Likely at least four years until fruit sets and matures. At least that's what happened with my tree when I was in Long Beach, CA.

girlbug:

I planted some spring 2010 as well. Eureka grew really well, about 15 ft total shoot growth. It is now sending out spurs galore all along those shoots but no flower buds. I think it should flower next year. Chocolate grew much less and isn't flowering this year either.

You certainly don't need to water more. But adding some nitrogen fertilizer now should increase growth this year.

When a newly planted fruit tree sets terminal buds, it can be really difficult to get it growing again. This is true for things like apple, pear, and persimmon that do set terminal buds. Not so much for stone fruit.

My guess is they will do better this year. I recall persimmons doing almost nothing their first year. If it looks like they are indeed stopping this year as well then I would put down a balanced fertilizer, check your pH, etc - something in or lacking from the soil is making them unhappy.

Scott

My Hachiya, in Burbank, CA, took three years to flower and set fruit. It's the only tree, out of the forty-five I have, that flowers and sets fruit on the new green growth of the current season.

My Hachiya is sensitive to the kind of mulch material I apply to the orchard floor above its roots. I have never applied any kind of fertilizer to it. Although I do add some elsewhere in the mini-orchard to the stone fruits and pommes.

Too much nitrogen will cause a persimmon tree to drop its fruit. This is well documented in university agricultural literature. Google search the words "persimmon" "fertilizer" and you'll get a ton of results. You'll even see your own post! Look for .edu and university acronyms in the URLs of the results. Click on those and see what's up.

My thinking is that Hachiya likes to be left alone and not messed with. And I have nitrogen poor soil. But most else is present. I did a lab soil test. Requisite irrigation of course is a must. Apparently, it gets what it needs from the mulch. But other than that, I don't do anything to my Hachiya except prune it, irrigate it and harvest fruit.

Here is a link that might be useful: CFRG on Persimmon Cultivation

Personally I won't worry about nitrogen's effect on fruit set until the tree is big enough to grow fruit. I put a lot of nitrogen on my mature Eureka tree last year and it had little effect on tree growth or fruit set. It has had a good crop every year since the third leaf.

Persimmons will put down roots before sending up top growth. Then one season it will happen. I had and American persimmon seedling that took two seasons to leaf out, fussy they are.

Well thanks for the replies--it is reassuring to know that this is a normal pattern for persimmons. I only wish I'd thought to plant them a few years earlier ;)

im glad i dont need to plant them here, they grow wild all over the place

Hillbilly, You probably have american persimmons growing wild all over the place. Original post was about Asian persimmons, like Hachiya, which are VERY different in they growth as well is most importantly they have completely different taste.
Olga

Persimmons will often not show vigor until the second year. Some I've seen will continue to grow slowly even afterward, and the problem appears to occur independently of location, soil, variety and weather. I believe in these cases that the rootstock is the determining factor - some just produce more vigorous trees than others. This is not a subtle finding; some trees take off while others languish. Hard thing to prove though as each seedling rootstock is different. An observation that supports this theory is that trees with scions that have grown quickly when singly grafted will continue this trait when multiply grafted.May get some more info about this later: I have noticed a few large suckers that have come up from the roots of some unusually vigorous trees purchased from Just Fruits and Exotics and and will see how when grafted, these trees on identical rootstocks compare to the originals.

Thanks creekweb, that sounds interesting. Let us know what you find out.

I planted an Izu and I'm still waiting for it to break dormancy. It's still green under the bark so I know that it's alive but it sure is taking it's time.
After reading this, I wish that I would have planted one a couple of years ago as well :)

I have a 15 gallon ~6feet tall Fuyu Persimmon plant that was planted 4 months back. Not a single new leaf so far. It is driving me crazy and I’ve been wondering if I’m doing something wrong.
So, is it normal for Persimmon plants?

(Sorry for posting on this very old thread. Just trying, in case anyone sees and offers some tips.)

I've heard various permutations of: 1st-2nd year it sleeps, 3rd-4th year it peeps, 5th year it leaps. Alternatively it starts w/ "rest" its 1st couple of years, then "test" the next phase, then leafs out "best" its 3rd phase.

Cyrus, you don’t say where you are, or what climate you live in, but I can say that the climate where they thrive in Asia has a warm humid rainy summer. My first year ’Fuyu’ grow like nuts with generous water and feedings. Some will fruit in the second year, but I remove most of them to let the tree make stronger growth. FWIW, I live in a cooler, drier part of N. California.