Texas Persimmon (Diospyros Texana) Tips Needed

My wife just purchased me a potted TX Persimmon tree today and I searched the internet but cannot find any bonsai growing tips (pruning, re-potting, etc.). Anyone here have experience with this tree or know where I can get some tips?

There are 3 trees in the pot...one straight sapling in front as seen and there is a nice small one on the back.

Here it is after initial pruning (yeah I cannot wait).





Thank you.

I hope someone will speak up. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest secrets of American natives for bonsai. We should see LOTS of these.

I hope so too Russell. I think the problem is that it grows very slowly. The tag says it was potted in its current (10 gallon) pot 3.5 years ago and still was only about 5 feet high (from top of soil) before I chopped it. I took approximately 3 feet off.

If I remember correctly, aren't they more of a big bush than a tree? That bark is beautiful. Do you know if yours is male or female? I don't know why this isn't one of the most popular American natives for bonsai. Did this come from a regular retail nursery?

Russell Coker wrote:If I remember correctly, aren't they more of a big bush than a tree? That bark is beautiful. Do you know if yours is male or female? I don't know why this isn't one of the most popular American natives for bonsai. Did this come from a regular retail nursery?

I've seen a few that is more than 25 feet high and a couple of feet trunk diameter but very rarely. They are classified as trees but most look like bush (again due to slow growth). I am not sure what my trees gender is. I guess I'll have to wait if it bears fruit or not. We got this from a "hole in a wall" nursery. There was only one person operating it today.

The bark had a lot more flakes earlier but I accidentally brushed them off as I trimmed and clean around the root ball. Yes, I love the bark too.

I think you need to get the other two trees out ASAP, unless you plan a group planting.

This one seems to have nice root flare.

I think you have a choice of three trunk lines and you will have to decide which you prefer.

I don't like the left line at all.

I think I prefer the middle, but if you tilt the tree left you might use the far right line.

Try Mary Millers magic cloth. Cover two of the lines at a a time with a towel.

Billy,

Thanks for the tip. How about just shortening the left branch a few inches down to the branch going further left? Same on the center branch/trunk.

I plan on keeping most of the branches as they are now...maybe just trimming them a bit further but nothing major...unless I am convinced it will yield a better bonsai down the road.

Regarding removing the smaller trees, I plan to but not sure when is the best time. If I do not get any tips, I will wait until spring. If they have to be sacrificed at that time, so be it.

Spring would probably be good, you could repot everything.

I would remove two of the three because otherwise you have no taper. It is all about the "line" and with the three so closed to the same size the eye doesn't know which line to follow.

Poink88 wrote:Regarding removing the smaller trees, I plan to but not sure when is the best time. If I do not get any tips, I will wait until spring. If they have to be sacrificed at that time, so be it.

Mid-late February would be the right time to do your repotting. I suspect you should be able to almost bare root this tree with little difficulty which should make getting those smaller trees into their own containers an easy task. I'm not quite sure how well they bud back from trunk chops (they might be a bit shy like the American persimmon) but they should respond well to minor branch pruning without any difficulty. I would contact someone at one of the Texas Bonsai Societies, Austin maybe. The link below is an image of a nice Texas persimmon from the American Bonsai Society Gallery of reference images (if you single click on the image when it comes up it will enlarge).

http://absbonsai.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=12&pid=318#top_display_media

Texas Persimmon are really Cool trees!
I have pruned them 'for years' at the deer leases where I hunt in Texas.
They are slow, slow growth. They shed 'bark' each year and trunks are smooth to the touch.
They will back bud. Limbs are pliable but, like a boxwood, snap when pushed too far.
Deer LOVE the purplish fruit. The fruit stains everything they touch when ripe.

Here it is after I trimmed a little bit off the left and center branches and pulled the sapling to the side and rotated to the right a bit.

I still cannot see myself cutting 2 of the 3 main branches. Maybe I can live with removing the right branch though. Comments?