A lot of reasons young persimmon trees die is because the tap root is cut by the grower when the trees are dug. Its best to direct sow seeds or sow them in deep pots and graft over them later if you choose to do so. If you are wanting to grow the seedlings out to mature trees and not graft them then having a good seed source like Cliff England is important. You'll want to grow the 90 chromosome persimmons for their larger fruit and with other places you stand a better chance of getting 60 chromosome seeds. I have about 200 persimmon trees including grafted hybrids, kakis, Americans, and a ton of American and hybrid seedlings. Are any of your seedling trees fruiting age? I'd love to see some photos of your fruit this year if you get a chance to snap some. Persimmons are weired in the fact that only about 2 out of ever 10 seedlings will become females. With others trees it's normaly a 50/50 chance on getting a male or female but with persimmons 80% of all seedlings tend to be males and males don't fruit. This is what cliff England told me and what me and several others have noticed as well.
