North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 11:35 PM 05/20/2002 -0400, Chris wrote:
> Well, I just read that persimmons are difficult to transplant, which leaves
> me in somewhat of a dilemma.
Chris,
I transplanted a number of them, with no problems, before I ever read that 
they were finicky about being transplanted.
Same deal with grafting - I was doing 'em with a simple whip graft, just 
like the first apples & pears I grafted, until I started seeing things in 
print about how hard they were to graft.  NOT!  However, in my 
experience,  graft timing and aftercare are much more important than the 
technique used.  I never attempt to graft them until after the rootstock 
has begun pushing leaves.  Follow-up examination is necessary, almost on a 
daily basis, to keep all new shoots below the graft rubbed off - it's 
amazing how rapidly those rascals can put out a vigorous new shoot!


> I transplanted a Shojatsu persimmon that I had grafted previously.  It still
> has yet to leaf out, but the wood remains flexible.  Is there anything I can
> do to help this tree along?
I'm in the same boat with one I budded in summer 2000, which I transplanted 
back in December, along with a number of others that I grafted in spring 
2001 - all the other transplants have leafed out and are growing well, but 
this one shows no sign of budbreak, though it's still limber, and the 
cambium is green, when I nick a small spot on the upper portion of its 
branches.
The only thing I haven't done is to water it with willow water, which I 
make by cutting a number of willow branches and sticking in a bucket of 
water for a few days - the willows exude auxins/rooting hormones, etc. 
which seem to have had a beneficial effect on some other sickly/weak 
transplants in the past.  With all the rain we've had over the  past few 
months, my entire orchard & nutgrove is 'squishy' - too wet to even get in 
there with the tractor & mow.






Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY