Persimmon Bonsai?

[ShimpakuItoigawaKishu]

Just started an American persimmon from seed. Does this make good bonsai? Also, what is the lifespan of this tree?

 

[namnhi]

@Leo in N E Illinois Mr. Leo can tell you all about this.

 

[Ohmy222]

big leaves

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Lovin' the persimmons, in general, and planning on bringing some into my landscape. The large ones are amazing looking in the fall and winter... but not sure about bonsai. Combination of large leaves and large fruit. That is why princess persimmon is so popular. Basically take a persimmon and shrink it down... and that's what you get

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Very nice.

Yes, American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, makes an excellent bonsai. Leaves will reduce nicely with branch ramification. For best proportions, shoot for a finished size bonsai between one and 3 feet tall. It can be a thin and graceful design, similar to literati. Or you can do a more traditional informal upright.

One of the best traits of American persimmon is the fact that it develops a heavy, checkerboard or alligator back like bark pattern. Bark becomes deeply fissured with a square checked pattern. It begins developing bark fairly young, as young as 7 or 8 years the bark will begin to form its pattern.

Fruit is smaller than the culinary Diospyros kaki, it will hang nicely on a bonsai in the 12 inch to 24 inch size range.

You should start an additional 5 seedlings, in order to have a total of six seedlings. This will give you a better than 95% chance of getting both a male and a female tree. Normally persimmon have flowers of only one sex and normally the female must be pollinated by a male in order to form fruit. They can start flowering at about 6 ot 7 years of age, perhaps older if growth was slow. Once old enough to have started flowering, they should flower every year.

There is a rare condition, sometimes female plants will will bear seedless fruit if they do not get pollinated. But this is not the common case.

They can be rooted from cuttings taken in late summer. They will also produce plants from root cuttings. Take a large root trimmed off during repotting, pot the root so the cut end is above the soil line. Often it will develop a bud and grow a new branch and leaves.

American persimmon are definitely a good persimmon for bonsai. They are not as dwarf as the princess persimmon (d. rhombifolia), but they have the advantage of being quite winter hardy. Much more hardy than D. kaki and D. rhombifolia. In zone 5b they can be wintered simply by heeling their pot into the ground, no temperature protection needed beyond being heeled into the ground. Can't do that with the other persimmons.

 

[Zach Smith]

Very nice.

Yes, American persimmon, Diospyros virginiana, makes an excellent bonsai. Leaves will reduce nicely with branch ramification. For best proportions, shoot for a finished size bonsai between one and 3 feet tall. It can be a thin and graceful design, similar to literati. Or you can do a more traditional informal upright.

One of the best traits of American persimmon is the fact that it develops a heavy, checkerboard or alligator back like bark pattern. Bark becomes deeply fissured with a square checked pattern. It begins developing bark fairly young, as young as 7 or 8 years the bark will begin to form its pattern.

Fruit is smaller than the culinary Diospyros kaki, it will hang nicely on a bonsai in the 12 inch to 24 inch size range.

You should start an additional 5 seedlings, in order to have a total of six seedlings. This will give you a better than 95% chance of getting both a male and a female tree. Normally persimmon have flowers of only one sex and normally the female must be pollinated by a male in order to form fruit. They can start flowering at about 6 ot 7 years of age, perhaps older if growth was slow. Once old enough to have started flowering, they should flower every year.

There is a rare condition, sometimes female plants will will bear seedless fruit if they do not get pollinated. But this is not the common case.

They can be rooted from cuttings taken in late summer. They will also produce plants from root cuttings. Take a large root trimmed off during repotting, pot the root so the cut end is above the soil line. Often it will develop a bud and grow a new branch and leaves.

American persimmon are definitely a good persimmon for bonsai. They are not as dwarf as the princess persimmon (d. rhombifolia), but they have the advantage of being quite winter hardy. Much more hardy than D. kaki and D. rhombifolia. In zone 5b they can be wintered simply by heeling their pot into the ground, no temperature protection needed beyond being heeled into the ground. Can't do that with the other persimmons.

Thanks for the info, Leo. By chance I happened across a native specimen last year while doing my regular job, and I collected a lot of the fruit and have now germinated a couple of dozen seeds. I'm looking forward to seeing how they develop. The good thing about this species is the fruit is small enough to look reasonably in scale for a bonsai that is not too small. So we'll see what ends up happening.