How to prevent fruit drop in Japanese Persimmon (Diospyros kaki)? The latest methods are here
Fruit-bearing ornamental bonsai is a fairly common form in the bonsai world. Since it is an ornamental fruit bonsai, the focus is naturally on enhancing the ornamental value of the fruit. If fruit drop occurs, it will inevitably lead to no fruit to admire, or too few fruits, which reduces the ornamental value of the bonsai. The same is true for the Japanese Persimmon (Diospyros kaki), after all, the Japanese Persimmon is mostly used to make ornamental fruit bonsai.
The notable features of Japanese Persimmon bonsai are its round fruit, vivid fruit color, long fruiting period, and small and few leaves, but its sprouting ability is very long, and its branch distribution is also fairly abundant. But since it is appreciated as an ornamental fruit bonsai, in the end we still need to improve the quality of the fruit to enhance the ornamental value of the bonsai. And preventing fruit drop is the top priority, so what then?
The Japanese Persimmon is a deciduous small tree, and in autumn and winter it is very prone to natural leaf drop. And if abnormal fruit drop occurs, it greatly affects the appearance. So we should do our best with care and management to avoid abnormal fruit drop, mainly managing from the following aspects:
1. Ensuring nutrients
If you want the Japanese Persimmon to bear fruit smoothly and to keep the fruit hanging on the tree for a long time, starting from July each year, we need to apply some high-phosphorus and high-potassium fertilizer as a top dressing. This top dressing process needs to continue until October in autumn, so that the plant can obtain sufficient nutrients to promote fruit growth, and at the same time it can also help prevent fruit drop.
2. Controlling nitrogen fertilizer
During the flowering and fruiting period, the top dressing for the plant should mainly be phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, since these two nutrient elements play an important role in promoting flowering and fruiting, and they also help to stabilize the fruit. But if we focus on applying nitrogen fertilizer at this time, the plant will grow rampant branches and leaves, so the flowers and fruits cannot get the corresponding nutrient elements to promote flowering and fruiting. And even the fruit that is set will drop due to a lack of phosphorus and potassium elements. So during the flowering and fruiting period, nitrogen fertilizer should be controlled, or even nitrogen intake should be stopped.
3. Proper water control
During the flowering period and the early fruiting stage, the Japanese Persimmon must have proper water control. Because too much watering and overly sufficient moisture can easily cause a large amount of flower and fruit drop. Therefore, during the flowering and fruiting period, we should keep the potting soil slightly moist, and by all means avoid frequent watering. Moreover, frequent watering not only easily causes flowers and fruits to fall off, but may also cause root rot, thus bringing greater harm to the plant.
4. Thinning flowers and fruits
The Japanese Persimmon in its flowering and fruiting period consumes a large amount of nutrients, but at the same time it cannot be given a large amount of top dressing, so if there are too many flowers and fruits, we need to thin the flowers and fruits in time. Because too many flowers and fruits will create intense nutrient competition, and for those flowers and fruits that get relatively fewer nutrients, they often drop due to poor growth. Therefore, proper thinning of flowers and fruits can reduce nutrient competition, thereby reducing abnormal fruit drop.
The above aspects are only the common causes of abnormal fruit drop in Japanese Persimmon bonsai, and there are many specific causes. Such as insufficient plant maturity, weak root system, insufficient nutrients, too much nitrogen fertilizer during the flowering period, varieties that need pollination not being pollinated, too much watering during the flowering and fruiting period or continuous rainy weather, strong wind during the flowering and fruiting period, invasion by pests and diseases, etc., all of these are triggers. So, in order to avoid abnormal fruit drop in Japanese Persimmon bonsai, we should focus on doing a good job in these aspects of management in ordinary times.