Does anyone have a high quality source of American persimmon rootstock or are willing to sell me some?
Thanks!
Noticed these at Burnt Ridge the other day… 3-4 ft seedlings 8.75. Not bad at all…
I have a great source for wild southern dv… they just pop up and grow like crazy in my fields. I would not dig one up for 8.75 though… too much work.
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My order of 25 1-2’ American persimmon from Cold Stream farm arrived today. I was planning to grow them out for a year before grafting, but I’d say at least 15 of them have a caliper of 3/16 to 5/16. For reference, the drill bit is a 1/4.
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@driftless… i graft them that size and they do very well. But mine are growing in ground already and have established root systems.
Good luck to you !!!
My Prok graft last spring…
End of growing season.
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Your field-grafted persimmon growth is incredible! I was expecting much smaller calipers on these but fortunately Fruitwood still had quite a few scions left so I’ll graft most of these. I think I’ll probably bench graft + hot pipe these since my big concern with persimmons here is getting the graft’s growth to lignify and handle at least a -10 or -15 most years.
I know you usually have success field grafting these once the roots leaf out quite a bit, and it seems like the recommendations on bench graft vary a bit, so I’ll probably read a bit more and maybe even do them in a couple batches. But I suppose saving a few nubs for budding failed grafts is also a good idea!
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If you ever decide to grow out seeds I believe that some of them will only come up the year after. That or the other possibility is some of them needed to be stratified in some of them didn’t. I planted some in a pot last year and they’re coming along nicely, but now I have feelings suddenly popping up too.
My experience with growing persimmons from seed.
My sister has a couple very nice mature persimmon trees in her yard… they are probably 50-60 years old. They produce a much better than average persimmon for this location (southern middle TN).
A few pics…
In the fall of 2021… i ate some of those and took 3 seeds and planted them in a 16 inch wide x 10 inch deep planter pot… and just sit that pot over in the edge of my woods all fall winter and spring.
I did absolutely nothing special to stratify them… just let the natural process happen.
I found all 3 sprouted up 4/25/2022.
I eliminated the one in the middle… and kept the other two and grew them in that pot that summer.
9/19/2022… one was 42 inches tall… the other 35 inches tall.
The next spring (last spring) I planted them in my orchard in late winter… and in April I grafted Nakitas Gift to the smaller one and Kassandra to the larger one.
Both successful.
Kassandra grew 8 ft tall last season and NG grew a bit less… had some trouble with psyllid attacks on it… that slowed it sown some. It is about 4 ft tall now… hopegully it grows better this season.
I have some capt jack dead bug brew (spinosad) for those dang psyllids this year.
They dont normally bother mature persimmons much… but as new grafts are pushing lots of new tender growth… they can sure cause problems with that.
I had a couple grafts fail last year from psyllid attacks. Keep an eye out for those.
Good luck to you !
TNHunter
Pikes Peak and Cold Stream sell them and might have stock. If you are paying more than $2.50 per rootstock for 12-18" (sometimes bigger) I’d recommend looking elsewhere, unless you only want one or two trees.