Hey Scott, I just ordered a bunch of 3 gallon containers. I'm going to purchase a 'Saijo' and one other Asian persimmon. Then, in addition to my 'Meader' American, I'm going to purchase a 'Szukis' and one other American cultivar. I want to experiment, after these threes are established single (well-pruned specimens) in producing an Asian Persimmon duo multi-graft (Saijo and one other) and produce an American persimmon trio (Meader, Szukis, and one other). If they don't work out, it will be ok since I'll have them separately growing (pruned). 1.Since you highly recommend the PVNA Asian types, in addition to the 'Saijo', I want to grow one PVNA (perhaps 'Chocolate'); I live in Zone 6b, and I know that 'Saijo' is said to be cold-hardy down to -10F. What would be a recommended variety of PVNA that would be cold-hardy for zone 6? From what I've read, 'Chocolate' is not an option (whereas other sites contradict this, claiming it would work out in zone 6). 2. What varieties of American persimmon (flavor) are you familiar with? Some have suggested 'Szukis' is the best and that 'Meader' is not necessarily the best tasting variety, comparatively. 3. Do you think that I can, forever, continue to summer prune an American persimmon tree - if I wanted to keep it under 10' feet, or would this eventually stress and kill the tree years down the line? 4. As for the 'Saijo' and PVNA Asian varieties, can I place the tree only 8' from my pavers/walk way - or will the roots destroy the paves? I intend to prune the lowest branches so that the lowest limb is above 6' off the ground so that it can spread without obstructing the walk-way. Thanks, Steve

Looks like Japanese beetle damage.

Greetings: I chip budded some heirloom apples onto some young existing trees. So far it looks like 75% of the buds have calloused nicely. I will see next spring how they fare. I do plan on painting the base of each branch that I budded on the mother tree so I can easily find the buds next spring. I also do not want to prune off the branches next March when pruning! I decided I do not need more fruit trees (22 is plenty) but I always want more varieties. Budding more onto some of my younger trees is my answer. If the trees are not perfectly shaped due to some varieties being slower than others, I do not care. I grow them for fruit not shade so their shape is not an issue. I can only dream of the beautiful grafted trees I picked on years ago that had red and yellow apples on them due to a different variety grafted to them by the owner. They did it as a hobby on a few of their trees. One had red apples except the 4 lowest branches which were all gold apple. Mighty pretty in fall.

Ehh it sounds like I might be better off doing a high density, 2 trees in one hole kind of deal. My yard is getting pretty limited on horizontal ground space though, been looking into the tall narrow central-leader apple tree thing (as seen on another thread I made recently). I'm not huge on apples, but the new bare roots were blooming at the nursery and very attractive, thus the urge to impulse buy was strong haha. I might just put in another pluot or something else in to simplify things. Whatever I plant is going to be right on the outer edge of a large bushy tangerine tree. Maybe an apricot to go with my new flavor delight.