North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Donna &/or Kieran" <holycow@cookeville.com>]

Alan,  I grafted what I think was 'Great Wall' on a native rootstock in 1986 over in the Tennessee Valley.  I saw it in December some 5 years later, it had calyx's hanging on it, so I asked the current resident about it.  He said, "It had the biggest persimmons I ever saw!"  He took them to church and showed everybody, and said they tasted great.   That tree had survived something like -15 in Dec 1989. 

    If I were fond of Kakis, I'd graft about 4 ft high on native trees to make sure the tree shuts down in the fall and doesn't wake up too early in the spring.  It's a funny thing to think about trying to grow them up in Oh no, NY?  I thought you were in PA.  No, I think you are hopelessly out of luck.  It's not just winter lows, there's heat units to consider.  Suppose you could grow the trees, the fruit would never be right. 

    I'll give you the same advice I'd give anyone who wanted to grow say oranges in Tennessee.  If you will set up a cool greenhouse where all you do is control the minimum temp, say 30 for citrus, but maybe 25 for your kakis, and the greenhouse also adds heat units and extra months to your summer, I think you could do it.  This sounds like an extravagance at first glance, but for NY it's the very cheapest way you could have any "tropical" fruit.  AND in winter you could stuff all kinds of things in there that you don't want to freeze too hard.  With one outer layer for collecting heat units, you'd have a second layer, a floating row cover or something inside in winter, (maybe even a third layer,) with heat tape or a light bulb or two connected to a thermostat to keep temps from dropping below critical levels for the tree and other goodies in pots beneath it.  Are there dwarfing rootstocks for kakis?  Pruning methods to keep the tree a low multibranched bush?  We've had little homemade greenhouses that were only marginally warmer than outside in the coldest nights, but were delightful on sunny cold days.  I can remember sending the kids out to play in the greenhouse when we all had cabin fever in a long cold spell.  You could have stripped to a bathing suit and gotten a tan, if it werent for the beds being full of plants.          Donna