Gardening Advice????

[Apech]

 

Hi everyone,

 

This is my persimmon (sharon fruit, dyospiros) tree which I planted with great expectations of lovely fruit.  But turns our its a male tree and so it flowers but then the flowers drop off and nothing (except more leaves  ).  Anybody know if I can graft a female on to it - and how to do it????  Maybe I need to plant a female tree nearby - but I am running out of space.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated especially how to graft.

 

Thanks.

[Brian]

1 hour ago, Apech said:

 

Hi everyone,

 

This is my persimmon (sharon fruit, dyospiros) tree which I planted with great expectations of lovely fruit.  But turns our its a male tree and so it flowers but then the flowers drop off and nothing (except more leaves  ).  Anybody know if I can graft a female on to it - and how to do it????  Maybe I need to plant a female tree nearby - but I am running out of space.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated especially how to graft.

 

Thanks.

This might help:

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/grafting-and-budding-nursery-crop-plants

http://www.gardenguides.com/77547-persimmon-tree-grafting.html

Edited May 19, 2017 by Brian

[Apech]

15 minutes ago, Brian said:

This might help:

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/grafting-and-budding-nursery-crop-plants

http://www.gardenguides.com/77547-persimmon-tree-grafting.html

 

 

Thanks!  I hope you didn't cheat using google.

[Brian]

17 minutes ago, Apech said:

 

 

Thanks!  I hope you didn't cheat using google.

Nope! I wrote those two items and placed them on those websites after reading your post.  Didn't want to take credit for them, though, because I'm humble.

 

 

 

 

 

(Bing)

Edited May 19, 2017 by Brian

[Stosh]

Grafting is a generic simple process , but you need to get it right , I did google and saw this ...

 

 

The sex of a tree is determined by the type of flowers it bears, but gender is not always clear cut with a persimmon tree (Diospyros kaki). A persimmon tree may be male, female, both or change its sex from one year to the next year. Although many seedless varieties of persimmons are self-fruitful and don't need a tree of the opposite sex for pollination, other persimmons need a tree of the opposite gender for pollination. Professional persimmon farmers use a ratio of eight female trees for every male tree. Persimmons are hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 through 10.

1

Look at 1-year-old growth on the persimmon tree in March, and find its inconspicuous flowers.

2

Find groups of three flowers together to identify male blossoms, which have a pink tinge. A persimmon tree with a large percentage of male flowers is male.

3

Identify female flowers as those that grow alone and have an off-white or cream color. A majority of these kinds of flowers on the tree mean the tree is female.

4

Spot rare, perfect flowers on the persimmon tree by finding flowers that each has a large ovary at its base and more than eight stamen in the flower's center. Perfect flowers blend aspects of male and female flowers. These types of flowers can occur on either male or female trees.

5

Repeat identifying the tree's sex the following year to learn whether or not the tree changes the sex of flowers it bears.

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It would be interesting to know, if , when a graft is on a tree, if the gender of the flowers will just be the same as the tree overall , whatever it produces that year .. dunno .. but I would presume that , since trees without an obvious pollinator can produce fruit , that the loss of flowers could be for another reason. Or if its something about growing conditions TEP < calcium, PH and so forth )  which shifts the gender of the flowers , like with  alligators and avg incubation temperature. 

Or maybe you could spray the tree with horticultural hormones , to make it fruit.  Any way , cultivar seems to be important to know.

A hard assed persimmon grower would probably say ...Tear it out and plant a new tree? 

Edited May 19, 2017 by Stosh

[Apech]

@Stosh,

 

Thanks.  You are right the advice from locals is rip it up and plant a new one.  But I'm kind of attached to this tree.  I'm fairly sure it's male - and I hadn't heard of the cross gendering - I don't think its deficiency in the soil (which is quite good) as it flowers vigorously every year - but as I say they just drop off and leave no fruit.

[C T]

Or you could buy a few fruits and bind them onto the branches with sticky tape, step away for a few moments, then return and pluck them gleefully. A Mr Bean kind of scenario 

[Kar3n]

I saw a video where someone grafted fruit onto the trunk of tree and produced results. It was a while back and I've forgotten what kind of tree it was. I am going to look around for it...

[thelerner]

My local nursery has a apple tree which'll bear 3 different apples.  Pretty cool.

[Nungali]

On 5/20/2017 at 0:16 AM, Apech said:

 

Hi everyone,

 

This is my persimmon (sharon fruit, dyospiros) tree which I planted with great expectations of lovely fruit.  But turns our its a male tree and so it flowers but then the flowers drop off and nothing (except more leaves  ).  Anybody know if I can graft a female on to it - and how to do it????  Maybe I need to plant a female tree nearby - but I am running out of space.

 

Any advice greatly appreciated especially how to graft.

 

Thanks.

 

For a start, it should not have that big branch / clump  up on the right ,  the tree looks like it has not been pruned properly  during growth  ( unless you wanna get up there with a ladder to pick the fruit  )

 

We have a persimmon tree that fruits well every year.   I  didnt know you needed a male and female one.  ( yet a male one  or a female one has both male and female flowers ????   Ours is the only one around..... and it has seeds in the fruit. I am assuming it just fertilises itself ?    Dropping flowers without fruiting can come from a variety of reasons too . ... even when the soil is fertile. 

 

You might have to fertilise the flowers yourself . 

[Apech]

1 hour ago, Nungali said:

 

For a start, it should not have that big branch / clump  up on the right ,  the tree looks like it has not been pruned properly  during growth  ( unless you wanna get up there with a ladder to pick the fruit  )

 

We have a persimmon tree that fruits well every year.   I  didnt know you needed a male and female one.  ( yet a male one  or a female one has both male and female flowers ????   Ours is the only one around..... and it has seeds in the fruit. I am assuming it just fertilises itself ?    Dropping flowers without fruiting can come from a variety of reasons too . ... even when the soil is fertile. 

 

You might have to fertilise the flowers yourself . 

 

 

Oh so its my fault for not chopping its arms off!  You are heartless.

[Kar3n]

I can not find the video I spoke of above, but I did find a nice video of a fella grafting a persimmon.

I would be hesitant to cut as much off as he did though.

[Apech]

1 hour ago, Kar3n said:

I can not find the video I spoke of above, but I did find a nice video of a fella grafting a persimmon.

I would be hesitant to cut as much off as he did though.

 

Thanks Karen that was very helpful.  I have asked and I have to wait till next spring to do this - and I think I will have to cut the trunk ad drastically as that

[Kar3n]

3 minutes ago, Apech said:

I think I will have to cut the trunk ad drastically as that

Bummer.

I'd probably cry, ask for forgiveness and then pray a lot.

[Apech]

Just now, Kar3n said:

Bummer.

I'd probably cry, ask for forgiveness and then pray a lot.

 

Yes I do very little pruning of any of my trees - except the Olive Trees which need a haircut now and then.  I like things to be natural.

[C T]

there's a saying which gose like thees: The barest essential is the Mother of all growth..

Worry not. If plants can grow out of cracks in the concrete, there's no reason to lose faith. 

 

The Way always find a way. Thats why its the Way. 

 

[Nungali]

22 hours ago, Apech said:

 

 

Oh so its my fault for not chopping its arms off!  You are heartless.

 

Well, thats usually my trick   ... leaving it too late . Its better , of course, to do it before they get to be big arms .   But it can always be a 'wild tree'   .     Might not produce fruit ...  but its recycling air and  doing and providing other stuff . - Jesus got it wrong IMO ... going around cursing trees that didnt feed him .

 

I suppose it depends on how much land you got.     I never realised persimmons were so tricky fussy.    Ours just sits there and does its stuff each year  .... prob some special variety, it was here before I was, so over 30 years old .

[Nungali]

20 hours ago, C T said:

there's a saying which gose like thees: The barest essential is the Mother of all growth..

Worry not. If plants can grow out of cracks in the concrete, there's no reason to lose faith. 

 

The Way always find a way. Thats why its the Way. 

 

 

Indeed ..... I used to worry abut pruning and never did it.    My native trees all grew into a weird  'unnatural' shapes .  Turns out the wallabies  'prune' them when they are young  for the tasty new small shoots  .... if that doesnt happen, they grow tall thin and gangly .  

 

Peeps are funny .  neighbor used to be amazed at my place ... thought it was magic or something as 'everything looks healthy and glowing '  ....   amazing ..... just in this little patch .... couldnt figure it out  ... must be some type of special relationship I have with the plants ?  Magic formula ?  Whats my secret ?

 

This time, I told the truth ;     I throw handfuls of native  slow release fertiliser around every couple of years        

[Nungali]

20 hours ago, Apech said:

 

Yes I do very little pruning of any of my trees - except the Olive Trees which need a haircut now and then.  I like things to be natural.

 

Surely  you just have at least one tree that you do a little topiary on ... even if just for benefit of neighbors ? 

 

 

[Marblehead]

I'm sure that would die from natural causes if it were facing my property.

[Nungali]

Spoilsport !

 

 I would grow and trim one on the other side of the fence in the 'active position '   ... that would show him !   

[cold]

9 hours ago, Nungali said:

Spoilsport !

 

 I would grow and trim one on the other side of the fence in the 'active position '   ... that would show him !   

 

Thanks for the great Guffaw that post brought on!