All the scion needs is to still be hydrated and not freeze damaged. If you think those are in place then cut some scions and give it a try.

Cousinfloyd,

I ordered a Nikita's Gift persimmon from Burntridge this year. They told me it's on D. Virginiana rootstock.

Burnt Ridge told me they used at least two different species of rootstock for their persimmons -- mine was a Hana Fuyu -- and they didn't keep record of the rootstock with their inventory. I think they said they used D.v. and D.k., but I can't remember precisely which two they said they used.

Another possibility is that I just didn't scratch deep enough on the rootstock. I could very well be wrong about what's going on, but I do know that a scratch test up in the tree looks very good and that there's no sign of any growth yet, even though my other kakis broke dormancy a couple weeks ago and are leafing out now. I did hedge my bet by cutting some scions (although it's not much of a hedge with my kaki grafting success rate to date.)

I've read that it's common for persimmon to break dormancy very late. In fact, a Raintree plant brochure (I bought plum trees from it) says that it gets most calls from concerned customers about persimmon not leafing out. It says to be very patient with it.

I planted my Nikita's Gift a few weeks ago, the same time as my other new trees. Many others (plum, nectarine, peach, cherry) have shown some green tips. Only Gold Rush apple and Nikita's are still dormant. I bet GR will break dormancy before Nikita's.

It would be one thing to be later than pears or cherries, etc., but I have four other kaki persimmons plus a rosseyanka to compare it to. The Hana Fuyu is one year older than the others. Even my jujubes broke bud a weak or two ago.

This spring some of my persimmons are waking up very late. I don't think they are dead, they are just very late. I wonder if the long cold winter we had didn't put them into a deeper dormancy than usual.

That said, I have also had trees with a live top and a dead rootstock. Good move to grab some scion from it.

Scott

Floyd: Has your Hana Fuyu produced any fruit yet? If so, you would have had quite the letdown dealing with all the BIG seeds. If not, get ready for the regrettable, over abundant BIG seeds that stand verticle and encircle the whole fruit.

Coping, no, my Hana Fuyu hasn't fruited yet. Are you saying you'd just as soon have it culled? The main reason I chose Hana Fuyu as a PCNA was that I heard it was a better survivor than other PCNA's, and I really hope to establish some trees that won't need to be replaced for decades, but I only heard after I bought it that it also produces male flowers, which I guess can lead to seediness in it and other trees. The seediness factor definitely gives me second thoughts.

So here's an update. The grafted portion of my Hana Fuyu was definitely alive when I last posted, and it looks like it may still be. One of the grafts I made from wood I took when I last posted has nice big green buds now about to open up (which is the stage when my persimmon grafts normally wilt and die, but at least it tells me the wood was still good.) Meanwhile the tree has started to push new growth from the ground, so it appears the only part that died was the 6" or so of the above-ground portion of the rootstock. That leads me to wonder if I could now or could have earlier done some kind of bridge graft.

Are you going to graft to the new growth, given that the rootstock has proven "not-so-hardy"? If you do, maybe piling some dirt or leaves with something to keep them in place would be enough.

I thought I had a similar situation this spring with an apparently dead potted Flavor Supreme pluot. I didn't water it enough (maybe once and it was under an overhang next to the house) over the winter and it was very late leafing out (several weeks after everything else). I cut a scion from it and grafted it to a Japanese plum. Both the scion and the tree now look like they'll make it. I'm not sure which surprised me more- a dead tree coming back to life or my first attempt at grafting a plum/pluot succeeding with suspect wood.