Food Plots Persimmons

[TNlandowner]

We are very lucky to have trees that drop fruit throughout late fall and through December. These trees are our number one attractant for all kinds of animals: deer, fox, raccoon, coyotes, crows, turkeys, my golden retriever, etc.

 

[deerhunter10]

I'd love to have some drop late. All of ours have dropped by the first no later then the 2nd week of October

 

[backyardtndeer]

Nice. I am hopeful that we will have some late dropping persimmons producing in about 5 years or so.

 

[Smokyrider]

Nice, I don't have any on my land, hope to plant about 10 of them after winter and hopefully they will be producing by the time I retire.

 

[BSK]

We intentionally look for the late-droppers for our seedling program. The late droppers are actually genetically different from the early droppers.

 

[Ski]

We intentionally look for the late-droppers for our seedling program. The late droppers are actually genetically different from the early droppers.

How do you know which ones are male or female before you plant them? My luck I'd plant 20 trees and they all be male lol.

 

[BSK]

How do you know which ones are male or female before you plant them? My luck I'd plant 20 trees and they all be male lol.

You don't. But even if half are female, you're OK.

 

[TNlandowner]

Persimmon trees are super easy to grow from seeds. They also produce fruit fairly fast. We have them around every food plot... ;o)

 

[JCDEERMAN]

We intentionally look for the late-droppers for our seedling program. The late droppers are actually genetically different from the early droppers.

Yep - all depends on the variety. We had a group of 12 up until last year that were about 25' tall and started dropping in mid December. I used to see tons of deer fighting over them for years. And suddenly they just decided not to leaf out this year. Talk about a bummer.

 

[Ski]

And suddenly they just decided not to leaf out this year. Talk about a bummer.

Any ideas why?

 

[Ski]

Persimmon trees are super easy to grow from seeds. They also produce fruit fairly fast. We have them around every food plot... ;o)

I've tried but no luck. No idea where I'm going wrong. Gathering up some more tomorrow if they're still a few to grab and will try again.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Any ideas why?

Not sure yet. We actually got the front end loader on the tractor and started to push over the non-producing trees (to plant new trees) since we thought they were dead. Started to push over one and it was all green within the bark. We stopped obviously. Branches on all were dead. Basically we were trying to make room for new 30 trees (which we planted elsewhere late October) and were going to replace those 12 with another 12. Will wait and see this next spring what they do.

We plant about 30 trees on average each year - all varieties- pear, apple, peaches, plum, persimmon, chestnut, cherry, etc…

For the life of me, I don't know why these have (maybe be) died. Will give another spring and if they don't leaf out, they will be replaced

 

[TNlandowner]

I've tried but no luck. No idea where I'm going wrong. Gathering up some more tomorrow if they're still a few to grab and will try again.

How are you stratifying the seeds? I pick them straight from animal scat while wearing protective nitrile gloves. I plant them very shallow, barely covering the seed. I sometimes place a wire flagging marker near the seed so I don't mow over it.

I have also stratified seeds directly from fruit using the fridge, but nature's way is so easy. We have so persimmon trees pop up every spring courtesy of animals... I never know if the trees are male or female until they produce flowers in May.

 

[Ski]

How are you stratifying the seeds? I pick them straight from animal scat while wearing protective nitrile gloves. I plant them very shallow, barely covering the seed. I sometimes place a wire flagging marker near the seed so I don't mow over it.

I have also stratified seeds directly from fruit using the fridge, but nature's way is so easy. We have so persimmon trees pop up every spring courtesy of animals... I never know if the trees are male or female until they produce flowers in May.

I tried doing them in the fridge and got zero. They eventually molded. Today I pulled a bunch out of cow patties and put them in peat, pulled a bunch from fruit and did the same. Then I did a bunch of each in the fridge. Hopefully I get some action. I haven't put them direct in ground because I want to plant them in my Ohio property.

I did a bunch of haws as well and some apples. I always have good luck with apples.

 

[backyardtndeer]

I tried doing them in the fridge and got zero. They eventually molded. Today I pulled a bunch out of cow patties and put them in peat, pulled a bunch from fruit and did the same. Then I did a bunch of each in the fridge. Hopefully I get some action. I haven't put them direct in ground because I want to plant them in my Ohio property.

I did a bunch of haws as well and some apples. I always have good luck with apples.

I just took seeds from fruit off the ground and cleaned them up. Mine took a long time to sprout, but I ended up with good results by stratifying in the fridge. Had no sign of life yet when I put them in pots, and it took quite a bit longer than I expected for them to pop up after planting, but I think nearly every seed I put in a pot came up eventually.

 

[Ski]

I just took seeds from fruit off the ground and cleaned them up. Mine took a long time to sprout, but I ended up with good results by stratifying in the fridge. Had no sign of life yet when I put them in pots, and it took quite a bit longer than I expected for them to pop up after planting, but I think nearly every seed I put in a pot came up eventually.

That's probably where I went wrong. I got impatient & just tossed them. I'm used to apples rooting within days or weeks and thought persimmons would be similar. I'll be sure to give these ones all the time they need. The mother tree is still holding some fruit this late into December so I would really love to propagate some more late droppers.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

It just sucks because these were planted 15-20 years ago. I don't get it.

But planting 30 new ones of all varieties each year for going on 10 years now, if we lose 10 a year (worst case scenario), we will be ahead in some department

 

[Popcorn]

That's probably where I went wrong. I got impatient & just tossed them. I'm used to apples rooting within days or weeks and thought persimmons would be similar. I'll be sure to give these ones all the time they need. The mother tree is still holding some fruit this late into December so I would really love to propagate some more late droppers.

I did this with some paw paw seeds from last season. After scarifying I put the in individual containers along beside my chestnuts after 3 months and the chestnuts were standing with open leaves I threw the paw paws out into the wife's flower bed. Next week I am going to get in trouble when I dig 8 paw paws out of her flower bed and go plant them.

 

[TNlandowner]

I tried doing them in the fridge and got zero. They eventually molded. Today I pulled a bunch out of cow patties and put them in peat, pulled a bunch from fruit and did the same. Then I did a bunch of each in the fridge. Hopefully I get some action. I haven't put them direct in ground because I want to plant them in my Ohio property.

I did a bunch of haws as well and some apples. I always have good luck with apples.

Did you keep the seeds separated by source (cow pies / fruit)? I would love to know the results. I believe your seeds from the cow patties will be ready to grow as soon as the soil warms. The cold stratification should work for the seeds pulled directly from fruit.

Keep us informed ;o)

 

[Ski]

Did you keep the seeds separated by source (cow pies / fruit)? I would love to know the results. I believe your seeds from the cow patties will be ready to grow as soon as the soil warms. The cold stratification should work for the seeds pulled directly from fruit.

Keep us informed ;o)

I have them split into four groups. A bag of cow patty seeds in the fridge and a bag of direct from fruit in fridge. Then I filled a large planting pot with potting soil and one side of it has cow patty seeds and the other half has direct fruit seeds. It's sitting outside to winter over in the elements. I did it this way to find out if any one way works better than others.

I did the similar with haws. Some are seeds in fridge, some seeds in potting soil outside, and some entire fruit in potting soil outside.

 

[Ski]

I did this with some paw paw seeds from last season. After scarifying I put the in individual containers along beside my chestnuts after 3 months and the chestnuts were standing with open leaves I threw the paw paws out into the wife's flower bed. Next week I am going to get in trouble when I dig 8 paw paws out of her flower bed and go plant them.

Almost certainly I gave up too soon. I should have put them in soil instead of throwing them away.

 

[TNlandowner]

I think you'll have several persimmon seedlings next spring!