I wish zones worked that way 
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Am I correct that it wouldn’t have had much snow cover during the cold snap? I had to read your post a few times to reconcile -18F and pure Kaki, that’s pretty incredible.
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I think we have about 5 inches of snow around a week of -11F to -18F. The top branch was about 2 feet tall and budding green. I am very hopeful for the cold hardiness of this crossed. I got 2 more back up in the pots of the same offsprings.
Tony
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Thanks for the insight. I’ll plan to try a few grafts on the bare roots to see how they go.
I wonder how much of the variation in reported heights for virginiana is due to tree spacing. I’ve definitely seen some that were planted super close (like 4 feet apart down rows) and the trees were extremely tall and skinny. Perhaps 35 feet with a 5 inch trunk.
When people prune their persimmon to maintain height, is there a recommended strategy? Modified central leader, probably?
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It occurs to me that there are now quite a few of us on here who are growing persimmons in NE/IA/WI/MI/NH/VT/ME, albeit in very different stages of our persimmon experimentation. I wonder if it’s worth rebooting some of the older efforts to collect data on persimmon cold hardiness? Given that everybody’s trees are probably just waking up from an admittedly mild winter, it would be really interesting to see a wider range of observations. I know Richard has been offline for a bit, but I wouldn’t mind helping out with some data collection/organization etc.
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That would be great. In about a month or so, I can update on all my persimmons/hybrids did with a whole week of cold weather from -11F to -18F this January of 2024. @driftless
Tony
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You are going to end up with a beautiful tree. I look forward to your fruit tasting comparison reviews!
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We had that same cold snap down to -17F. Journey seems to be unfazed. Slight snow cover and protected from direct wind in the yard behind cedars.
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i got some seeds and seedlings from folks on here. supposedly more hardy types. i got them planted out and seeds potted up. like chestnuts im anxious to see how they handle my climate. its those rare test years im worried about.
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Took my wife to Walmart this evening… checked my roadside persimmon there… it is loaded with blossoms again.
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Mid-Missouri zone 6b. Last fall, I ordered and received a very nice little Nikata’s Gift persimmon in full leaf from Home Depot. Three days after planting it, the temperature dropped below freezing. As soon as the leaves fell off, I wrapped the 3 foot tall tree with a layer of tree wrap and placed a plastic pipe over it.
About April 16, the first green buds appeared and two leafed. A few days later, temps dropped below freezing and these leaves froze and died.
Today (May 4) two more leaves are starting to open. Our low temperature during the winter was -12, and it stayed very cold for several days. So far, the tree looks good.
My IKKJ Persimmon just got green buds today–first time it went through a Winter (planted last year).
@Well_Well_Well … l started a IKKJiro last spring also. It grew well… ended up a little over 6 ft.
We had 2-3F for low this winter and I protected mine a bit during that.
It has lots of budding and shoots happening now but did not start up good until all my other americans and hybrids were well underway.
It was the last to show green.
I started a Cardinal asian persimmon this spring… tiny thing from OGW. It is growing and needs to grow a lot. Most persimmons really like it here… i bet it will grow well once it gets going good…
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I think that this is just what IKKJ does – it comes out of dormancy slowly. That’s why it can tolerate locations with late frosts. FWIW, my own IKKJs are finally breaking bud. That puts them roughly on par with the Americans. Meanwhile, the PVNAs are close to bloom. Other kakis and hydrid are in the middle.
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Wow. What do you do for it?
He gets that growth by grafting onto large, well-established rootstocks. I suspect his growth in following years is much less dramatic.
For grafts on smaller, newly planted rootstocks, a 4-8 inches of new growth is much more typical for the first season.
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OK 
that was really shocking and confusing.
as well as outstandingly fertile soil.
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Not so much fertile soil. He is grafting on residual persimmon roots in ground that was cleared several years ago. I have similar roots in my garden and they are a pain to get rid of. Many are 25 to 30 feet long and 3 to 4 inches diameter with a very small sprout at one end of the root. Grafting on a root like that is going to turbocharge the scion. I have Callery pear rootstocks 3 inches diameter that push 10 to 15 feet of growth in a year. By the third year, they are blooming and setting fruit.
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