JT-02. I have 1-year old grafts on Prok and IKKJ. I also have a 1-year old tree on DV seedling; it spent last year in a pot but was planted this spring. Blooms began opening two days ago, simultaneously on all three.
IKKJ. I have three trees (on DV) planted in 2015 (season 8). Blooms began to open yesterday.
Kassandra. I have one tree (on DV) planted in 2017 (season 6). Blooms began to open today.
I was surprised that blooming on these varieties was almost simultaneous. What do people observe for Americans, Asians, and hybrids?
p.s. My Prok has been so thoroughly top-worked that I haven’t noticed any blossoms there.
Those blooms have a good chance of all falling off. Persimmons are notorious for doing practice flowers the first year or so. I’ve noticed Prok grows about 10x as fast as other American Persimmons. Was it that bad that you grafted over most of it? I have not tasted it yet.
The IKKJs gave me 100 fruits each last year, 300 total. So those trees have already ditched the training wheels.
One of the JT-02 grafts set 2 fruits last year, it’s first. I’m hoping the grafts will ripen more this year – Fingers crossed. The 1st year tree may not hold its fruits but that’s ok. I’d remove them anyway. I don’t expect fruit from that little tree for at least a couple years.
Kassandra is the wild card. It made a few flowers last year and maybe one or two the year before. But this year it is loaded. If it doesn’t produce 25, I’ll be disappointed. I’m hoping for 100.
Prok produced 300-500 fruits each of the past few years. But 95% of the really really ripe fruits were still too stringent to enjoy. And the other 5% were bland. I’ve read that Prok can vary. Maybe it needs more heat that we have here in late September etc. So yes, “it was that bad that I grafted over most of it.” All I left was some nurse wood at the top.
I’m curious to see if any of that Prok growth transfers to your grafts. Seems like they should be using Prok seeds for rootstock. Mine has put on three foot and is still going. The other American persimmons I have don’t even have a foot yet.
There are tons of wilds everywhere here. They taste good, but are not much more than bags of seeds. I’m using a couple of them for franken persimmon.
Here there are no wild trees and I’m not aware of a male-flowering persimmon within 5 miles. So no seeds.
I did ~6 JT-02 W&T or cleft grafts onto Prok last year. I think all but one succeeded. The best 3 grew 2-3 branches, each ~3’ by the end of the season. One was so full that it was ripped off in a windstorm. So the problem, if any, was excessive vigor. I think the Prok tree will support the new grafts well.
I’m glad you posted this. I just found flowers on two of my grafts from this year. I have a few flowers on a Barbara’s Blush. The other persimmon with flowers was grafted very low on a winter damaged persimmon this spring. Is this a normal bloom time for persimmon or are they just acting strangely because they were just grafted?
