Thread: Persimmons for deer food plot

I have multiple tree species planted for food plot enhancement, and a few years ago I planted 18" bare root persimmon seedlings. I've lost a few to wildlife and a few to the mower that weren't marked well enough, started with 25 and I have a dozen left. But in 2 years time they've only grown about 6 inches. I don't have any prior experience with persimmons, so I don't know if this is normal. They're native persimmons, no hybrid or grafted varieties. How long do they normally take to reach 8-10' in height? I've heard 5-7 years til they start bearing, but at their current growth rate they'll be 4 feet tall and making fruit...

Every single tree I’ve planted, regardless of size or species, has been mauled by the deer immediately. I now plant and then make a cage of wire around them. And the large ones (some ornamental weeping cherries that were getting decimated) I screwed together a bunch of pallets, yes, palletts. Deer love new growth, and especially make it a point of eating the growing point, aka, dominant branch, thus stunting the tree, or at least setting it back a lot. Maybe that’s what’s been happening.

My other trees are caged in 4' to 5' welded wire or field fence depending upon what I had at time of purchase. The persimmons were fenced with 2' garden fence, but rodents fit through the openings and chew on things. The tops have been relatively safe from everything but grasshoppers. Speaking of which- the graashoppers have been so bad this year they actually killed a few trees. 6-8' apple and pear trees. Chewed off every leaf, then started on the bark... Girdled them just like rodents in a Michigan winter.

Sounds like politicians at a fundraiser.

Personally I'd rather eat the persimmons. My wanting the fruit would GUARANTEE herds of deer would arrive -- a week before deer season.

The Wildlife Group in Tuskegee AL puts out great info on growing trees for wildlife. Their website has great info if you haven’t seen it. We’ve had good success with our trees using their process of tree tubes, weed control, and pruning.

If you have deer eating the tops of young trees, a 5’ tall tree tube will
put the top of the trees above the deer browse height. Sometime we start with a 3’ tube for a couple years then switch to the taller tube as the tree grows.

The best weed control we’ve found is spraying a 6’ or so circle around the trees with Glyphosate and a pre-emergent such as Prodamine a couple times A year.

I’d say tree tubes and weed control are the 2 most important things we’ve found with young trees.

I've looked at the wildlife group site several times, but the past few years my orders have been through Hallman farms and Coldstream farms nurseries. I've had exceptional luck with everything from Hallman farms, and their pear trees have been greater than 1" calliper and 6' or taller. Crab apples have been the same height but slightly smaller trunk diameter. I've caged their trees and mulched to hold moisture and keep weeds down, but spray isn't a good option since my girlfriend is allergic to anything containing glyphosate. The vast majority of my trees have cone from a local nursery in 3 or 5 gallon pots.

I've used tree tubes on my chestnuts, and they work as long as I can keep the wasps out of them. Not sure what kind of wasps, but they chew all the leaves off inside the tubes and then make nests with the chewed leaves around the trunk.

I have hopefully planted enough trees that I'll have some fruit for myself as well as feeding the local wildlife (and bringing them in during deer season) I think I'm up to 65 or 70 trees now, and have ripening/drop times from august through december. I've tried to go with drought tolerant, disease resistant varieties, and had my first fruit this year- from a moonglow pear.

If I couldn’t spray, I’d say mulch would be the next best choice, and adding a piece of 3’x3’ heavy weed fabric under the mulch would also help. Only problem is tree planting becomes very addictive for some and I’d hate to know I had to mulch all the trees we’ve planted through the years.

Sounds like you’ll have a lot of work with the number you’ve planted.

We’ve ordered some from Wildlife Group, but most have been cheap trade day trees or Arbor Day give away trees.

It’s probably worth the money to get good stock on the persimmons, we’ve raised several Arbor Day trees for 10+ years that turn out to be males, beautiful trees with no fruit.

Dont know if you’ve tried Asian pears, or if they grow in your area, but they are our favorite for eating and make a beautiful tree.

Originally Posted by mackchaser

Dont know if you’ve tried Asian pears, or if they grow in your area, but they are our favorite for eating and make a beautiful tree.

I haven't tried any Asian pears, I've thought about it, just haven't made a decision. The local nursery had a few shinko pears the last time I checked. Close to 10' tall in a 5 gallon pot- 35$ if I remember correctly.
I have keiffer, hood, orient, moonglow, Blake's pride, shenandoah, seckel, Ayers, honeysweet, Perdue, gio van, and a few other varieties of pear that I can't remember at the moment.

ive only had wild persimmons around my plots and the critters welcome the fruits as soon as they are ready and chow down, not leaving much for any later time. Same luck with old time pears, but the older, tougher trees carry a load longer. The best i've seen is the Chinese chesnut. These trees bear heavily and the nuts are protected against those who are aren't really dedicated. They bear for a month and even us two leggers like to eat them.

I have 10 of the chinese chestnuts, 4 of them that are 2 year old trees and 6 that are 3 years old- no nuts yet, but hopeful for next year. I did have one that had catkins (i think thats what the flowering part of the chestnut tree is called) this year. I also have a currently unknown number of seedlings from dunstan chestnuts that are 2 years old but they haven't grown well. They're no more than 30 inches tall (most are 20-24") where the chinese chestnuts are all between 4 and 7 feet tall.

I did notice that the wildlife group has late drop grafted female persimmons- considering ordering half a dozen, but I should probably slow down on the trees. Trying to water them all when it gets hot and dry here is a challenge.