Summer Repotting of Chojubai and Princess Persimmon

[Goodbrake]

So the takeaway is to repot in early summer when the leaves have hardened off and then fertilize well once the roots have recovered?

That's what I'd try, depending perhaps on how hot your summers are. Here in TX I'd be tempted to repot in later summer since we can have really hot summers and have a decent amount of time from the end of summer before the first frost. This winter I had some TX persimmons that never even lost their leaves, and they're exploding with growth now.

If I knew about this data earlier, I probably would have delayed collecting the persimmon I dug in mid February until late summer, and just done the hard top pruning in February. Too late now, so I'm just keeping it humid while not flooding the roots, basically treating it like a 3 foot tall cutting.

This is all of course assuming these patterns are common across the diospyros genus.

 

[Goodbrake]

Perhaps spring foliar feeding could help overcome the valley of suck by directly introducing nitrogen into new growth, since the roots don't appear to absorb much in the spring.

 

[Ruddigger]

Up here the persimmons are setting buds for next year; they started a few weeks ago. You can also differentiate flower buds soon. If the tree is growing poorly and fails to set buds before winter it will not leaf out next year and die. So an open question is what happens if you repot during late summer and interfere with the bud set. All bets are off if you don't get freezing weather.

Next year I will repot trees every month as an experiment.

Oh. As an update, both trees are fine.

 

[Gabler]

I'm planning to collect a couple of small Diospyros virginiana this summer to see if they respond to root disturbance in a manner similar to D rhombifolia. What is the cue to know it's the proper time for summer root work? For most deciduous species, I look for buds swelling in the early spring. Obviously, that isn't applicable to a summer repot. Am I looking for the leaves to harden off? Is it more dependent on weather conditions? How do I know I have the optimal timing?