My Old Satsuma had a growth spurt because of more sun. We cut down light hogging scrubs and the tree really responded to the sun.
The branches are loaded with fruit but they are dragging on the ground. This has never happened before.
Should I prop them and what do I use? I've inclued a photos. Any advice is welcome.
Merci Beacoup , SDogwood
Another photo
Make some T-bar supports from 2 X 4's and 1 X 2's to brace the "T".
I bought 2 different varieties of Satsuma this spring. The description for one of them said that it had a weeping appearance.
Usually citrus trees self prune (Usually by the time the fruit is the size of a golf ball.), but it is possible that individual branches could get so loaded that they break. Thinning some of the fruit when they are about the size of golf balls will give you bigger fruit. It's probably too late to do so this year. As your tree gets bigger, you could prune some of the lower branches so the fruit will be higher off the ground.
Oh how beautiful!! I would almost kill for one of those
trees.LOL! There is one in our town that I pass every
fall and the fruit is all over the ground. I haven't had the
nerve to stop yet. Do the persimmons have seeds?
Cynthia
I thought satsuma was a kind of orange, a small one, sort of like a clementine, which I thought was what I could see in the picture. Is there a persimmon that is also called a satsuma?
Satsumas are mandarines. There are several varieties of satsumas with some fruit being larger than others. The rind adheres to the fruit better than the clementines. I have never heard of a persimmon called a satuma.
Cynthia, to answer you question. If the persimmon fruit has been pollinated it will have some seeds, but many varieties of Japanese persimmon produce fruit without being pollinated so no seed. Seedlings will not be identical to the parent and may take years and years to bear fruit. I planted a persimmon I started from seed. It took 15 years to bear it's first fruit. I never saw it because by then we had moved. Our sons were still living in the house, but they don't remember what the fruit looked like.
I get a kick of growing things from seed, but I also want fruit somewhat faster than that. The seed has to be planted soon after harvesting as viability goes way down if you wait.
Thanks for the support idea Bettydee. csmyers, my satuma is like a small easy to peal orange. We usually bring some to an LSU football game .
I have on old Persimmon tree that has fruit every other year. The fruit is orangey and an acquired taste. It tastes like sweet cotton to me but my neighbor loves them.
I have several varieties of persimmons. They are my favorite fruit.
Well I guess my daughter is in for a surprise.
She tried to get me seeds for a persimmon tree
and someone sent her Satsuma seeds.LOL
I don't know all the different types so I just figured
that was what you had.
Cynthia
Cynthia,
I grew 1 persimmon tree from seed out of curiosity, but as I said, it took 15 years for it to bear fruit. I never go to taste the fruit to see if it was worth the 15 year wait. Normally, I am not that patient. I purchased grafted trees that take 2 to 3 years to start bearing. I like the non-astringent Japanese varieties. The astringent types, when ripe can be used in baking. Persimmon cookies are to die for.
Hybrid plants do not breed true from seed. There are so many possible combinations. With trees, since it takes so long before you see fruit, I bite the bullet and buy the variety I want. I buy my trees bare root so it's a bit cheaper.
We are eating Fuyu Persimmons now. They are great, ripe or still firm.
I use sawhorses to prop up my Satsuma limbs. They are very loaded this year.
Last year, my Fuyu didn't ripen until late November. Amazing what a difference there is between Zones 8b and 9b.
Have you ever tried dehydrated persimmons? I used to have 2 large Fuyu persimmon trees back in California. We ate some fresh off the tree, but dried the rest. Dehydrate only to the point where they are dry but still pliable. I used to double bag them and stick the bags in the freezer. Some people like to dredge the slices in a little fine sugar crystals for an added sweet flavor. They are better than any other dried fruit.
This message was edited Sep 3, 2005 5:11 AM
We eat them as fast as they ripen. It's hard to imagine them needing more sugar, as they are the sweetest fruit I know of.
Ours didn't get ripe until November last year. They are very early this year.
trois
