Can anyone advise me as to why my loaded persimmon trees drops all but a few of its fruit before maturity. Would love to know!!!
Hey Chale.
#1. If its still young then it will drop most of the new fruit until it becomes more established and able to support them to maturity.
#2. Too much or too little water
#3. Too much nitrogen - if its planted in a lawn then the lawn fertiliser will be negatively affecting your Persimmon tree
#4. The tree needs some human intervention - they will always produce more young fruit than they are able to support, so natural thinning is a self defence mechanism. If you intervene and select the weaker fruit in the early stages to remove then the tree will have more energy to give to the stronger ones that remain. Overall your cropping should improve with your intervention.
#5 Parthenocarpy - where the fruits are not fertile so the tree rejects them. the solution here is to ensure there is a pollinator (like a Persimmon Gailey) closeby.
Photo below is a photo of a Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu' - the most popular form of Persimmon in cultivation.
https://www.gardensonline.com.au/GardenShed/PlantFinder/Show_2465.aspx