As I predicted, nothing very much happened for about a month. The only visible change was that the leaves got more and more dark green and opaque, as the tree ramped up its chlorophylls supply. And the stem got a stiff wooden core and thickened again, gaining back the volume it originally had when it was all bloated with water. Subtle changes, they only could be observed up close and if you knew what to look for, but they are vital for the tree.

Last weekend the tree started to grow again and during this week it sprouted a new leaf and at the end of it there already is budding of another one. What will happen next is that the tree will sprout one long(ish) shoot upwards and one long(ish) root downwards. This first year I will leave it grow more or less uninterrupted to get a strong sapling. However the seed was fairly big, and the tree already is nearly as big as some of my current bonsai trees and I expect it in first year grow at least a few decimeters in height.

The growth rate and pattern will later on decide on what kind of bonsai it will be, but it seems that about 50-80 cm height in Chokkan  or Hokidachi style will be about right for this species. I have no experience with persimmons (and I choose to not look it up), but plenty with other species. So far it does not look like it would be suitable for the more “dramatic” styles – its growth pattern this first month is very similar to that of sycamore maples and the leaves are fairly big too. The distance between the nodes is very short, and if it stays so, that would be excellent.