Planting Yates American Persimmon. 1.17.15

Yates Persimmon from Burnt Ridge Nursery.  1.17.15

Persimmon Roots in Tree Pot.  1.17.15

Yates Persimmon.  1.17.15

 Yesterday there was a box by the garage door.  This"Yates" persimmon sapling was in the box.

Things like this keep me going through the winter.  I've been looking forward to planting this tree.

It's a nice size, about 2 foot tall.  When I emailed Burnt Ridge Nursery to ask about them, they said their few remaining specimens were 1 to 2 foot.  Nice it's at the high end of that range.

In the bottomless, side-ridged narrow tree pot, the roots grew straight downward.  None were winding around.  I read that persimmons are difficult to transplant due to lack of a lot of fibrous roots.  This method of growing saplings is said to result in a much more transplantable specimen.  Even so, small specimens are more likely to result in success, so it's hard to find very big persimmon trees to plant.

Persimmons have black roots.  This was no exception.

Planted, and in wire cage.  More protection will be needed - I should prune some of the lower branches and fit a hardware cloth sleeve over the tree.  But it's raining and raining and raining, so I went inside.

Not good to plant trees in the rain.  I wanted to get it into the ground as quickly as possible, so compromised.  The fill soil was not too clumpy, and I think it is OK.

Yates is also call Juhl.  This variety is reported as, no male needed to produce fruit (parthenocarpic), much as many of the Asian persimmons are.  Also fairly large, and early. 

I think I'm nostalgic for some of the natural aspects of my growing up in Southern Illinois.  Pawpaws, American Linden, and now American Persimmon. 

One more photo added 1.18.15.  I pruned the side branches to a single whip.  Minimal loss of stored carbohydrates by doing that now, before sap flows up from roots.  The lower branches would need pruning to make a single leader.  I tied it upright.  I surrounded with hardware cloth for vole protection.  I surrounded with a larger cage for deer protection.  I think persimmons need neither, but prefer not to take a chance on an anomalous or taste-testing herbivore.  The newspaper mulch is crumpled so it won't lie flat and form a barrier.  It looks bad but there is no one but me to see it.  In Spring, it will be covered with a  nicer looking grass clipping mulch.  

Yates Persimmon, pruned, protected  1.18.15

Image from Vintageprintable.com