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Crop guide
Persimmon (Japani Phal)
1. Land Preparation Pits 2 x 2 x 2 ft dug in December, refilled with topsoil and 15–20 kg farmyard manure. Spacing 15 x 15 ft. Persimmon wants deep, well-drained loam and will not forgive standing water — pick the highest-draining block you have. 2.
Land Preparation
Pits 2 x 2 x 2 ft dug in December, refilled with topsoil and 15–20 kg farmyard manure. Spacing 15 x 15 ft. Persimmon wants deep, well-drained loam and will not forgive standing water — pick the highest-draining block you have.
Sowing Time & Method
Plant dormant grafted plants in January–February before the buds swell. Keep the graft union a hand above the soil. Main varieties in Swat and Peshawar are Fuyu (sweet, eaten firm) and Hachiya (astringent, must soften first) — know which you have planted, because picking Hachiya firm is what makes buyers reject a whole load.
Seed Rate & Treatment
Buy grafted plants from a registered nursery only. Seedling persimmon takes years longer and rarely comes true to type.
Fertilizer
Per bearing tree per year: 30–40 kg farmyard manure in December, then 1.5 kg urea, 1 kg DAP and 1 kg SOP — DAP and SOP in full at bud burst, urea split half at bud burst and half after fruit set. Too much nitrogen late in the season gives soft fruit that will not travel.
Irrigation
Every 10–12 days through summer, more in fruit swelling. Persimmon drops fruit if it is allowed to dry out and then flooded — steady moisture matters more than quantity. Stop irrigation two weeks before harvest to firm the fruit.
Weed Control
Weed Damage Control Product
Bermuda Grass (Khabbal) Persimmon is slow to come into bearing as it is, and a sod of it in the basin takes the young tree's nitrogen and pushes that first crop back another year or two. Skim the sod off shallow with a khurpa or pull it by hand and carry it out of the orchard, then hold the basin with a thick mulch of farmyard manure or straw kept a hand's width clear of the trunk — do not dig deep over the feeder roots
Johnson Grass (Baru) Tall clumps in the inter-row shade the young trees and drink the irrigation before it reaches the basin. Mow the inter-row and dig the clumps out with their rhizomes
Purple Nutsedge (Deela) Fills the basin after every irrigation and holds the summer water the tree's shallow feeder roots are waiting for. Fork it out of the basin down to the tubers, then pull every regrowth on sight to starve what is left
Field Bindweed (Lehli) Climbs the trunk and low branches of a young plant and twines the new shoots until they bend and break. Pull it off the trunk and branches by hand and keep the basin clean
Congress Grass (Gajar Booti) Takes the orchard floor after the rains and a young tree standing in that dense stand stops putting on growth. Uproot before it flowers wearing gloves, full sleeves and a cloth over the mouth and nose, carry the pulled plants off the orchard and never handle them dry or burn them, and keep the orchard floor mown
Keep the basin clean. A grass sod under a young tree competes hard for nitrogen and stunts it for years.
Insect Pests
Mealybug is the main problem — it hides in the calyx where sprays cannot reach, so a grease band on the trunk in December to stop the crawlers climbing is worth more than any spray. Fruit fly attacks ripening fruit; trap early. Scale insects build up on neglected old wood.
Diseases
Anthracnose spots fruit and twigs in a wet autumn. Crown gall shows as woody swellings at the base — there is no cure, so never buy a plant with a lump at the graft union. Root rot follows waterlogging.
Crop Care
Train to an open centre in the first three years. Persimmon fruits on the current season's growth from last year's wood, so heading everything back removes the crop — thin out whole branches instead. Thin fruit to one per cluster in June; a tree left to carry everything bears heavily one year and nothing the next.
Harvesting
Cut, never pull — leave the calyx and a short stem on the fruit. Fuyu is picked firm and orange from late September. Hachiya must colour fully and is ripened off the tree. Fruit picked by pulling loses the calyx and rots within days.
Expected Yield
A mature tree gives 40–60 kg, roughly 150–250 maund per acre at 15 x 15 ft spacing.
