should i be supporting this 100-46 branches up? they are growing horizontal but mostly down lol
This is a big drop year for my American persimmons. I’m not sure what triggers this vs. other years. We’ve been in a pretty bad drought for a while, then had several days of rain that seemed to help, but we’re definitely still in drought, so maybe that is causing it.
Prok is the worst, with many shoots that had 6-10 flowers dropping all of them over time. H-63A and Morris Burton #3 grafts on the same tree are holding their fruit much better. My H-118 has dropped the majority of its fruit, as has Barbara’s Blush and even Lehman’s Delight, usually great at clinging to its crop has dropped a good amount. There are still fruit on the trees, but some have gone from heavy to light or even sparse (Prok) over the last few weeks.
Among my Kaki and Hybrids, some dropping but most doing better. Nakita has dropped hundreds, but there was probably a thousand flowers to start with, so it isn’t terrible …. yet. JT-02, which for me has always been a big dropper, has dropped most of its crop again, while my grafts of Kolhospnitsa on the same tree are holding everything so far. I definitely care a lot more about getting the Kolhospnitsa fruit, so I’m hoping those hold.
What are others seeing in terms of early drop. It is odd how a tree will drop so much of its crop, when a graft of another variety seems to be more likely to be held. #persimmonsareweird
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My Suruga last year finally had dozens and dozens of flowers (first time flowering), and it dropped all the fruit early on. I believe only 4 fruit made it to 1.5” before dropping.
This year I had 4 flowers/fruit.
No drought issues as it’s on a sprinkler system though, but I was very surprised it didn’t put out flowers this year… I attributed it to the low chill hours. We had a warm winter here in South Houston.
Coffee cake on the other hand more than doubled the fruit compared to last year.
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My Miss Kim appears to have dropped all of its flowers/fruit. I went searching and only found these few remaining flowers that look like will fall off any day now.
It was covered in flowers like this
My trees were only planted in 2023, and I know persimmons can drop fruit when they are young, but I was still hoping to get a few fruit to maturity.
anything I need to do differently next year?
these are the only flowers that remain.
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Most of you guys are way ahead of me. Finally I have one persimmon variety in bloom, a potted Chocolate. Both male and female flowers.
p.s. Coffee Cake is booming today (next day) but with far fewer blossoms. Other Kaki and Hybrid varieties seem ready to start in a day or two. Americans are behind.
Edit 6/10: A potted Taishu is in full bloom now. In-ground Kakis (including a branch of Taishu grafted to IKKJ) are a day or two away. Same for hybrids JT-02 and Kasandra. Americans are behind.
I’m guessing that storage of the potted kakis gave them a minor head start.
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I have a theory on drop. In parthenocarpic squash fruit set of seedless fruit is only a percentage. Say 30%. I saw a video where a guy claimed pollination - seeds made a huge difference in fruit set. I know seedless is preferred but pollination may increase yield. Worth considering. I will test this myself.
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That’s the theory about Chuchupaka mentioned in a Ukrainian study.
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Right, I think that in persimmons this requirement for pollination is a trait that varies on a gradient, i.e., degree of parthenocarpy. Some varieties are fully parthenocarpic, requiring no pollination at all. Some are partially parthenocarpic, setting some fruit without pollination and more with pollination. Some are not at all parthenocarpic, so no fruit without pollination.
Sex and reproduction are interesting traits in persimmons. For example, among descendants of Nikita’s Gift, which is dioecious, the split seems roughly 50-50 (i.e., half monoecious). Nikita’s Gift is parthenocarpic but some descendants (e.g., Chuchupaka, Kolgospnytsya) have much higher yields with pollination.
If I remember correctly, Chuchupaka is described as low. So we can get some fruit without a pollinator but much more with.
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@zendog … I started seeing fruit drop a few weeks back on my persimmons.
Most of my trees are young .. and all listed below bloomed and set fruit this year.
This is what I counted today that remain on my 3 and 4 year olds.. what they ripened last year compared to what is still hanging on today.
IKKJ…ripened 22 last year, has 12 on today.
Kasandra… ripened 32 last year, has 50 on today.
Cardinal… ripened 0 last year.. has 6 on today.
H63A.. ripened 9 last year… has 75 on today.
Barb blush.. ripened 7 last year.. has 25 on today.
Prok.. ripened 0 last year.. has 7 on today.
JT02… ripened 0 last year.. has 10 on today.
Nikitas gift.. ripened 0 last year… has 5 on today.
My Journey, Saijo and Dar Sofiyivky.. did not bloom this year or last.
Top.. Cardinal
Bottom … JT02.
Cardinal looks like it is going to be a good sized persimmon.
TNHunter
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Those that have tasted Kassandra and Rosseyanka: which do you prefer and how do they differ?
TIA!
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lovin that JT-02 shape
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@SouthTX .. just a fyi..
If you are considering adding Roseyanka… know this.. there is a bud sport of Roseyanka named Super Roseyanka that you can get from Cliff at Englands Orchard.
I talked to Cliff about it and he said it is just like Roseyanka… except it produces larger fruit.
I saw both last fall (mid Oct) at the Englands Orchard tour… both had fruit on that had turned orange… but it was still rock hard… had a way to go to ripen.
So.. both are later ripening and the super Roseyanka fruit were noticably larger.
I think Kasandra is going to be hard to beat flavor wise. They are just awesome.
TNHunter
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Kassandra is better. Rosy is good, but not great. It is a good tree for size though as the branches like to do kind an umbrella instead of shooting straight upward.
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I found out about that bud sport AFTER I grafted Rosseyanka
On a 2023 NAFEX video Timothy says Sosnovskaya is “head to head” with Kassandra. Can anyone with experience give insight to that?
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