Learn to graft! In the spring, plant seeds where you want trees. You can graft them after one or two years. Plant 3 or 4 per spot, a foot or so apart, so you don't have to count on one graft taking. No transplant shock, no potbound roots to deal with. Seeds are cheap, so is scionwood, especially if you get them by trade. Cliff England sells scion wood as well.

Alex

I understand of what you are saying I feel the same. The way I solved that I buy one trees then copy cat the tree into several ones by air layering branches. I just bought one fig tree called conadris which I don't have this variety I paid etiblelandscaping $60 plus shipping. I air-layered Apricot, peach. I Have 4 trees each and I started with just one. I am planning to air layer apple and fig trees. I use water bottles and sphagnum moss but don't forget the root hormone jelly works the best. Good Luck

I too was wondering why persimmons seem to be double the price of other fruit trees.

Persimmons have a single very deep tap root so they need a large container relative to the size of the tree and they are difficult to graft. Most would die if shipped bareroot.

Growing from seed is impractical because you won't know the sex until they are ready to fruit (male = no fruit ever). Also, from seed requires 2 plants so the resulting tree is a game of luck.

Diffucultly of propagation + shipping cost for large container + niche market = high price.

I got a bare root Fuyu persimmon last year from Trees of Antiquity. About 17 months in ground and it's doing well...

Yes, learning how to graft is on the top of to do list.

I am only interested in non-astringent D. Kaki. I have not come across the ones that have seeds. I eat store-bought persimmons. They are pretty much seedless.

A few more questions: if I plant persimmon seeds to start trees that I can graft on to, those seeds need to be from a rather cold hardy varieties, right? Say if I have an astringent variety for a tree, can I graft non-astringent scions to them? Are they compatible?

If these questions may sound dumb, now you know that I don't know much about persimmon!!

You can Graft Kaki onto native, kaki or lotus seedlings. There are some Kaki cultivars that have some incompatibility with I think Lotus, but I can't recall them right now. The american seeds are easy to come by, or you could order some seedlings from your Forestry Service as many of them offer native in the seedling sales very inexpensively. And astringency does not matter in regards to what you can graft too. American is generally considered the most cold hardy as well.

Strudeldog,

Thank you very much for your reply. It's very helpful esp. letting me know how to find seeds and seedlings.

I have not seen any persimmon trees (native or not) around here or known anyone locally who grows persimmon of any kind.

Thank you everybody for your responses.

I'm finding it harder and harder to throw $30+ on a tree. Especially considering how easy it is to grow them myself and graft. I guess if its something I really want and can't find it anywhere else, i'd probably splurge.

Have you checked local garden centers & nurseries to ask if they ever have persimmons available? (That's a far different questions than "do you now have...?")

If they do sell them, it's likely to be during spring.

My experience has been that Kaki persimmons grow slowly in a pot which is why I always thought they cost more to buy - they take twice as long to get to the same size as the potted apple trees. If a garden center has fruit trees all lined up and one group is half the size of the others no one will buy them, regardless of what they are.

I buy mine from a Coop. Big 8+ foot trees that produce right away many times for $26. Persimmons are $37 though.

Get some seeds and knock yourself out!
https://sheffields.com/seed_genus_species_lot/Pyrus/communis/100149/////
Even calleriana and betulaefolia!

I had the worst experience buying persimmon trees from England Orchard. The trees are small, just one year growth and the ones I received were all dead. I paid over a $100 for 2 trees and had to buy the same trees from Stark Bro's. A lot bigger trees, cheaper and alive!

Katya,

Sorry to hear about your negative experience with England Orchard. I have never ordered from it but many members here have spoken highly about it.

How do you keep your persimmon alive in zone 4? I thought zone 6 is pushing it already!