Japanese Persimmon?

[yoderjac]

How do you critter proof a tree? Every animal in the woods seems to eat persimmons. Coons, opossums, skunks, and I've even seen squirrels eating persimmons. That must be some critter proofing.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Picked a fuyu today. Very flavorful, sweet, and about half way between firm and soft. That said it was quite firmly attached, and as the picture shows the connecting stalk is relatively thick on the fuyus. I wont say that they can't / won't fall but I haven't seen one ever hit the ground in my yard and my trees are inside a fenced yard that keep hogs, deer, bears and other large mammals out. Then again, as a large mammal myself I can't say I've given them too much a chance to fall.

 

[Rit]

How do you critter proof a tree? Every animal in the woods seems to eat persimmons. Coons, opossums, skunks, and I've even seen squirrels eating persimmons. That must be some critter proofing.

24” stove pipe 12” off the ground around the trunk. Bunch of examples in the fruit tree section around apple trees. I suppose that won’t work well when there are trees around for them to climb on but I don’t have my trees in that setting.

 

[Rit]

Picked a fuyu today. Very flavorful, sweet, and about half way between firm and soft. That said it was quite firmly attached, and as the picture shows the connecting stalk is relatively thick on the fuyus. I wont say that they can't / won't fall but I haven't seen one ever hit the ground in my yard and my trees are inside a fenced yard that keep hogs, deer, bears and other large mammals out. Then again, as a large mammal myself I can't say I've given them too much a chance to fall.

View attachment 26728

Do leaves even drop in your part of Florida?

 

[yoderjac]

24” stove pipe 12” off the ground around the trunk. Bunch of examples in the fruit tree section around apple trees. I suppose that won’t work well when there are trees around for them to climb on but I don’t have my trees in that setting.

I've watch coons untangle all kinds of problems when they really want to get at food. That would be a no brainer for squirrels. However, if you are not having issues, it must be working in your situation.

One more thing here that always applies is our objectives. For me attraction to a specific spot is secondary. My purpose for persimmons and other soft mast is to feed deer. So for me, that means significant quantity. That means trying to protect individual trees over the long haul is time and cost prohibitive.

I could certainly see someone that wanted to plant a few trees for attraction and would go to lengths to protect them might try Lotus or Kaki. That is similar to what I'm doing with NG. For my American persimmons, I don't do any protection. Deer don't seem to bother my native trees. However, deer are curious. I try to graft them high enough that the scions our out of reach of deer. That is my longer term plan for the NG. I'm just waiting for a few native seedling to get large enough for bark grafting.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[bigbendmarine]

Do leaves even drop in your part of Florida?

Yep. Earliest ripening here is in September, though majority of our fuyus ripen in October. We get occasional morning frosts when cold fronts push far enough down, typically between Thanksgiving and early March. Whereas South Florida accumulates very few fruting "chill hours", in North Florida we average about 500 to 600 chill hours. Bulk of leaves haven't started falling yet but are beginning to change color.

 

[Rit]

I've watch coons untangle all kinds of problems when they really want to get at food. That would be a no brainer for squirrels. However, if you are not having issues, it must be working in your situation.

One more thing here that always applies is our objectives. For me attraction to a specific spot is secondary. My purpose for persimmons and other soft mast is to feed deer. So for me, that means significant quantity. That means trying to protect individual trees over the long haul is time and cost prohibitive.

I could certainly see someone that wanted to plant a few trees for attraction and would go to lengths to protect them might try Lotus or Kaki. That is similar to what I'm doing with NG. For my American persimmons, I don't do any protection. Deer don't seem to bother my native trees. However, deer are curious. I try to graft them high enough that the scions our out of reach of deer. That is my longer term plan for the NG. I'm just waiting for a few native seedling to get large enough for bark grafting.

Thanks,

Jack

All this habitat work and you’ve never heard of a baffle or a squirrel baffle? The stove pipe at 36” will stop most critters provided there isn’t a nearby tree or branch they can leap off. Can a squirrel jump 36” inches? Sure but not past a baffle. There just isn’t anything to hang on to. Not sure what your ideal of a few is but I’ll have about 70 trees when all said and done. A few more bucks and a little more time for an already expensive endeavor doesn’t seem to be a deal breaker for me.

I really don’t think you are providing as much for the deer as you think. If I recall you’re the first one to remind anyone that will listen that unless you own a thousand acres your improvements are inconsequential. These very same deer don’t need you, me, or any of the improvements that we do. What’s the math on whitetail deer? Something like 3 million years they have been around. They will be roaming long after you and I are dust and our improvements are long gone.

Atttaction to a certain spot for a shot opportunity isn’t my goal either. But I do want them heading the direction of a destination setting most nights so I can hunt that particular movement. I don’t pretend that any improvement I do is for the deer to help them survive. My only goal with any and all improvements that I do is send a very sharp tipped arrow through the chest cavity of a deer.

 

[yoderjac]

Did not mean to dis your objectives or techniques. If you can keep those fuyu safe from critters, more power to ya.

By the way, there is absolutely no doubt we increased the BCC of our land. By far, the lion's share of the increase has come from timber management, not food plots or trees. In addition to our land, we have some cooperating neighbors. Still, we are light in terms of land, and many deer will spend a chunk of time on other lands.

 

[yoderjac]

One more interesting note. All of my American persimmons are gone. It was a pretty good year for persimmons but we had a mast crop failure this year. As soon as the ripened, they disappeared. It has happened in the last couple weeks. I don't know if there was so little food for some critters that climbing critters got them as soon as they ripened or if the all fell quickly and were consumed by deer.

My Nikita's gift are still hanging on the trees in easy reach of deer. They too are astringent. I checked one of them the other day and they are still hard. I presume that means they have not lost their astringency yet and simply are not ripe. It will be interesting to what what happens when they ripen.

Thanks,

Jack