What am I doing wrong?

[Huntingisawayoflife]

Everything I'm reading shows persimmons will grow about as easy as any fruit tree seed... I've collected quite a few seeds last winter, stratified in fridge for 90 days and planted.. I have had 3 seedlings sprout out of several hundred.. I've gotten chestnuts to grow.. but persimmons has been a total failure.. Are there tricks I've missed?

 

[Reagan]

Pick seeds out of coon poop piles and your success will go way up.

If not that try scratching them up a little prior to planting.

 

[Jillbo]

I traded someone for approx. 30 seeds last fall, scratched them across sandpaper on both sides, and the edges then put them in the garage over winter to stratify. In the last 3 weeks they started to come around. We have 12 seedlings up & 15 with radicles-all in RM18s under light. Few more remain in the bag, they've been slightly sporadic in waking up. Be patient, if you did scratch them; if not, you might be able to pull the seeds out, scratch them up (scarify), then refrigerate for 30 days. worth a shot

 

[yoderjac]

Everything I'm reading shows persimmons will grow about as easy as any fruit tree seed... I've collected quite a few seeds last winter, stratified in fridge for 90 days and planted.. I have had 3 seedlings sprout out of several hundred.. I've gotten chestnuts to grow.. but persimmons has been a total failure.. Are there tricks I've missed?

Yep, you're missing scarification. I bought some persimmon seed from England's orchard one year. He had just finished planting and sent me about 3x what I ordered. I had great success starting them in flats.

In nature, persimmons are eaten by wildlife and go through their digestive tract before being defecated. The stomach acid and such scarifies them. There are a number of ways to scarify them. For seeds that benefit from scarification, I use a 5 gal bucket. I've glued sandpaper to the inside. I just throw in the seeds and continue to shake it up. There are other ways to accomplish the same thing.

On cold stratification, the key is the right moisture level. If seeds are too moist, it encourages mold, if there is too little stratification slows or even stops and they sort of go into suspended animation.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Huntingisawayoflife]

I appreciate the input, I'd say I need to scratch them up, I'll pull a couple just to see if it helps, won't hurt I suppose.

 

[TreeDaddy]

I have had difficulty growing persimmons in containers

Much better success with bare root plantings

.......And then I discover random fruiting trees on forrest edge in remote areas of property

I can almost see Mother Nature smiling at my ineptitude whispering "This is how its done"

bill

 

[yoderjac]

I have had difficulty growing persimmons in containers

Much better success with bare root plantings

.......And then I discover random fruiting trees on forrest edge in remote areas of property

I can almost see Mother Nature smiling at my ineptitude whispering "This is how its done"

bill

While I had no real issues growing persimmons in rootmakers, I will say that is not my primary source of persimmons. By far, the biggest bang for the buck for me has been finding native growing trees in the 1" - 3" diameter class, cutting them down, and bark grafting them to female. With the well established root system, I get first fruit in the 3rd leaf on a regular basis. By selecting scions from trees with different drop times, I can have persimmons on the ground for a long span.

Thanks,

Jack