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Persimmon Trees

Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
I ordered 10 bare root Persimmon trees a week ago last Friday. The brown truck dropped them off late Thursday afternoon. I was down in the shed and didn't hear the truck until it was headed back down the highway. The box, covered in red and white tape that read "FRAGILE", was absolutley smashed. Luckily none of the trees were damaged and the nursery had even sent 11 trees instead of 10.

We got the last one planted that evening just as the thunder started to roll and the wind started to howl. I was going to put cages around each tree that night, but the weather wasn't going to co-operate.

I had to work a three day weekend so I planned to cage them on Monday. So yesterday I went out to the new Persimmon orchard with fencing, stakes, mulch and XM radio.

I guess its true that deer love Persimmon trees, because they ate the tops off two of them. Bastards. The trees survived UPS, a sever thunder storm with high winds heavy rain and pea sized hail only to be chewed by the creatures they will someday help feed. Maybe the deer were just getting their shots in at me before I got my shots in at them.

Now they are all safe in their cages and happy in their mulch, the Persimmons that is, not the deer.

Next up are Paw Paws.

The 'Bonker
 
I planted several persimmons last year but since I also didn't get them fenced off in time I lost them all. I was stupid! It appeared as though some were dug up by a dog or coyote too.
 
I got mine from Edward Fort Nursery only because they advertized in the QDMA magazine. I think its a good idea to patronize the advertizers. Bare root Persimmon were $1.50 or maybe $1.75 each.

I think they should start producing fruit in five years or so. I don't know how old the trees are now so I don't know it is five years from seedling or five years from my planting.

The 'Bonker
 
You guys counting on global warming or are persimmons winter hardy this far north? I didn't think they were OK in our zone.
 
They say zone 5 and I figure for 15 bucks I'll give em a try. Anybody can plant apples or pears.

I might also fill the cages with oak leaves this fall to help insulate them some.

The 'Bonker
 
I got mine through the Johnson County Soil and Water annual sale last year. They were 6"-12" bareroots. Price was around $2 per tree.

As far as them growing this far north... I planted them at my farm in Davis County and my understanding is that is the northern edge of the range for this species. I figured if they all did not survive I still had something going. That is until the critters wrecked them! I am trying to get different fruit/mast trees going so there is "deer candy" available over a range of time in the Fall. I want to be the best grocery store for miles around, so all the big boys shop there!
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I have planted persimmon over the years here in Marion county and have had good luck getting them to survive the winters. You absolutely have to protect them from the deer and rabbits or you will never get them started. You may want to plant them in somewhat protected areas. They leaf out quite late in the spring so don't give up on them until well past normal leafout. There are male and female trees with only the females bearing fruit. Once they start bearing you may want to prune them somewhat since on a good year they will bear so much fruit that they break the branches down. Once they start bearing they are pretty consistent from year to year. The fruit must get very ripe, almost rotten looking, before they can be eaten. They taste a lot like apricots. Remember though not to try them before they are ripe since they are one of the most bitter things on the planet. Deer, possum, squirrels, racoon absoluterly love them. I am thinking they are ready to eat in late October with the ones on top of the tree still good into December.
 
How do you tell a male from a female before they are old enough to bear fruit?

Sorry in advance if this is getting into a topic that will offend anyone.
 
From: http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/persimmon.html
Flowers: The inconspicuous flowers surrounded by a green calyx tube are borne in the leaf axils of new growth from one-year old wood. Female flowers are single and cream-colored while the pink-tinged male flowers are typically borne in threes. Commonly, 1 to 5 flowers per twig emerge as the new growth extends (typically March). Persimmon trees are usually either male or female, but some trees have both male and female flowers. On male plants, especially, occasional perfect (bisexual) flowers occur, producing an atypical fruit. A tree's sexual expression can vary from one year to the other. Many cultivars are parthenocarpic (setting seedless fruit without pollination), although some climates require pollination for adequate production. When plants not needing pollination are pollinated, they will produce fruits with seeds and may be larger and have a different flavor and texture than do their seedless counterparts.

So it looks like they can be bisexual and switch gender
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Yeah, I downloaded the same stuff and I was more confused after I read it than before. I figured with 10 trees I had at worst a 10% chance of getting at least one female tree and at best a 90% chance of one male and 9 female trees and therefore fruit.

The 'Bonker
 
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I want to be the best grocery store for miles around, so all the big boys shop there!
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and exactly where did you plant those Dave??
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Paul - I'll show you exactly where the stakes are sometime when you stop by. Notice I said stakes, since there aren't any trees left anymore. My bad!
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I will plant some more yet this Spring and this time I will fence them off too. I am intending to place the fruit trees in places that the deer traveling to them and/or eating underneath them would not be visible to the road and yet would have to expose themselves to a stand site or two on their way there. I endeavored to space them out so the deer have to "move" a bit to get to them. For the most part, I have placed them in slight "bowls" adjacent to timber and heavy cover, but out in the CRP a bit. (Note - even if I eventually am not in the CRP program I do not intend to till these sloped areas again, even though the previous landowner did. So I will not be faced with cutting these trees down sometime in the future.) One smart thing I did do was I added some good potting soil to holes I dug that improved the heavy clay soil that I have. So I will just plant my new trees right where I planted them last year.
 
I've got some of those "stakes" too...where my apple trees used to be
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Dang deer anyway
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I did find one survivor...a MFR bush grew up around it
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Found some old rolls of woven wire (if I can dig em out of the brush) then I'm gonna take a cue from Timberpig and get some fencing up!
If there is anything worse then digging holes in SE Iowa clay...I'd like to know what it is?
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I'Found some old rolls of woven wire (if I can dig em out of the brush) then I'm gonna take a cue from Timberpig and get some fencing up!

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Just finished up with making cages today, about 60 more this year...
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