Honey Jar and Sugar Cane Jujubes just became available!

it is usually sugar cane trees which are bigger than hj when obtained bare-root, so you really got lucky!
worth every cent you paid for
If i didn’t have hj and starting just now, i will gladly pay twice the price and still find it a good deal considering the size. Never seen hj sold in a caliper like that

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Thanks Raf! I was a little reluctant to pay $43 since I’m used to paying $20-$25 for fruit trees. But like you said earlier, these are newer, less common varieties and therefore a bit hard to find. If you’d be happy to get those for my price, then I’m VERY happy! You’ve made me feel better.

I’m jealous!! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::+1:

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It’s not just that it is a new variety. It’s pretty good to get any variety at that size. To get HJ, which can be a bit hard to find, is a double-win.

Agreed. I was impressed enough that I immediately went to EL and ordered 2 Honey Jars (I strongly considered 3). I’ll re-arrange my plans a bit for a HJ that big! :slight_smile:

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This is great! You guys are really making me feel good. Thanks. BTW…I hope you noticed where I said that the HJ came from L.E. Cook. So if EL is out but you know any other nurseries who get their stock from L.E. Cook, you can try them too. WHile they are wholesale only, they have a neat website with lots of history about many of their plants, and I also bet they could provide the names of other nurseries they supply in your area or that have an on-line presence.

I’m not sure where else LE Cook sells though. One possibility is Bay Laurel nursery. It looks like their jujubes exactly match what LE Cook produces.

http://www.lecooke.com/fruit-trees/jujube-trees.html

I got a very large So last spring (rootstock was just over 1.25" diameter, with the scion in the 7/8" to 15/16" range). but I couldn’t remember if it was DWN or LEC. I was curious enough to go out in the yard, after midnight, in the snow, to find out that it was DWN.

So it looks like several different CA nurseries (including ToA) can produce huge jujube trees. But, none of the others offer Honey Jar, AFAIK. I see Li, Lang, Contorted, and Sugar Cane on Sanhedrin, probably all from DWN.

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goodness-gracious @BobVance! your hoard-itis seems to be approaching mine, lol

you’re right, i think the only cultivars have seen being sold at that size are li and lang, occasionally at lowe’s at ~40$ each as potted trees.

when i was hoarding hj’s back in the day(from Mr Meyer), i was a bit shocked to have paid 25$ for a 4" tall specimen(and not a typo, i really meant 4 inches). I thought it was a bad joke… But after several weeks i realized it was not too bad a deal, as my 4" tall hj started fruiting! And after a year, was planning to buy more but were sold out and couldn’t get it anywhere, i even checked ebay and was ready to bid top dollar :laughing: But nowhere to be found… so the 25$ hj’s already ‘appreciated’ in value by virtue of rarity. Then i saw photos and youtube videos of 1300-year old juju trees that are still productive, well–that immediately trivialized the 25$ expense!

will post the pic of my 4-inch tall fruiting “tree” as soon as i find it!

we waterlogged a random hj juju seedling vs. a random granny smith apple seedling for several days. The juju survived the ordeal, whereas the apple died. This of course is not to say it will survive prolonged waterlogging, as the juju seedling runted out for a few months after the experiment, but the experiment somehow indicated that jujus could survive poor drainage(apart from being more drought-tolerant than apples). We have poor drainage here in vegas too due to caliche, and we do get monsoon rains and some flooding almost on a yearly basis, but our trees have been ok all these years

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LE Cook has a pretty detailed FAQ page. The whole thing is worth a read (interesting answer on multi-grafts), but here is a relevant passage.

Simply for safety - of our workers, our customers and their customers. Most Jujube varieties have swords as thorns. You won’t find the kids climbing these trees! In fact when we prune the Jujube, we haul the branches out of the field instead of running a tractor and shredder/mulcher over the branches. The thorns puncture tractor tires - the big tires!

Not to worry - the Jujube trees grow so fast the thorns, I mean branches, will be back in no time. The trees we ship to you grew from a bud in February to a full sized tree with fruit by September/October. They are Fast!

But it is all worth our extra labor. The fruit is delightful and in high demand.

Bold added

http://www.lecooke.com/faq.html

Evidently, drip irrigation and a ton of sun is enough to grow huge jujubes in a single year.

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I said the same thing above- that the LE Cook is a really neat website. I spent quite a bit of time looking at it today. I think its neat how they’ve documented the history of many of their proprietory trees, as well as other information provided about trees like your quote above. Its a good web site.

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The HJ are sold out now. Good news for me, I probably would have bought a few and I have no place to put them! I have two HJ already including one in a really sunny spot.

I am appreciating jujubes more this spring as I look at them completely dormant not minding all this cold weather.

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Scott,
Got snow-in today, I just decided that I would order it from EL even though I had no space!!! Well, I should consider it good news for me, too, but…

at 15 feet tall, many jujus ‘lose’ the ability to develop thorns, or produce smaller ones. HJ, li, contorted, mango dong zao, and sugarcane branches seem to get less thorny the higher up they are borne/grafted, or the bigger the trees they are grafted on to.

seems to be a reaction to stress of pruning(new grafts), as well as related to caliper size of rootstoc trunk and elevation of branches from the ground, since most grazers are ground-bound. Seedlings are particularly spiny relative to their sizes!

the periodically-pruned 6 footers seem to develop the ‘swords’ as if trying to defend themselves :grin:

intriguingly, HJ seems to be get more spiny when grafted to Jin, but not when grafted on li or spinosa.
HJ generally has thin and short thorns, but developed thick and relatively long thorns on jin

England’s just updated their website with spring stock. They’ve got HJ and SC plus a few others (including Sherwood). @mamuang, I’ve only ordered persimmons and pawpaws from England’s, but I’d expect them to send out high quality jujubes as well. England's Orchard and Nursery, alternative cash crop specialists

Not sure England will have such a large HJ like EL bare root.

Anyway, I just was greedy even though I have no space. Thanks gor the link.

I placed my order for honey jar and sugarcane on Friday. I just got an e-mail saying that sugarcane is way too small and cannot be shipped. So, I’ll get only honey jar. Is honey jar self pollinating? If not what other Jujube variety from EL would you recommend? Thanks in advance.

BTW, they changed my shipping date to next week because of the weather.

From the LE Cook flyer, it is self-pollinating. But, I think you can get a better set with another one nearby.

Of their other offerings, Contorted is good fresh. I think Raf is a proponent of Li, so that would probably be good as well and they may be bigger, given the stock they list.

It’s good to see that they said that, rather than just sending you a tiny plant.

Thanks Bob. It seems that both Honey Jar and Contorted ripen around the same time. So, maybe I should just plant HJ this year and give it a very sunny location in the front yard. This will make it tree number 6 in the front yard. If I get two Jujubes, they will go in the backyard with a Freyburg apple tree in between. Still a sunny location but about 6 feet space for each tree.

One other thing to keep in mind is that Contorted is good looking, from an ornamental standpoint. So, if you decide to put one in the front, it isn’t a bad choice. You can also use grafts to assist in the pollination, so I wouldn’t be too worried about placement, other than ensuring complete sun.

E-mailed EL for Contorted. I just needed another fruit-addict to convince me :smile:

BTW, I borrowed 3 space heaters to place around my blooming Loring peach tonight. I might post pictures in another thread!

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Just spoke with EL. They are not out of stock on HJ. The lady took my order and stated they have “plenty” of them

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