckers are in a more juvenile state physiologically than the branches. It might be possible to induce this juvenile state using etiolation techniques (let shoots start growing in darkness, either by covering or by somehow getting the branch buried) and then root those etiolated cuttings. I plan to try this at some point. The bigger point is that it may be possible, buut there are so many hoops to jump through and still get a low success rate. So it just doesn’t make economic sense compared to grafting.
Edit:
From the abstract of this article:
The clone genotype had a significant effect on the rooting rate, which ranged from zero to close to 100% in the various clones examined. Cuttings collected from different positions on the mother plant shoots did not differ significantly in their rooting rate, suggesting that juvenility does not play an important role in rooting of D. virginiana cuttings. Collecting cuttings at the early stage of the growing season yielded the highest rooting rate, which gradually decreased as the growing season progressed.
So juvenility might not matter as much as genetics. If genetics is the #1 factor, your results are going to vary wildly from variety to variety.
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That is what I normally hear. But occasionally I hear different opinion.
Same that folks say you can’t propagate jujube from cuttings. But some forum members have had some success with it.
We just need to give it some tries.
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While other propagation methods might be possible, I would be very surprised if any of the regular nurseries would go through that effort when grafting to seedling D. Virginiana is so reliable and cost-effective.
I’ve grafted a good number of persimmons and have some trees from others and most seem to heal quite well. I wouldn’t be surprised if the grafts weren’t visible on many of these down the road, particularly with native cultivars and many of the hybrids.
No my apple grafts on the other hand… man those often get lumpy and ugly over time.
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