North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[VBGarden@aol.com]

Many thanks for the ideas!

As I gaze sadly upon the persimmon, it's pretty obvious that one half of the top is departing.... although the split seems to have been there for some time. We did a poor job of supporting the trunk above the initial spread and can now see the results.  I had thought that a nice wide open center would be beneficial, sort of a la' peaches, but this split makes me reconsider.  I can try taking off the more obvious half, but it will leave about an 8" scar and a half-wide section of trunk to support the remaining portion of the tree.  Do you all think I should treat the scar in any way? Boy, I hate to start over from 18" high (the next branch).  The tree is young, only 5 years - what do you think it's healing options are?  I'm thinking I might cut out the splitting half, see how things progress and then drop back to Lucky's idea of bark grafting if I have to take off the entire top.  

Sybil