Temprate Fruits (1+1)

CULTURAL PRACTICES

Training and pruning:

• The trees should be trained to form a low head. To achieve this, the plants are headed back at 60 cm from the ground at the time of planting to develop a frame work of strong branches.
• The dwarf and semi-dwarf cultivars are best trained to a modified central leader system. The more vigorous, upright, narrow crotch angle types should be trained to a vase or palmate system.
• The pruning is done during winter when the trees are dormant in January. Since flowers of D. kaki are borne on current season’s wood, heavy pruning reduces crop setting by forcing excessive vegetative growth.
• Summer pruning of mature trees may thicken laterals and increase fruit size and colour. With more vigorous and less precocious cultivars, techniques such as cincturing and limb spreading may be beneficial to achieve higher and earlier fruit production.
• In case of grown up trees, practically no pruning is done except for removing weak, interfering, discarded or insect damaged shoots and branches.

Manuring and fertilization:

• Persimmon does not require high fertilizer doses.
• An application of balance fertilizer (10:10:10) at a rate of one pound per inch of trunk diameter at ground level is recommended before bud-break.

Aftercare:

• After planting, young plants need a continuous care for their survival.
• The plants need staking to keep them in a straight position which helps in selecting the well spaced laterals in the coming growing season.
• Watering at 7-10 days interval is essential.
• The plant basins are kept free of weeds.
• During hot summers, when the evapo-transpiration rate is high, the plants require mulching with dry grass/dry leaves. Mulching needs to be done in the first week of March.

Irrigation:

• Irrigation is considered essential for the successful production of persimmon.
• Dry periods during fruit growth reduce the size, quality and number of fruits carried to maturity.
• Moisture deficiency during early summer may increase fruit drop.
• The peak water requirement periods are in mid summer. Due to high evaporation during summer months the irrigation is very essential to maintain uniform soil moisture.
• The young and bearing trees are irrigated at 6-7 days intervals during summer months.

Maturity indices, Harvesting and Post harvest Management

• Persimmon fruits are harvested when they have attained yellow to reddish colour but are still firm.
• The fruits are clipped from the trees with shears leaving the calyx attached to the fruit together with a short stem.
• More care is needed to avoid bruising.
• Persimmon fruits mature in mid September, although the period of maturity varies among the different varieties.
• If fruits are harvested too early, they develop poor colour, sweetness and flavor.
• Fruits after harvesting should be wrapped individually in paper and packed in a single layer crate.
• Persimmons soften at room temperature.
• Ripe persimmons are delicious. Flesh is sweet and jelly like.
• Brix level at maturity in different varieties varies between 14- 170C.
• The persimmon trees start bearing 4-5 years after planting. However, dwarf and semi-dwarf cultivars start bearing 2-3 years after planting.
• Mature trees of Fuyu are capable of producing 50 kg fruit/plant.
• Jiro cultivar has recorded over 80 kg/plant, whereas in the Hachiya, the yield is over 100 kg/plant.
• The decrease in astringency during growth and maturation of astringent cultivars and disappearance of astringency from non-astringent varieties are most striking.
• Various methods have been suggested to remove the astringency from the astringent cultivars, however, most of these result sin partial softening of fruits. Treatment of the fruit with carbon dioxide has been the most successfully developed technique till date. Dipping of fruits in 500 ppm Ethephon solution for 2 minutes helps in removing the astringency in cultivar Hachiya and the fruits are ready for consumption with 2-3 days of storage.
• The persimmons are also allowed to sweeten naturally after harvesting from the plants at room temperature, although they can be held in form conditions for 2-3 months at 30-320C and 85-90% relative humidity. Average freezing point of flesh is 28.20C.
• Persimmon is graded by size and quality. During grading and packing, handing should be kept minimum to avoid bruising. The most popular packages for persimmons are single layer trays commonly used for stone fruits.