Ive just been spraying with inseftidicial soap. Seems to have worked as the new growth doesnt seem to have any issues
Thanks! I will spray the tree today then.
@PharmerDrewee @SMC_zone6 Iām seeing this droopiness intermittently in my Prok grafts. It started off as nice stiff growth, then went droopy, then back, and weāre back to droopy again. Is that normal? Iām having a hard time correlating it with watering, as the first time I thought it was due for watering, added water, and nothing happened. But it rained that night and it looked sprightly in the morning. Now, again, it rained yesterday and overnight, but two grafts were droopy this morning! Including the one that was droopy the first time. Added water to one but not the other (always leave a control), and no difference a couple hours later.
The only other things I can think of are time of day and whether itās cloudy or sunny. Iām pretty sure theyāre fine, but now the pattern-seeking/scientist part of my brain MUST KNOW WHY! Itās only the grafts with the longest shoots (over 2") that are doing this. JT-02 grafts have yet to droop.
This droopy growth is most likely normal. Persimmons often look like that when first budding out. Is the new growth relatively firm to the touch or legitimately wilting?
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I see that in some of my persimmons occasionally too. I think it is a water issue, but related to how big the root system is vs how much transpiration is going on ā like the plant just canāt pull up enough water to keep up with that big flush of growth they put out early in the season. Iāve never lost a tree after noticing the issue. So I wouldnāt worry too much. But definitely give it some water if you go through a dry period this summer.
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Firm when itās sprightly or short, floppy when in droopy mode. The leaves donāt seem to be in wilting mode, but itās hard to tell and I keep second guessing myself.
You know, I did kind of wonder about that. I suppose itās outgrowing itās stock of fine root hairs, which induces more root growth, but then the top outpaces it again? I did have to prune back some of the rootstocks a little bit to fit them in the narrow deepots. I think Iāll go with the 4"x14" treepots if I do this again.
Thatās what I think.
Persimmons can be strange growers. Sometimes they shoot up nice and tall. And sometimes the flop all over themselves and look sad and droopy until they finally figure it out.
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I think youāre right. I sprayed one of the droopy shoots with water to reduce transpiration, and revisited/resprayed over the course of an hour or so. The sprayed shoot was pretty much recovered, but the unsprayed shoots were still droopy. This doesnāt rule out evaporative cooling, but I think transpiration is the more likely culprit.
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