Last spring I had several American Persimmons languishing in one gallon pots where they had been for the past two years. I used them as rootstock for several different cultivars. I had much better success than I thought I would and I have them overwintering with the hope they will survive this winter’s cold. They are very root bound and my thought is to do some root pruning and repot into 2 gallon pots to then plant in their permanent location during the 2026 growing season. From what I have observed persimmons do form a taproot but also have very fibrous roots. Does anybody have experience with persimmons roots like I’m dealing with?
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If you intend to plant them during the 2026 growing season, I would not root-prune and up-pot now. I would wait until you are ready to plant in their permanent location, then do whatever root-pruning you think is necessary (I would snip off any circling roots in the bottom of the pot and score the sides of the rootball) and plant them directly in their permanent location.
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Thank you Lucky, I will do what you suggest I do. Do you think that with all my abuse they will do okay? Following all proper care from now on.
I like Lucky’s advice. They’ll do fine. What yours will endure is no more than any bareroot you’d buy. Those are ripped out of the ground and lose most of their roots.
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The first persimmon grafts I ever did were just a simple whip/splice graft. It was the only graft I knew how to do, at the time. 2 of 2 took.
Nowadays, I do mostly a side-veneer bark graft.
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I always grow mine in cheap fabric pots. They air prune the roots so you get a dense fibrous root ball. Just need to cut it off using a utility knife at planting time and drop in the hole.
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