Article content:
Bright orange fruit, appearing on the shelves only in late autumn and winter, can not be seen in the gardens of the middle lane. How does persimmon grow? Where is the birthplace of this plant, and what are the features of its cultivation?
Habitat habitat native to persimmon is subtropics and tropical regions of Asia. An extensive genus of deciduous trees belonging to the Ebonov family includes more than seven hundred species that are distributed from China and the Caucasus to Malaysia.
Where does the persimmon grow?
A man has long appreciated the taste of ripe persimmon, and today various plant varieties are cultivated all over the world, where climatic conditions allow. Thanks to the selection and the appearance of frost-resistant seedlings, persimmon has significantly expanded its natural range. Culture with a long growing season has found a place in gardens in the south of Europe, the North American continent, in Japan and Australia.
Sweet fruits most often come to Russian stores from Turkey, Israel, the Transcaucasian countries and the North Caucasus, where from time immemorial cultivated trees of the local, rather unpretentious type have been grown.
Since the beginning of the last century cultivated persimmon in the Crimea. A plantation of valuable fruit crops was laid in the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. It also began a serious scientific work on the breeding of new winter-hardy varieties adapted for Russian conditions.
Among the achievements of the Crimean breeders of the variety Rossiyanka and Nikitskaya Maroon, successfully fructifying on the peninsula and without any loss, enduring cold up to –25 ° C.These varieties made it possible to grow persimmon in Ukraine.
What a persimmon tree looks like, flowers and leaves
The plants that make up the genus Persimmon are quite large, long-lived trees that, in favorable conditions, reach a height of 8 meters and are 500 years old. Cultivars retain signs of wild ancestors. The trees have a wide spreading crown with long drooping branches.
A cultural feature is the presence of male and female plants that differ in appearance and shape of flowers. Therefore, to increase the yield near the plantation with fruit-bearing trees, several pollinators are planted. Learn how to bloom persimmon, you can by photo. Female, single flowers are distinguished by wide sepals, and with a corolla shape with a diameter of up to 2–3 cm.
Male flowers sit on shoots in a heap, sometimes in small inflorescences of 2–5 pieces. They have a narrower, resembling glass, shape, and yellowish-white petals. In different regions, persimmon blooms may begin from March to May.
Simple, alternately sitting on the shoots up to 7 cm long, you can find out:
- oval-heart-shaped;
- on a light green color that becomes darker as it grows;
- smooth surface with well-visible veined mesh.
In autumn, trees turn yellow and red. At the same time, the falling leaves have practically no influence on the appearance of the persimmon tree, because all the branches are covered with orange, yellow and almost red fruits.
Features of Persimmon Fruit
Those who are interested in how persimmon grows, it will be useful to learn a little information about its fruits. In place of female flowers at the end of flowering a green dense ovary is formed, inside of which there can be up to 10 large elongated seeds. As it ripens, the fruits acquire an oval, pointed or rounded heart-shaped form. There are varieties with flattened berries.
The color of ripe persimmon varies from light yellow to almost brown, depending on the variety and type. Ripening begins in September and lasts until December, so the persimmon, when grown in the Crimea, North Ossetia and in Ukraine, sometimes comes under snow.
Eastern, Caucasian and American persimmon are most often grown in gardens. Especially popular with gardeners and consumers are varieties with sweet non-astringent fruits.
Everyone who loves the sweet taste of persimmon knows that fruits fall into two categories.
- First tastes even being not too ripe. They have soft, without pronounced fibers, the flesh, in ripe fruit becomes jelly-like.
- In the second category of persimmon fruits become edible only after being placed under the first frost or artificially frozen. The pulp of such varieties is rougher, it contains more fibers.
Both varieties have their pros and cons. Persimmon with soft delicacy fruits can not tolerate long storage and transportation. The slightest damage to the skin threatens emergency damage. Solid, astringent fruits can be stored for up to 30–40 days, and then, after exposure to sub-zero temperatures, enjoy a useful delicacy.
How persimmon grows: requirements for open ground
In nature, persimmon grows in warm regions with a long warm period of the year. Modern frost-resistant varieties allowed to push the northern limit of comfortable growth to the southern regions of Russia. How to grow persimmon in your backyard?
Observing how persimmon grows in the Crimea, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and Ukraine, in North Ossetia, you can see that trees in the open field prefer well-lit areas with protection from wind and flooding in spring and autumn.
The culture is undemanding to the type and composition of the soil, while an excess of organic matter can react by precipitating the already formed ovary. The main thing is that the powerful root system receives enough air and moisture.
If the persimmon is in arid conditions, the quality of the crop deteriorates, a prolonged lack of moisture causes the ovary and foliage to fall.
In regions where the persimmon grows in natural conditions, the trees bloom in the warm season, and the fruits have time to pour and almost ripen to severe frost. To the north, persimmon needs protection against freezing and the danger of spring harvests. This also applies to fruit-bearing trees and plants grown for ornamental purposes.
In order to avoid harvesting trees from 6–10 meters high into a risky adventure, persimmon crowns are being formed from the first years after planting. In addition to limiting growth, pruning of young, too thin branches, often unable to withstand the severity of the fruit and the first freeze in cold winters, is carried out.
How to grow persimmon yourself?
Becoming an owner of your own fruit-bearing tree on the site is quite simple. To do this, purchase a frost-resistant persimmon seedling, plant it and take care until bright ripe fruits appear.
Persimmon can be propagated by growing a ripe fruit from the stone. Unfortunately, the seedlings do not retain varietal properties, therefore, for abundant fruiting and obtaining sweet berries of the plant will require vaccination.
Caucasian persimmon, characterized by increased winter hardiness, undemanding to the soil and endurance, is considered the best stock. The tree has a powerful fibrous root, thanks to which the plant easily transfers the transshipment to a larger pot. In the spring, when the shtamb will reach a thickness of 1 cm, a cultivar of any kind can be grafted onto a strong seedling. On the grown tree it is convenient to make an additional vaccination of the pollinator.
In most of Russia and in the Moscow region, growing persimmon in the open field is problematic. A short summer is not enough for the fruits to get set up and mature, the risk of frost is high during and after flowering, and in winter the frost is too strong even for resistant Crimean varieties. Therefore, the persimmon is better grown in a pot culture. In this case, it is easy to take care of a tree up to one and a half meters tall and even get a good harvest with good care.
