North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

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

At 03:43 PM 07/09/2002 -0400, Chris wrote:
> I transplanted a persimmon tree this Spring.  It still has not budded 
> out.  I have verified that the cambium is still green.  Is there anything 
> I can do at this point to force the tree into growth?  Or is it R.I.P.?
> Any thoughts/suggestions are welcome.

Chris,
I've had some that I 'think' I resurrected by using 'willow water' to water 
them with - they might have come out of it in the same time frame anyway, 
but you've got nothing to lose by trying this.
I just cut a fistful or armload of willow twigs/small branches and stick 
'em in a 5 gallon bucket of water.  As most of us know, willow roots quite 
readily, and it appears that rooting hormones/auxins are elucidated into 
the water, and may help enhance root development on bareroot transplants 
such as yours.
There is one of a dozen or so grafted persimmons that I dug and 
transplanted last fall - this one had been summer-budded a year previous, 
and had grown ~3 ft in 2001; While all the other transplants leafed out 
months ago, this one was just sitting there - cambium was still green, 
twigs still limber, but doing nothing.  I didn't have time to coddle it, so 
I just left it alone.  It finally has put out one small shoot in the last 
couple of weeks, about 6" above the graft union - the upper 2.5 ft still 
seem to be alive, but it's not leafing out up there(yet).  So...don't give 
up hope just yet.
Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY