Persimmon Grafting?

catscratch

Well-Known Member
Someone give me quick lesson on grafting persimmon:
When to cut scion wood?
How to identify scion wood?
Best type of graft?
When to graft in the spring?
 
When to cut scion wood? Like apples - in the spring before budding. They can be stored in fridge like apple scions too.

How to identify scion wood? Identify a female tree the year before and mark it to collect scion wood the next spring. Year old growth can be identified like apple wood. You can tell females by the fact that the tree has fruited or you can learn to ID flowers. Female flowers are easy to ID. Look on the Internet for examples.

Best type of graft? Bark grafting works great and I have had cleft grafts to work well too.

When to graft in the spring? Sometime after the host tree comes out of dormancy and begins leafing out. Graft the dormant scions to the active tree. The success window in time is wide.

Be sure to brace your grafts after they start growing or the wind may break many of them off. I had this to happen a lot last year. This year I braced with cane and duct tape and didn't lose a single one. I had about 95% success rate on persimmons this year.
 
I'm in North MS and I collect my scion wood in February. I collect one year old wood about the size of a pencil or maybe a little smaller. Wrap your scions in a damp paper towel and store them in the fridge in a ziplock bag. You can also seal the ends of the scions with candle wax to make sure there is no moisture loss while in the fridge. I bark graft every spring and you need to wait until the bark is "slipping" which for me is in April. The trees are fully leafed out by then. All you do is find a tree at least a couple of inches in diameter. Cut it off and then slit the bark so that your sharpened scion will fit snugly under the bark. You need good cambium contact between the cut stump (rootstock) and the scion that you have "sharpened" to push in under the bark. After that you wrap the trunk tightly. I use electrical tape. This is to ensure good cambium contact. I also use some of the pruning sealant around the top of the cut trunk to keep moisture out. I encourage you to google "Bark grafting persimmons". There are several good YouTube videos on the subject. It's really easy and success rates are high.

Here's a couple of scions leafing out that I did this spring.

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It really is that simple I wrap the scion after grafting with parafilm use electrical tape from Menards and close the host tree top with toilet bowl wax.

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When to cut scion wood? Like apples - in the spring before budding. They can be stored in fridge like apple scions too.

How to identify scion wood? Identify a female tree the year before and mark it to collect scion wood the next spring. Year old growth can be identified like apple wood. You can tell females by the fact that the tree has fruited or you can learn to ID flowers. Female flowers are easy to ID. Look on the Internet for examples.

Best type of graft? Bark grafting works great and I have had cleft grafts to work well too.

When to graft in the spring? Sometime after the host tree comes out of dormancy and begins leafing out. Graft the dormant scions to the active tree. The success window in time is wide.

Be sure to brace your grafts after they start growing or the wind may break many of them off. I had this to happen a lot last year. This year I braced with cane and duct tape and didn't lose a single one. I had about 95% success rate on persimmons this year.
I braced with 1x2 and still lost a graft. Dont let them get jarred by the wind no way no how.
 
Sounds pretty simple. I think I can learn to do most of those things but the wind issue might be an issue. Lots of wind and storms come through here.

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Sounds pretty simple. I think I can learn to do most of those things but the wind issue might be an issue. Lots of wind and storms come through here.

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It won't be a problem if you use the cane sticks and duct tape. I lost many grafts before that and have lost zero since. Take a look at the thread below. The cane stick are strong and extremely light weight. The tape doesn't have to be really tight. I will not remove my braces until next spring, but they could be removed now if I wanted to.

http://deerhunterforum.com/index.php?threads/bracing-my-grafts-against-the-wind.2615/
 
Wow, you are a master at this staking thing.
Looks like I should give this thing a try.


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They say necessity is the mother of invention. I have a big cane patch growing at home, so I have an endless supply of stakes.
 
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