What year did you start to fertilize?
I absolutely love Google’s a.i, I was throwing it a bunch of questions a few weeks ago. It was saying that many people don’t fertilize persimmon trees for the first 2 years so I’ve been following its advice. Whatever I have to do to get my first year graft established and flourishing, I’m gonna do! I’m definitely going to winter protect it. I already got tarps from Harbor Freights. Just need to collect leaves in the fall as insulation.
Probably year 4 or 5.
I would start much earlier knowing what I know now.
All AI does is repeat what is in the forums. It cannot do empirical research.
Ai has recommended to me not to fertilize freshly grafted trees, with its reasoning being that it can be hard on the newly forming graft union, and make the graft more likely to fail. Idk if it’s valid reasoning or not, but I’m holding off for a bit.
I plan to give them a light fertilizing in July after they’ve established a bit.
I love how that tree looks! Are you doing any pruning to encourage that spread and keep it from getting too tall?
There’s also the discussion about how much of a difference being potted versus in ground makes (in my experience it doesn’t matter as much as people say, but I can only go by what I’ve noticed personally). It might be a factor in my numbers.
@Petey I had mine from 2019 and they only died this winter because of total neglect. You can definitely keep and fruit one in a pot for years. I think a few people on here fruit Tam Kam in containers and overwinter them. In ground…I assume in 6b you might be able to protect it enough, but it’s not something I’ve tried.
I wondered whether perhaps yours were ripening better because of fertilization, but I see you were holding back too before. I’ve been fertilizing more now too.
Yes, I’m pruning to keep above deer browse and within tall person reach. I just snip a few from time to time when I’m in my yard. I always bring my pruners with me.
This tree growth is relatively easy to manage though, compared to many.
I also pull of water sprouts if they aren’t in a good direction/location. It’s close to the house and is often in my path.
I don’t think it makes a difference if the potted trees are stored outside. If I pot a persimmon, it’s because I think it’s tender and I plan to store it indoors over the winter.
This Mikkusu graft was about a month late to bud out compared to Fuyu, Zenji Maru, Chuchupaka and Chocolate. But it made up for it with an incredible growth spurt in 9 days (pics from 6/1 to today 6/10).
I’ve had much better results when grafting persimmons and pecans from grafts that took longer than average to break buds. As an example, Saijo grafted this year broke buds in about 10 days but both scions failed a week later. Rosseyanka grafted the same day did not break buds for 4 weeks but now is growing vigorously with 6 inches of new growth.
@Fusion_power … my Saijo graft was a little slow coming out… we had a long cool and wet spell for blackberry winter this year.
When it did finally start pushing growth… it got a serious psyllid attack… my Dar Sofiyivky did the same.
I sprayed the psyllid a couple times with sevin spray… and new growth is looking good now.
Below is my Saijo.
Those older lower leaves all have psyllid damage… the new growth is looking good.
TNHunter
