Mike Cartwright found a 2 to 2-1/4 inch sweet native persimmon growing on the Tensaw river a few years ago. He has made a few grafts. I know where a sweet native persimmon about 1-3/4 inch diameter is growing near the Tennessee river, coordinates are 34.834061,-87.948235.
Not impossible, but requires special considerations and success rate depends on the individual variety:
1 Like
Two grafts of Catawba Treasure. Very vigorous growth as some of my other grafts are just now breaking tiny leaves.
This is my first American graft to grow. The leaves are so much different. Small and shinyā¦very healthy looking.
9 Likes
Super! Iām so glad theyāre doing well for you so far! I had a few fruits the second year after my first graft and this year (the third year) it looks like there will be 20 or 30 fruits on that one; it has put on about 4-5ft of growth as of now with a graft union scion diameter of nearly 2 inches.
The parent tree has a beautiful weeping appearance because the leaves get quite large (almost as large as paw paw leaves) and dangle daintily on the already pendulous mature branches which have been trained to droop by yearly heavy fruit loads. Persimmon trees have to be one of the best all around trees; I put it right beside the Mulberry and chestnut, far ahead of most commercial fruit trees. Hardly another tree gives more output for so little input as a good American Persimmon. Just my opinion; I canāt get enough of them. Thereās hardly as pleasing of a September sight as when I watch my herd of goats or sheep beat paths through the fields from Persimmon to Persimmon, and they do this til December! What a blessing of a tree.
Please keep us posted on those Catawba Treasures!
4 Likes
Could you take a measurement of what the actual diameter of those are?
This is a really exciting persimmon to my mind. Did your grafts end up hanging on? Did you plant them out? How are they doing?
2 Likes
@thecityman, yes I still have the three grafts and they all grew fairly well. They are all dormant now and I will be planting one out and looking to rehome the other two.
I have a bunch to rehome this year.
3 Likes
This is an exciting one! I canāt wait to have enough scion wood to send to everyone. This tree grows wild just off the shoulder of the road in a cedar fence line; once every 5-10 years the highway department all of the growth that their equipment can reach and this tree gets knocked back pretty hard. But they actually left one 35 ft tall leader intact and cut the two 25 ft leaders down to about 3 ft tall stumps, which of course sent up adventitious sprouts like crazy. Itās also spreading by runners so I hope that tremendous disturbance by the mowers will give it more niches. Iāve got two clones of it in pots that I dug up this summer, so if they put out leaves this spring Iāll let them root into big pots out of the bottom of these smaller pots and just keep propagating them that way. I like trees on their own roots, call me old fashionedā¦
3 Likes
I donāt have any on hand at the moment but there may still be some left under the tree to measure. The ones I have pictured above beside the quarter are all about the average size of them, some a little bigger and some a little smaller.
1 Like
Throwing my hat in the ring for a scion/ rooted clone when available in the next few years!
2 Likes
Yea great! Iād love to know the average and max sizes for reference/comparison!
From the moment I saw the photos of this one I was excited. I have an unusual fondness for natural/wild persimmons for some reason, and I can tell you the location of probably 40 or more. I love to hunt and be in the woods and my parents own several plots of land in middle TN. I always pay close attention to where the persimmons and pawpaws are on each plot of land- not only because they are an attractor of wildlife but because they are just neat to me. But none of them are all that great to eat (I didnāt say I donāt enjoy a few of them when they are at the right stage) and definately none grow as big as Catawba Treasure. They also donāt look the same when cut as yours does. All the ones I know of are more stringy and dry. Yours looks fairly similar to my astringent Asians - of which I have or have had 5. varieties.
I have 2 small rootstocks right now already in place and growing in my orchard, and Iād sure love a chance to get some wood from you . If you see anything on my list (its on my profile) you like and you end up with some wood to trade, let me know. Otherwise Iāll see if I talk my friend @k8tpayaso into letting me be one of the 2 ārehomeā spots for her grafted varieties!
4 Likes
I hear ya, and Iām right there with you! I love looking at a wild landscape for cool trees; and I can spot persimmon trees in a tree line as if they were a hot air balloon. Iām so fortunate to live in a native persimmon hotspot; my small 22 acre farm has well over 100 wild ones! Like you, Iāve tasted them from nearly every tree I pass, and after a while you can basically look at one and tell whether the tree makes good ones or not. Iāve had a couple dozen wild ones that were worth returning to for some combination of flavor, consistency, color, or size, but this one right here is the only one Iāve ever found to combine all of those. Now personally, I like a persimmon with some spice, and this one is more smooth and sweet with tones of vanilla, so itās not the tastiest one Iāve ever had, but Iād still give it a 9 out of 10 on flavor.
Iāll check out your profile for a barter, but either way I hope you get k8ās extra; wild persimmon enthusiasts are birds of a feather.
2 Likes
Interestingā¦how can you tell?