Greetings, from Zone 9B
I have a Ichi Ki Kei Jiro planted last Spring from online dealer in 5 gal pot.
It grew last yr 12 to 14" in all directions. When planted I only put bone meal and about 1 Tbsp of 4.4.4 organic slow release fertilizer in the hole. Only thing since is composted leaf and mulch. It is now growing well and flowering, however they are turning brown and dropping off.
Is the normal for is age? Am I doing anything wrong? New at this but have been a fig grower for many years.
Young kaki trees typically “self-thin,” i.e., they drop a lot of immature fruit during their early years and gradually hold on to more fruit as the trees get older. It’s perfectly normal for most of the flowers to drop the first year after planting. It may happen again for the next year or two as the tree gets established. It’s a good thing - keeps the tree from getting stunted by trying to bear more fruit than it can handle.
Thank you! I’m used to figs that fruit the first year but get better with age.
Not many fruit trees are as precocious as figs. I would expect a healthy kaki tree to start fruiting as early as 3 years. IKKJ is a less vigorous variety, so it might take a bit longer. Sometimes they will drop immature fruit that are almost ripe, so that can be disappointing. I avoid fertilizing my kakis mid-summer and fall because that can cause kakis to abort their fruit and put out a new flush of leaves. But compared to European pears that can take 8+ years to fruit, kakis are relatively precocious. And unlike some figs, the fruit quality/taste on trees fruiting for the first time is basically the same as that of more mature trees. It’s just the size of your crop that will increase with the age of the tree.
Pruning for a good structure is important for young kaki trees. That seems to be a common mistake in my area (central NC) - people just plant a kaki tree and let it grow how it wants. Then years later, they end up propping up all of the branches with stakes to keep them from touching the ground when they’re weighed down with heavy fruit. I like to prune to an open center with no scaffold branches below three feet. And I like to keep them around 8-10 ft tall so I don’t need a big ladder to pick fruit. That shouldn’t be much of a problem for IKKJ which is a relatively small kaki, but other cultivars need agressive pruning to keep them to that height.
Thank you. I’ll post a pic of the tree. Any suggestions or critique is welcome!
I’ve had persimmon trees drop all the fruit for years before it held onto the fruit. Don’t be surprised if it happens again.
@jmmaly … I have been told by others here that their IKKJ took 6 years to hold and ripen fruit.
I have one just starting year 3 now… 7-8 ft tall lots of blossoms on now.
I had several americans and hybrids form blossoms and fruit last year… but it all dropped off by June.
TNHunter
I have a Fuyu in ground for second year. Had one bloom last year and held until ripe. This year there are just about as many blooms as leaves! It was in a 15 gal wood box when purchased from Moon Valley and had about 5 blooms but dropped them all after ground planting in Mar two yrs ago.
Good advice. I have 3 IKKJ here, planted in 2015. I got my first small crop in 2020 (year 6), then big crops in 2021-22 before a near-death experience in Feb 2023. As ncdabbler says, the trees drop LOTS of young fruit. I’m gonna guess that in 2021 the three trees set >1000 fruit in total but dropped 70%. I picked ~300.
100 fruits per tree is plenty. Also, if the tree didn’t thin its own crop, then we’d have to do it. So I view IKKJs self-thinning as a huge positive.
My Cardinal persimmon was about 12" tall last spring and I noticed a blossom or two on it. I pulled those myself…
I could not believe such a small persimmon tree would even bloom.
TNHunter