I would like to grow persimmon from seed to eventually graft to. I’m thinking about using air pruning pots for seed then up potting until I’m in root trapper bags where I will let them grow until ready for grafting. Then let them go one more season before being sold.
Do any of you do this? What type of pots do you use?
This is what I am going to try this year. I’m thinking of an economical storage solution and coming up with chain link fence supported by custom pallet wood frame (I get free pallets).
You can do exactly what Ryan’s doing and then pot to Roottrapper 15" tall bags.
That’s the easy way right there; suspend that particular pot thru chain link fence. They fit inside and you can snug them “perfectly tight” to stand them upright.
Should you have a 24" or 30" (or build) raised bed, sow your seed during Spring after all frosts have passed and do the stratification in your refrigerator over winter. I graft right in the raised bed and then you can easily dig them out, once you got the first row “lifted out”. I stand in my raised bed and that first row is tight because it’s close to the wall and I’m avoiding stepping on trees in rows behind, but once that row is out, the others I can lift/remove/pull out with my hands via wiggling. Then you could pot them should you so desire, or, they’re ready to sell right then, after they were lifted.
You can dig them all out while dormant, and then heel them back in for ease of removal to ship, however… in your zone 5, you’re aren’t going to have much time until they wake up. Therefore, you’re best bet would be Fall shipping.
Really w/o a walk in freezer and your zone you need one of two things to ship during Spring… either a walk in cooler or, a building outside w/ one window or two, (but you want it very dark all the time). You’d use that “shed” to overwinter your potted plants a few degrees above freezing and store your RootTrapper trees in it. The windows you can open for natural air, or, put a air conditioner in… etc. but you gotta keep them dark & cool and especially dormant… and that’s about the only way to do it in zone 5 for Spring shipping.
In this case/your case, a greenhouse would be pointless for storage, but may be necessary for grafting if you aren’t going to do your grafting indoors or within (a greenhouse).
Some good ideas here to ponder.
They way I understood it is that I won’t be able to grow the seedlings, graft them & still preserve the taproot by the time I will be selling them because the root grows too deep. So I should probably terminate that tap root at 4"-5" by air pruning and continue air pruning or root trapping until ready for sale.
I’m thinking about planting some out to graft later too. Cliff said he plants about 3" apart, but that seems pretty close. @Barkslip how far apart do you plant them?
My biggest concern with growing in pots is over wintering them. From what I understand persimmon roots cannot handle very cold temps like apples & pears do. It seems like pot in pot would be the easiest/cheapest, most reliable option.
You can preserve a good amount of the taproot if you use the proper potting setup and do as Dax and I said. More is better than none at all.
@Barkslip gives a glimpse of his setup using (I think 10" pots?) in the grafting threads over the years.
It really depends on constraints such as how are you going t hold over your trees from different sizes, and the whole shebang. I’ve developed a system all within proximity of each other and I can do things several-many ways.
Here’s just an example of what we’re talking of and then I’ll comment further:
The other way is to sow 100 or 50 seeds in tall walled flats that are heavy duty and then shift those to the next size container.
If you grow in tall side walled flats, I would think or expect the next logical pot is 1-gallon. From 1-gallon you would shift to those Roottrappers which are 15" x 7" I think. It’s the larger of the two square Roottrapper bags.
I can pot to these 30" tall Treepots, as well, but I’ve decided to grow in 30’s and others that I cut off to 20" appx. I still haven’t grown from a seed in one of these, but have rather still started small and shifted or, I buy bareroot that are large enough to pot to a 30" Treepot.
This is really all I got for you.
The best roots are ‘Roottrapper’. However you get them there… is completely up to you.
And, regards,
Dax
