Persimmon seed germination
- Thread starter TreeDaddy
- Start date
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
The method that gave me the best germination:
1) Remove them and clean them.
2) Scarify them - There are a number of ways to do this. I glued sandpaper to the inside of a 5 gal bucket and then put the seed in the bucket and shake it around a lot.
3) Use some kind of medium that will hold some moisture. Again, I like long fiber sphagnum but you can use regular peat. Put them in a ziplock and in the vegetable crisper.
4) I'd shoot for about 60 days.
Thanks,
Jack
1) Remove them and clean them.
2) Scarify them - There are a number of ways to do this. I glued sandpaper to the inside of a 5 gal bucket and then put the seed in the bucket and shake it around a lot.
3) Use some kind of medium that will hold some moisture. Again, I like long fiber sphagnum but you can use regular peat. Put them in a ziplock and in the vegetable crisper.
4) I'd shoot for about 60 days.
Thanks,
Jack
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
If you leave them in the fridge long enough they will germinate there, but it is not necessary. I plant them similar to apple seeds. After they have been in the fridge for about 60 days, I take them out and soak them. I then plant them in mesh flats in promix. You can line them with a single sheet of newspaper or use that shelf liner you've seen in some of my posts. Cover the seeds with about a quarter inch of mix. When they germinate the produce a root from the seed that grows down. It then lifts the seed out of the mix and the initial leaves are formed in the seed husk. The husk then falls off. Often the husk will stick in the mix and the leaves will pull out of it. You will begin to see little red stem loops form before the seed lifts out of the mix. At this stage, I grab the loop and pull them from the flat and plant them in 18s.
Thanks,
Jack
Thanks,
Jack
IkemanTx
5 year old buck +
My winters are probably much milder than most guys, but I had a good germination rate with simply washing seeds and potting in the fall when they were dropping. I let the cool weather do the stratification for me. I doubt the cleaning process scarified them, but I still ran upper 80's percentage wise on germination.
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Reagan
5 year old buck +
My best luck was to use what Mother Nature intended.
1. Identify coon poop with seeds. Typically in October or November. Finding it at the edge of plot makes steps 3&4 easier.
2. Leave it there.
3. Look for pile around March.
4. Pick up seeds that rain and snow have washed free from poop.
5. Plant.
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1. Identify coon poop with seeds. Typically in October or November. Finding it at the edge of plot makes steps 3&4 easier.
2. Leave it there.
3. Look for pile around March.
4. Pick up seeds that rain and snow have washed free from poop.
5. Plant.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Yes, persimmons don't "require" cold stratification or scarification as compared to chestnuts which do require cold stratification. I've never seen a chestnut germinate without it. Cold stratification and scarification does help with germination rates. As you say, you may have benefited by mother nature doing some cold stratification for you. That could account for your higher germination rates. I find scarification less of a factor but it can also improve rates.
Thanks,
jack
Reagan
5 year old buck +
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Bill, they grow differently than a chestnut and yes, they are slow. The root will grow downward and then lift the seed out of the medium forming a little red stem loop. If you are trying to germinate them I'd use mesh flats with a some of that shelving material I've referenced before lining the flat. When you see stem loops grab and gently lift them from the flat and plant them in an 18.
Thanks,
Jack
I have no luck asking begging or even threatened persimmon seeds to germinate. I leave them outside in a bucket full of sand. Sometime in May they will start to germinate on there own. Then I move them to rootmaker 18s. I may live to far north they will only grow 6-8" the first year zone 5. I collect the seeds two hours south at the inlaws.
IkemanTx
5 year old buck +
I think that's just how persimmons are. Mine typically only get to 8-10" the first year regardless of container, medium, fertilization or will power. And, I live in zone 7b. They really take off after that, though.
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yoderjac
5 year old buck +
Great work Bill! I don't know if you need it, but here is my technique for transplanting these little buggers into 18s. I gently lift on the stem loop to pull it from the medium. If it seems a little tight, I'll take a plastic fork and push it into the medium on each side and wiggle it a bit to free it. I have and 18 and medium at the ready. I then put the loop between my index finger and middle finger and middle finger of my right hand (right handed). I then pick up the 18 using my thumb and the other two fingers. This let me position the seedling suspended in the 18 at the right height. I then use my other hand to take handfuls of medium and shove it between the gaps in my fingers into the 18. I like this method because persimmons will sometimes hit the bottom of the mesh, root prune, and produce laterals and this method keep all the roots pointed downward. If there is no root branching, you can more easily fill the cell first, use an icepick or something to put a void in the medium and then insert the single tap root. However, if the tap root is long this can be more difficult. It took a while but the one handed method worked well once I got the hang of it.
Thanks,
Jack
Thanks,
Jack
