Persimmon orchard
- Thread starter Yarg
- Start date
Catscratch
5 year old buck +
I'm planting persimmons, but I wouldn't call it an orchard. There is a persimmon group on the facebooks. Probably some orchard growers there, some of em are pretty serious about it.
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chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
In central PA, I'm trying to turn an area into a mixed orchard but not trying that hard. It was an apple orchard maybe 100 years ago but is not mostly open black walnut with some other stuff, autumn olive, honeysuckle and stiltgrass. I've planted persimmon seedlings on the southern section, paw paw seedlings on the northern half, and grafted pear along the southern edge. I really need to thin the walnut and give the seedlings some mulch to knock down the stiltgrass competition. At current pace, it will be a while until I graft the seedlings.
I wouldn't the recommend persimmons for much farther north than that setting in central PA.
I wouldn't the recommend persimmons for much farther north than that setting in central PA.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I don't have a persimmon orchard, but I do have a persimmon jungle....
And Part of it requires HIGH TECH engineering.....
And Part of it requires HIGH TECH engineering.....
Suburbhunter
5 year old buck +
I wouldn't call mine an orchard, its more like a persimmon patch. I found a few female producing natives, 5-6, and had them released with some dozer work. I then planted a few grafted persimmon in the opening where they can get sunlight.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I would not call mine an orchard either, but I've got lots of persimmons. They have been, by far, my most bang for the buck tree. I have lots of native trees, mostly males. I've cut them down and grafted them over. I've used both native scions I've traded with others as well as named varieties. My objective is to get fruit dropping over a wide time frame. You can get the first fruit in the 3rd leaf, but like with any tree, it takes a lot more years to produce in high volume. If left alone, my native female trees take 10 years plus to produce their first fruit. When dealing with native rootstock, you can't position trees.
I have also done some bench grafting. I did this mostly with a hybrid I was experimenting with called Nikita's Gift. The reason I limit myself to American persimmons for wildlife is that they are astringent so climbing animals can't eat them before they ripen, and they fall from the tree so deer get a shot at them. Kaki and Lotus don't fall. I heard conflicting stories about Nikita's Gift hybrid falling from the tree. It is astringent. My experience so far is that they probably won't fall from the tree. There is another thread with pics and more information on this. With bench grafted trees, it takes much longer to produce, but you can put them where you want them.
So far, I've taken more of a "wildlife opening" than a true orchard approach. These are small openings 1/4 to 1/2 acre. I plant them with a clover base an put a variety of fruit trees in them including persimmons. I don't maintain the trees like orchard trees. I let weeds grow up in the field and mow every year or two so things don't get woody. My intent is a long-term low maintenance quality food source.
Thanks,
Jack
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
I've got a friend that has.
https://www.youtube.com/user/troutfishholland
https://www.youtube.com/user/troutfishholland
Thanks for your reply but the link you posted shows apples I couldn't locate a persimmon video... I could be doing something wrong though
Since the emerald ash borer has shown up on the farm I'll be losing hundrefs of trees so I figured why not plant some good mast producing trees. I've learned so much on this site and it seems like persimmons, Chinese chestnuts with some apples and pears are good way to go. I started last year, and did plant a couple of row type plantings of persimmon. My main destination food plot Northeast border is about 1200 ft.. it's an old stone wall with mature trees on either side.. primarily sugar maple with some black cherry mixed in. I have been plotting right up to the leaf litter. What I'm considering it's coming 10 ft out and planting a persimmon every 15 to 20 feet so essentially making a new tree line off of that tree line. Down the entire 1200 ft. Since it's a Taproot tree, I should have no trouble planting alongside them considering I do all no till planting, right? I have read that they do root sucker so if I do any sort of spray would that or could that kill the tree.. would like to here's some thoughts on this idea, pro con..thank you
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Be careful with the herbicide and don't get any on root suckers. It may or may not kill the main tree, but it certainly won't be good for it.
Your sugar maples will get taller than your persimmons, and they also have a tendency to spread out. I would knock back the maples and black cherry a little, because 10 feet isn't much of a buffer. Also, if those existing trees are big, their roots will get into your persimmon roots. I would feel better if you came out about 20 feet and did some chainsaw work as time goes on when and if the junk trees start crowding the persimmons. Your new trees don't need any competition from the other trees.
I know that someone is going to say that black cherry is a good deer tree. I don't disagree with that, but when you have 10 million of them around, sacrificing a few in order to be able to establish some persimmons is a good plan.
Prof.Kent
5 year old buck +
This link should work. If your go to the first link, click on VIDEOS and SEARCH the videos for persimmons...
