Strutter

Can you start persimmon trees from the seeds. I got a bunch of seeds and the still ripe persimmons tonight and thought I would try and start some trees. Got to thinking though that I never see little persimmon trees growing under or around the big trees. Also, it seems I see the seeds in animal droppings and not many trees in those areas. What's the story on these trees and if this will work, how is the best way to go about it?

Thanks,
Strutter

Tree climber

ya,you can. put one in each bucket full of potting soil,keep damp. then when the temp. gets warm enough they will sprout.
thre reason you don't see many aeound the big trees is because the deer and coons eat the fruit and deposit the seeds away from the main tree.some of the seeds are eaten by rats and squirrels.only a small portion of them will sprout and come up.if you can plant them and fertilizer them in a few years you will have fruit. the deer love them.

a guy I know puts out seed every year to get seedlings to graft with.he puts then in pots,and as soon as they come up he puts then in the ground.( you gota keep the squirrels away from the pots.

I am not a hunter I am a whitetail population reduction specialest

remember keep your back to the sun, your knife sharp, and your powder dry.

timbercruiser

It will be many years before you have fruit from wild persimmon seedlings. They like sunshine.

Russ otten

I have heard some old folks say that the seeds that have passed through an animal will germinate much better than those that don't. I have not seen a seedling growing under the trees hear the house and there is plenty of seeds left from the rotted fruit. They say that the animals' digestive juices break down the hard skin some making them easier to sprout.

Dan O.

I seperate the seed from the persimmons in the fall. The seeds go into a plastic bag mixed with damp peat moss. The bag of seeds is stored in the refrigerator over winter to give the seeds their cold period. In the spring, plant the seeds into plastic tubes made by cutting the top and bottom off of small pop/water bottles. The seeds take a while to germinate so I help them along in my greenhouse.

Persimmons will grow without an acid (animal stomach) treatment. When planting other trees such as mulberries you can't get reasonable germination unless you soak the seeds in hydrochloric (or similar)acid first.

The pop bottle method is great. You have a healthy tree with a good root system, that slides out of the container intact when you plant in the fall.

Dan O.