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| Asked my husband to stop by the nursery on the way home and see if they had any persimmon trees; he said there was only one left, a Fuyu, and brought it home. Not the best-looking tree I've ever seen... maybe that's why it was the last one. It had just a few leaves up top but some pretty strong growth off the rootstock, so I trimmed those off and tried not to get too worried when the leaves up top dropped since I understand that persimmons are deciduous. I planted the tree with a gopher basket (we have a lot of gophers around here), threw some compost into the hole to mix with the native soil before backfilling, planted it into a mound above surrounding soil but then made a small well around the trunk so water has a chance to soak down, and after the initial deep watering have only given it a little bit when it seemed really dry. Our native soil is fairly heavy clay. It's been about a month of mild temperatures, but I think the tree may have kicked the bucket. The tips of the branches seem to be dry and dead, and I'm not seeing green when I scratch the bark on the trunk (unless I'm just not going deep enough). What could have caused my tree to die so quickly, if it is indeed dead? :-( |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Sounds like you may not have watered enough. But it could have been on the way out anyhow. Try again this winter with a fresher tree. |
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- Posted by sunnyinsandiego USDA 9/Sunset 20 (My Page) on Sun, Nov 3, 13 at 18:32
| I went to check again, and with the caveat that I could still be doing it wrong (and also didn't want to kill my tree if it wasn't dead already), I saw green under the bark on the rootstock and toward the top of the tree but not in the middle (above the graft). Any reason that would happen? |
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| Usually they die from the tips back or all at once. The tree might come back next spring. You won't kill the tree by scraping the bark. |
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- Posted by Fascist_Nation USDA 9b, Sunset 13, (My Page) on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 9:43
| Persimmons are a strange duck (Ebony family). You have heard of chill hours? In addition to modest chill hours, they need heat hours...a need for a certain number of accumulating heat units before they break dormancy. I found this out in Jan-Feb when I was removing all the trees that had died from the previous dormant planting, i.e, that never broke dormancy or were duds and whose few leaves shriveled up in the heat. When I pulled up the "dead" Coffeecake persimmon (Nishimura Wase) [see like you, I should have checked to see if it was green under the bark rather than assuming] there was an incredible healthy appearing root system present. Turned out fine. So if you do pull it up be prepared to either put it back or transplant it to a container in case it is still very much alive. The last of the trees at a nursery are often in pretty bad shape. And it does sound like you may not have watered it enough...but it is still alive so there is hope in the spring. |
Here is a link that might be useful: see note on heat units
This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 9:52
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