How Many Years Until a Persimmon Tree Bears Fruit? Causes of Fruit Drop and Solutions
In many rural areas nowadays, almost everyone has planted orange trees or persimmon trees at home. That is because these two trees are among the easier fruits to grow, and a single tree can produce a great many fruits. So exactly how often does a persimmon tree bear fruit? If a persimmon tree keeps dropping its persimmons, what methods do we have to deal with it? Next, the editor will explain some cultivation methods for persimmon trees.
How Many Years Until a Persimmon Tree Bears Fruit
Generally, grafted trees begin to bear fruit after 3 to 4 years, reach full bearing age after 15 years, and have an economic life of up to a hundred years, hence the saying "plant once, harvest for a hundred years." It is an important tree species for developing mountainous areas and overcoming poverty, and also an excellent tree species for maintaining ecological balance in nature. Persimmon trees are not picky about soil type; whether mountainous land, hills, plains or riverbanks; fertile or poor soil; clay or sandy soil, they can all achieve a considerable yield. Therefore, developing persimmon production plays an important role in making full use of land, increasing ground cover, improving the climate and improving people's living environment. The persimmon tree has an open crown, with large, glossy leaves and dense green shade, providing cool shade in summer; in early autumn the green leaves and red fruits are bright and pleasing to the eye, and in late autumn the red leaves can rival maple leaves, making it an excellent ornamental tree as well.
What to Do When a Persimmon Tree Drops Its Fruit
1. Girdling at flowering stage
Girdling can be carried out at any time from the initial flowering stage to the full flowering stage. Girdling is suitable for vigorous trees, vigorous branches or large fruiting branch groups. The girdling cut width is 0.3 to 0.5 mm; after girdling, wrap the cut with plastic strips to maintain humidity at the cut and promote healing.
2. Reasonable summer pruning
During the growing season, thin out overly dense branches and ineffective branches; leave more branches on the windward side and fewer on the leeward side to promote ventilation and light penetration. Persimmon trees generally sprout a large number of latent buds after pruning; to reduce nutrient consumption, useless sprouts should be removed before they become woody. For long branches with growing space, especially water sprouts, pinch the tips when they reach 40 cm in length.
3. Thinning flower buds
When 2 to 4 fruiting branches emerge from a fruiting mother branch, keep the 3 flower buds in the middle of the first 2 fruiting mother branches and remove all flower buds on the other fruiting branches, leaving them as reserve branches. When more than 5 fruiting branches emerge from a fruiting mother branch, keep the first 3 fruiting branches to bear fruit, leave 3 flowers in the middle of each fruiting mother branch, and remove all the rest.
4. Skillful fertilization and watering
For large trees entering the full fruiting stage, fertilizer and water management should be strengthened. Apply base fertilizer early in spring and apply sufficient base fertilizer in autumn, but topdressing must not be applied too early. Generally, topdressing in May, when branch tips stop growing, and in July, during the fruit swelling stage, can increase the fruit set rate, increase the number of flower buds for the next year and improve flower bud quality. Water during dry weather.
5. Chemical regulation
Spray once each at the full flowering stage and the young fruit stage with 500 mg/kg gibberellin plus 1% urea, which can improve the nutritional status of flowers and fruits, prevent the formation of an abscission layer between the calyx and the fruit stalk, enhance the absorption of nutrients by flowers and young fruits, stimulate ovary expansion and increase the fruit set rate. During the rapid fruit swelling stage, foliar spraying of 0.3% to 0.5% urea solution and trace element fertilizers such as ammonium molybdate can reduce flower and fruit drop.
6. Pest and disease control
During the growing season, manually remove diseased and insect-infested fruits. In mid-June, spray once with 1:5:400 Bordeaux mixture, or 65% zineb wettable powder at 500 to 600 times dilution, or spray once with 2.5% green kung fu at 1500 times dilution plus 1.5% junlimie at 800 times dilution, which can control persimmon anthracnose, angular leaf spot and round spot disease. In mid-to-late May and from late July to early August, when larvae peak, spray 20% methomyl emulsifiable concentrate at 2500 times dilution, mainly on the fruits, fruit stalks and flower buds of the persimmon tree, spraying once every 10 to 15 days, for 2 to 3 consecutive sprays.
How to Prune a Persimmon Tree
1. Winter pruning should focus mainly on light pruning, combining thinning and heading back, adjusting the framework and improving ventilation and light conditions. Thin out some overly dense branches, thin and weak branches, overlapping and crossing branches, and diseased or dead branches, and pay attention to heading back old, weakened large branches to stimulate new growth. Cut back small branches to encourage accessory buds to sprout into branches.
2. Summer pruning follows the principle of combining thinning, pinching, bud notching and ring cutting, that is, thinning out large branches and overly dense, weak or improperly positioned new shoots in the inner canopy. The remaining branches, having improved light and nutritional conditions, easily form flowers and bear fruit. Before bud break, notch one-year-old vigorous branches to promote medium and short branches; pinch the tips of new shoots from notched buds and other branches when they reach 30-40 cm. After pinching weak branches, flower buds easily form at the top; after pinching vigorous branches, the secondary shoots that emerge can form flower buds in the same year and bear fruit the next year. To improve the fruit set rate, ring-cut large auxiliary branches during the flowering stage.
3. Autumn branch bending: the best time of the year for branch bending is September, but in summer, during the season of vigorous branch growth in May-June, upright vigorous branches can be bent at any time, and vigorous new shoots can be twisted. In September, the main targets for branch bending are the main branches and auxiliary branches. The opening angle of the basal main branches should be about 90°; if less than 70°, bend downward; if greater than 70°, bend upward; if the orientation is inappropriate, bend to the left or right. Note that such large branches should not be bent forcefully, as they split easily; the correct method is to make 3 saw cuts on the back side, then brace the base with a foot, slowly pull down with both hands and finally secure it. All upper main branches and side branches should be bent flat.
Grafting Methods for Persimmon Trees
1. Scion selection: choose 1-2 year old branches of excellent varieties and vigorous growth as scions. Scions collected before the new year should be trimmed and stored in wet sand in bundles of 30. Scions collected in spring can be grafted as they are collected. If scions are stored too long, they dry out and lose water, black spots appear in the xylem, and the survival rate after grafting is low or they fail to survive.
2. Scion treatment: before grafting, soak stored scions in clean water for about 12 hours. This not only replenishes the water in the scions and increases their water content, but also effectively reduces the tannin content in the scions and improves the grafting survival rate.
3. Grafting time: generally carried out on sunny days in early to mid-March when there is no late spring cold. Grafting too early or too late is very unfavorable to the survival rate.
4. Branch grafting methods: carried out in early spring, in March-April, when buds have not yet sprouted. Commonly used methods are the cleft graft and the side graft; both can be used for top grafting to change the head of large trees.
1. Cleft grafting: cut off the rootstock, make a vertical split downward from the center of the cut, 2-3 cm deep, cut the scion into a wedge shape, insert it into the cut, and align the cambium layers of both, that is, bark to bark and wood to wood, with at least one side aligned. When the rootstock is thick, 2-4 scions can be inserted, and the union should be wrapped tightly with plastic strips.
2. Side grafting: side grafting is also called "waist insertion." Make a downward cut at a 30-degree angle from the side of the rootstock, reaching one-third to one-half of the way into the rootstock. Cut the scion into a wedge shape, with one side the same length as the rootstock cut and the other slightly shorter. Insert the long side facing inward into the rootstock cut and wrap tightly with plastic strips.
5. Bud grafting methods: mainly include single-bud side grafting and T-shaped budding.
1. Single-bud side grafting: can be done in spring or summer. Choose a smooth spot on the rootstock and make a horizontal cut reaching the xylem, then make a flat downward cut from 2-3 cm above the cut, slightly carrying wood, down to the horizontal cut, and remove the wood piece. Using the same method as for cutting the rootstock, cut a bud of the same size or slightly smaller and attach it to the rootstock, then tie tightly with plastic strips.
2. T-shaped budding: in June-July, when the bark slips, choose a smooth surface on the rootstock and first make a horizontal cut 0.6-0.8 cm long, then make a vertical cut downward from the center of the cut, 1.5-2 cm long, forming a "T" shape. Make a horizontal cut 1 cm above the selected strong bud, reaching the xylem, then make a flat upward cut from 1-1.5 cm below the bud, slightly carrying wood, remove the bud piece, pry open the "T" shaped cut on the rootstock left and right, immediately insert the bud piece, and tie from bottom to top with plastic strips, exposing the bud tip.
Having read the above introduction, you surely have a clear understanding of some cultivation methods for persimmon trees. In fact, the nutritional value of persimmons is very rich; they not only contain pectin, but are also very rich in vitamin C and carotene. Therefore, in daily life, people can also eat persimmons regularly.