Subject: Re: [NAFEX] persimmon propagation from roots
Date: Tue, 01 Jul 2003 18:34:08 -0400
Mark
You can also graft other varities and a male to that same tree and you
would have had fruit.
Gordon C. Nofs
Flint, MI.
----Original Message Follows----
From: "Mark Lee" <markl@nytec.com>
Reply-To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [NAFEX] persimmon propagation from roots
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 09:52:33 -0700
I have a Diospyros lotus tree, date plum, a relative of persimmons that are
native to the US. I accidently found that this tree is easily propagated
from root cuttings.
One year ago at the absolute worst time to transplant trees, I had to move
this tree due to construction that was about to take place. We were having
a hot July and I was afraid this tree wouldn't survive the move. I went out
one evening and ripped the tree out of the ground with a pick and shovel. I
had to work fast because the bull dozer was coming the next morning to level
everything remaining. This past week I noticed a few D. lotus branches
poking out of the piles of dirt left from the construction. I dug them up
and found them attached to 1/2" thick 6 " long sections of the tree I dug up
a year ago. I now have a small nursery bed of these trees. What a tough
tree. The tree I moved last year is also doing well. In the 15 years I
have had this tree, I have never had fruit even though it blooms. I need
both a male and female, which I obsiously don't have with a single tree.
Now I have a collection of rootstock I can experiment with (i.e. grafting)
and maybe someday get a male/female pair growing in my garden. I know this
fruit can produce in Seattle because the local arboretum has a productive
tree that I sampled last fall.
-Mark Lee, Seattle, zone 7B/8A