Yeah, well, you can always use the pollinator excuse…
2 Likes
Bravo!
2 Likes
If you’d like to come back in spring if my house doesn’t Sell you can pick up an Ananas Reinette or Scarlet Surprise!
1 Like
I finally updated the schematic of my apple plantings on the mountain:
The column of squares on the left represents the 11 trees planted in my post-and-wire apple hedge. The 5 squares on the right are my larger semi-standard plantings. The thin rectangles reflect additional varieties that have been grafted onto these trees.
Check marks indicate successful plantings and grafts that have successfully taken. Varieties crossed out indicate I failed to plant/graft them in that particular location… or was never able to obtain them.
Not included is another tree of Roxbury Russet on G.30 multi-budded with Sweet Sixteen at my backyard in the city.
This chart shows how quickly things can change in an orchard as plantings/grafts fail to take, or sources of scionwood fall through, etc. I started planting in 2013. Only 4 years later… a lot has changed. I need to find this old computer file and update it properly. Then I can stop running around with this chicken-scratch version.
I now have 40 varieties of apples growing after just 4 years of collecting. Many grafts are still young, but should continue to grow out and bear fruit in future years.
1 Like
You should post this in an apple thread. People can benefit from learning from your orchard project. Lot of people don’t care to check a Jujube thread.
1 Like
Just bought some of these green Jujubes and I think they are from Taiwan. They are crunchy and mild sweet. But the Honey Jar fruits from my back yard are much better but not as big.
Tony
6 Likes
incidentally @tonyOmahaz5 , those seem to be mauritiana species and not jujuba. But both of genus Ziziphus
1 Like
I try to get some seeds but they are sterile.
Tony
2 Likes
Hi! Please list me your five favorite jujube varieties in order from first to last! I have a few slots in my orchard and want the very best!
Janet,
Castenea is in hot and dry CA. You are in not-very-
hot but humid NY. What does well for him may not work out as well for you. Just a thiught.
1 Like
Growing conditions can make a big difference in how well a tree produces fruit and in what it tastes like. Personal preferences can also make a big difference. Some people don’t want any sourness or acidity while others prefer it. My top five changes every year. Here are my top five this year -
Autumn Beauty
Black Sea
Putative Jin (not the true Jin)
Orange Beauty
Chico
3 Likes
Thanks! I’ve been curious about Black Sea but fewer people talk about it. I was thinking of going with:
Honey Jar
Sugar Cane
Li
Shanxi
Chico
Sihong
Black Sea
Maybe So (is this just ornamental or is the fruit worth having? Don’t care for appearances as long as the fruit is worth it).
Is it possible to tell me the order of ripening for these varieties? Will any of these fail to ripen in the east zone 6a?
1 Like
Autumn Beauty and Black Sea are always my first two to ripen. Sugar Cane is next.
Sihong and Li are mid-season.
Honey Jar is mid season for me but for some people it is early season.
Shanxi Li is late to ripen.
For me, the fruit from So is not worth eating. It’s better than Globe (which is the worst named jujube I’ve ever eaten) but it’s very low on the list for fruit quality. It’s also one of the later ones to ripen.
2 Likes
Thanks! That was very helpful - I technically only have spots for six trees so I appreciate you taking the time for feedback. So is out.
Do you think Shanxi will ripen in the east? What about Chico? I think that’s even later.
Even better would be narrowing it down to the four best varieties, but I’m having a hard time doing that so I was going to replace two apple trees to make room (I have so many already). But if jujubes are so similar between varieties that I don’t need six, please let me know that too and I’ll use the space for something else! 
Autumn Beauty
Black Sea
Sugar Cane
Honey Jar
SiHong
Li
Shanxi
Chico
Maybe I’ll have to remove more things to make room for all eight 
save me lol
Chico for me is early-mid season. It is much earlier than Shanxi Li.
I would drop Li from your list.
Black Sea, Sugar Cane and Honey Jar are all very sweet types. To me Black Sea is the best of the sweet ones but others will say Honey Jar is the best.
I would be shocked if Shanxi Li would ripen for you. And the name is Shanxi Li, not Shanxi. It is a Li type fruit from Shanxi province in China. There are many different Li type fruits in China. We even have 4 or 5 Li types here in the US.
2 Likes
Wow thanks 
Do they really taste that different from each other? I’ve never had a fresh one. Dried I wasn’t a huge fan, but that was commercial.
There are significant differences between the sweet types and the others. Chico is very different because it has acidity/sourness in addition to sweetness.
Black Sea is sweet but has a more complex flavor than the other sweet types. Sugar Cane is sweet and very crisp but the flavor is simple. Honey Jar to me is between Black Sea and Sugar Cane. It is sweet and crisp but the flavor is more complex than Sugar Cane and not as complex as Black Sea.
Sihong and Autumn Beauty are not as sweet as the sweet ones but have more complex flavors and are not quite as crisp.
I don’t like comparing jujubes to apples because they.re really different but jujubes do have some of the same differences in flavor and texture that you will find in apples. There are very sweet apples with simple flavors. There are very crisp apples. There are soft apples and hard apples. There are apples with very complex flavors and there are apples with a balance of acidity and sweetness like Arkansas Black. The Globe jujube is very pretty but tastes like cardboard - it is the Red Delicious of the jujube world.
5 Likes
5 Likes
Hi,
What spacing do you recommend for jujubes? I have a mixed fruit orchard where my stonefruit and pome fruit are spaced 8’ apart in rows and summer pruned to remain that size. Can jujubes be planted closer or will they fill in the 8’ space?
Thanks