@Lucky_P …
What it looked like when I dug one up.
That one survived and is grafted to Kasandra today.
It is obviously a root shoot… But there is no larger mother tree anywhere near it. I expect the origional tree got took out when we cleared the land. It had to grow a few roots to survive.
TNHunter
Looks better than most of the pawpaws that I transplanted from under a friend’s tree.
And I had better than 50% survival on them, and you could kinda tell which ones were healthier, the biggest ones 3/4” and up were obviously less likely to survive than the 3/8” ones.
@Trav .. this is one of my wild DVs. They are 60c southern persimmons and are strong growers.
It just came up in my orchard in ideal location and properly spaced for my orchard row.
I will be grafting American 100-46 Lehmans Delight to it next spring.
I plan to add one more Asian… Giboshi (Smiths Best)… next spring.. and I may just buy it from a nursery.
That should be the end of my persimmon collection.
That will be 4 Americans, 4 Asians, 5 Hybrids.
I have 8 persimmon trees producing fruit this year. They are all 3 or 4 year olds.
TNHunter
Have you tried unfurling the curled leaves to find the aphids?
Here’s my Kassandra. Very isolated to all my trees of that variety for me.
That looks like psyllids to me.
A little Sevin spray will take them out.
They hit my persimmon new graft growth hard here… as soon as new growth starts up.. I spray mine… then a week or two later spray them again.
That usually does it.
TNHunter
Yeah, I think those are psyllid babies. I have them on my Dar Sofyivki. I just tore the leaves off that were affected.
So I’ve had them on young grafts and crushed them all with the leaf flat between my fingers, trying to save the leaves, and it worked, I find it really disgusting though, I don’t know why, just crushing them between my fingers seemed pretty cruel and dirty although mentally I’m cool with killing them just like mosquitoes, but feeling each one pop and ooze, got me. I don’t know if they chose the young graft for the tender leaves or because it wasn’t resistant like others, but my graft lived and I’d do it again! I hope neem spray works against them, that’s my new favorite natural/organic pesticide, and if not maybe copper spray does, also healthy.
Yeah, squashing them is what I do. It doesn’t bother any more digging in the dirt.
I’ve been meaning to share some random observations about my experiences with 1st and 2nd year graft survival… Just getting around to it finally.
I have 46 persimmon trees planted in 2023 and 2024. I grafted some in 2024, the rest in 2025 (and again this year). I have terrible luck getting 1st-year wood to survive the winter here in zone 6a Michigan. It seems either 1 year wood isn’t very cold hardy, the tree aborts it, or it’s prone to desiccation, as come spring much of new growth is dead and dry and doesn’t leaf out. It’s been frustrating having to redo grafts over again for the 2nd year now. Fyi, these aren’t weak takes. I’m talking 2 to 6 feet of growth on most of these.
This past winter got as cold as -18F which is not common for us. Hopefully this coming winter is more mild.
Anyway, here is a summary:
Orange color = died back this past winter to below the graft union
Bold = 2024 graft (two year old wood)
Anyway, I am excited that at least a few survived. DEC Goliath and Mackenzie Corner (presumed early golden) both flowered heavily. Many hundreds of baby fruit. Mackenzie Corner dropped them all, but both of the DEC Goliath trees have held onto a few.
We hit -22 F here the last 2 years in a row. Thank you for indicating that H-118 died below the graft union but Prok survived at -18F. I still might give the former a try but that’s telling.
I’m interested in encouraging my Meader, A-33, and Tin Cup grafted American persimmons to self-root. Their graft unions are approximately 2-4 inches below soil level. The one I checked did not self-root yet. I expect at least -22 F this winter. Should I score the bark and use Bonide rooting powder or use Clonex? Any tips or a link to a prior post on how to do this?
By scoring the bark do I want the green to show (cambrium?) or the white layer below the green layer (sapwood/heartwood?)?
This maybe a little late in the season to try that. I would cover the base of the tree with a mound of dirt like a foot upwards just to winter protect it if the trees are small then try to self root them next May.
Tony
Sure thing. Keep in mind, I’m not implying that any tree that died back isn’t cold hardy to colder than -18F, rather just that 1 year wood is very susceptible to dying back.
I suppose that we can say that any tree that did survive is indeed cold hardy to -18F. I was happy to see Journey hybrid pull through.
Really it’s powder or gel question for me. All three of my persimmons are currently in a second growth spurt. The A-33 came leafed out from OGW in the Pacific Northwest. Tin Cup and Meader came bare root from Blue Hill in Pennsylvania. An apocryphal story is that a Meader has been grown in my climate.
Thanks for the idea of burying the trees. Sand here is free for me and easy to identify by color.
Sand conducts heat quickly and can freeze your trunk and roots during the winter, so be careful with that, maybe if you mulch on top for winter it will be good.
