Pruning Persimmon Trees to Prevent Fruit Drop

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[@ReneSicat-t4p]

Ross, your video is very informative, and it is also very scientific. This will help me down the road in pruning my first persimmon tree which is only one year old as of today. I will be following your videos. Thank you so much for sharing and I appreciate you. - Southern California guy here! 😎

[@ShikokuFoodForest]

Hello Ross. I’m Canadian living in Southern Shikoku Japan. I started a food forest 6 years ago. I’m mostly growing a variety of citrus, several loquat, Chinese date, pomegranate and fig. I have a single persimmon. It’s about 8~10 years old. Persimmons are one of my favorite fruits. This summer was extremely hot (38~42C/105F) and dry. I’ve never seen this happen before, but my tree dropped all it’s fruit in July during the hottest time of the summer. So dropped about 25 fruit. I figure the fruit was about 50% mature in between a golf ball and tennis ball size, but still green. I figure the high heat was the reason for the fruit drop. Have you ever experienced this? I checked with a local nursery and was told an insect/pest may have been responsible for the fruit drop. But, I never saw any pests on the tree. So the reason for the fruit drop is a mystery. The tree is about 10 feet tall with a central leader and many other long lateral branches. Do you have any idea what caused the fruit drop? I ps this unusual or common? I don’t think I over watered the tree. I only watered it perhaps 1x/2~3 weeks. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

[@AWiz-lx8lh]

Dude. I’m 1 Minute Into Your Video and My First Thought was, “Dam! I Should Have Looked at The Video Description As this Person May Not Truly Know about this Type of Tree!” Of Course Right After My Thought, You Drop the Fact that You Read that Highly Rated Book On Persimmons Trees. All I Can Say Is Thank You and You ROCK BRO. Will Watch your Video In It’s Entirety. Thanks For Knowing In Your Heart of Hearts That There Is a Right Way to Do All In Life. Peace Brother!

[@lindapertusati7990]

Thank you for a very informative tutorial on pruning persimmon trees. I have 3 young persimmon trees that I want to stay on top of in terms of form, growth and producing the most amount of fruit it can. Your explanation is very helpful towards that endeavor.

[@nmnate]

When you started talking about opening up the center, I immediately thought about taking that central leader down to chest height (as you mention near the end). If the central leader is headed well above your reach (~8'), then all the subsequent branches that form are all going to be way out of reach. I think open center trees do pretty well with the top of the central leader somewhere below half of the overall tree height (1/3 might be a good estimate). My semi dwarf trees start branching maybe 2-2.5' off the ground and I'll keep them to ~8' tall. The apples that I plan on putting in this winter I'll let get a little taller (maybe 10' tall), so I'm going to head them a little higher off the ground, maybe 3'. I've lived in a couple houses with mature, full size trees in the yard (apples, pears, cherries)... they're outrageously big, way too big for most people to handle. As a side note, some tree fruits really do great with developing fruiting wood after doing summer pruning, but respond to hard pruning in the winter by aggressive vegetative growth. Any clue if persimmons behave this way? I think apples are the easiest example to see as you can look for development of fruiting spurs.

[@Fattiapples]

I just got a persimmon tree from a nursery that said it should produce fruit next year however the central leader is about 10 ft high and the starting stalks are lower on the stalk. So the central stalk looks very tall and bare in relation to where the stalks have sprouted. I was thinking of cutting the central leader but not sure what height would be best and don’t want to kill the tree by doing this. I thought perhaps cutting the central leader at 7 ft point. There are probably like 6-8 stalks growing from central leader some thicker and some thinner. Not sure whether to leave them alone or take some off, they are about 2-3 feet long each. What do you think? Are you saying cut the central leader to less than 8 ft?

[@poonpoonsmith399]

​@Fattiapples how's your persimmon tree growing? What did you decide on how to prune your tree?

[@TheJm333]

Thank you for sharing, very helpful.

[@haisponagle633]

I really appreciate the way you explained, informative. Thank you so very much

[@Anakin985qwerty]

I've heavily pruned my persimmon trees and every year all off the fruits would drop off. This year I'll try with as little as possible pruning. I hope it'll help. Thank you for the video!

[@BAKERHUSKIE]

Great video. Just a remark when cutting.....at minute9:24, undercut the branch before cutting. That way keeps from fulling the bark.

[@benoitphilibert9316]

Hi Ross, you are such a great, fantastic guy. Thank you and congratulations.

[@Crina-LudmilaCristeaAuthor]

How's this tree doing now? When I prune, I follow Paul Gautschi's advice. I plan to do the same for the persimmon trees I want to plant soon. Take care!

[@leahwatola3218]

Thanks for very helpful tips how to prune Persimmon. Love the watch you doing all Figs pruning.

[@Iloveorganicgardening]

Thanks Ross. I've got a Japanese non astringent persimmon that is coming up on the third year since I planted it. I got two or three the very first year I planted it then last year the blossom dropped off. I think we may have gotten a late Frost that killed them. It really didn't grow much last year but maybe stocks just got more Hefty. I need to look at it and see if it's needs pruned.

[@christopherrizzo5421]

You're a good man Ross...

[@olsonlr]

Proper green pruning in summer can help prevent fruit drop. Cut top off and leave about 5 leaves over last fruit in early summer.

[@nadfoy]

I think that 2 storey building nearby has to be also pruned so that the fruit trees under its shade may fully benefit from the sunshine!! 👍😀

[@maddog8148]

Merry Christmas Ross!

[@Malvision1]

I'm thinking that any question on how to care for & prune Persimmons I will check in with how the Asians do it. They have been doing it a long time. I've watched your videos and now I have more questions than before. I like your idea on keeping them accessible.

[@Glaudge]

Possible that fruit drop is related to too much free nitrogen during fruit ripening? Nitrogen is very water soluble in soil and going from dry conditions to wet conditions mobilizes soil nitrogen quickly

[@lin827]

this comment is a bit after the fact but you also need to watch videos done by the Japanese. By all means thin the branches but you also need to tip prune - count 5 buds on a new branch and cut after that.

[@gorillaz0864]

Link?

[@lin827]

Can't think of a link cuurently as the comment was so ,ong ago but I know a persimmon grower who taught me this.... he was taught by some Japanese farmers who barely spoke any english!

[@andrewhunter5254]

If it was mine I'd make it a goblet shaped tree by removing the mane leader down where the strap off the stake is. Plus the tree looks strong enough not to need being staked enny more and happy New year to you and all your subscribers. 😎👍♥️

[@rubenbarican284]

This year my tree did not flower at all. I only got one fruit and it fell off. We When do i prune? When the leaves are all gone? Late winter or the first sign of frost even if there are still lots of leaves! What’s your take? Thx.

[@Sam-tg4ii]

I just got a barbra blush grafted persimmon. Bareroot and just a single stem. Do you advise that I head cut the stem knee-high to encourage an open center form? I have limited space. I remember you previously said that modified central leader is best for persimmons but in this video it sounded like you said open-center is viable, too.

[@vikapepper5177]

OH NO! STOP.!!😲😳 NO TRIMMING NO PRUNING! 🤒🤒🤒. .. I'm in California and I have 2 Persimmons trees 17 and 20th years old, I never trimmed it at alll... As I know the tree do it own pruning... My 20 years old just trimmed it top this year and in the same time new growth coming up..

[@jenthejenius]

Curious how it did this year!

[@darkshadesvevo]

When's the best time to prune? 😊

[@roccoconte2960]

I have an ichi kaki non astringent , about 5 years old , last year had about 30-40 fruit on it and only held 2. this year same good fruit set and all dropped , they get to a good size and then start to fall off. Good video Ross, merry christmas .

[@bernadettelenka4994]

Did you plant you persimmon in the clay soil or Sandy and loomy soil?

[@-8_8-]

So my local university librarian said she isn't finding evidence of a book by that title. Was the book not called Growing Persimmon in New Zealand?

[@RossRaddi]

You won't find it at the library: books.google.com/books/about/Persimmon_Culture_in_New_Zealand.html?id=QcFnpwAACAAJ

[@valerieescabi6104]

💖

[@besearchingforwisdom6267]

At 19 minutes in you selected to remove the main trunk at the midpoint and I agree. A tall tree is not fun to be harvesting. Also the thin branches are prone to break, but cutting them off at the wrong places can lead to damage and diseases so take time to study the tree at harvest time

[@NerdySTEMCutie]

Can you provide a link to the correct book you speak of at 1:13 please? There are so many with similar titles. Thank you

[@LittlePieceOfHeaven.65]

Hey Ross how's the tree doing ? Did you prune hard ?

[@RossRaddi]

Very fruitful. The key to solving the dropping was summer pruning.

[@warrickpowrie5959]

Can you please let me know the name and Author of the book from New Zealand please?

[@-8_8-]

Same question! That book title "Growing persimmon in New Zealand" doesn't come up, and I asked a librarian and even mentioned that universities were involved.

[@kleineroteHex]

Thanks, good to know, mine is not that far.

[@hypocentric]

Do you use dormant oil on your fruit trees?

[@kmbrezina]

you need a helmet cam.

[@vikapepper5177]

THIS REALLY MAKES ME SICK 🥺🤒🤒

[@vikapepper5177]

I'm giving you a thumbs down lol 👎😆