I’ve got to admit that spongy does not sound great. With that said, a lot of my plantings are for deer so if I don’t like them but the deer do then it’s still a win for me. I don’t particularly like apples/crabs a lot but will eat one or two a day while working outside if they are available. I certainly won’t gather a bounty and turn it into gallons of apple sauce or cider, instead enjoy watching the deer gather their fill.
2 Likes
Or you can give them to us, Clark, Tony and me 
3 Likes
I trade acorns a lot with people all over the country. I’m not against shipping stuff once in a while.
1 Like
Years ago I got a Li jujube from edible landscaping but the next couple of years the winters and summers were hard so Li did not make it. The rootstock is slowly adapting to my location and now beginning to sucker some. Soon I will graft Li again and will quickly build up my jujube orchard. This one died back several winters but last year it did not die back and is doing better than ever after a cold winter.
I have a lot of different varieties of jujube and I think Honey Jar might be my favorite…or SiHong but I’ve only tasted SiHong that was sent to me as my tree was just planted this year. The Honey Jar are small but I can eat them one after another and they are a very productive tree. Chico is my next favorite. Deer have not bothered my jujubes although I know some people are planting them for wildlife. If you want to attract deer then mulberries will call them to your place. Of all my trees mulberries are what the deer munch on.
Katy
2 Likes
Hi @catscratch , we posted a video presentation and some pictures on another thread for basic info
jujus are practically zero maintenance, other than being susceptible to hard freezes if grafts/specimens are young, or have thin calipers.
no need for pesticides/fertilizers, and in many areas of usa, there’s no need to water!
4 Likes
Great video and thread. Thanks for posting.
I’m all in. I want to try several of these and the sooner the better. I’ve contacted 39th parallel and am waiting on an inventory and price list. If there is anyone out there that would like to ship a variety of jujube fruits to me and maybe some rootstock or seed I would be more than willing to pay for your shipping and time.
Thanks all for the replies! I’m pretty excited about this tree!
1 Like
Mulberries are one of my deer’s favorite browse items… and my kids love the fruit. I tried an Everbearing but it didn’t make it past it’s first winter. I think I’m on the edge of most varieties range. I would love to have a couple of different one’s though.
2 Likes
You might need to try the Illinois Everbearing again. From what I hear it should be okay in 6a. But then I’m from hotland so I really can’t speak for it!! 
Katy
2 Likes
i agree. We cannot really predict the weather, but we could hope for a few mild winters on first few years of having planted, which would result in thicker calipers of branches and trunk, so that die-back wouldn’t be as severe should a hard-freeze finally set in on subsequent winters.
2 Likes
I hate to say it but I not interested in things living on the boarder. Don’t want to fear the next hard winter or dry summer stressed that my trees aren’t going to make it. I still might try the Illinois Everbearing again as sometimes it isn’t the weather’s fault. Sometimes things just don’t make it. I really did like the idea of having a different mulberry growing on the place. Mulberry almost equates to comfort food to me.
2 Likes
My four varieties of mulberries survived -19 F last Winter. I bark grafted Girardi dwaft, Kokuso, Oscar, and I.E on large wild mulberry under stock about 3 years ago. They are very hardy.
Tony
3 Likes
How compatible are the different varieties of mulberry for grafting? I believe that I have red mulberry (Morus rubrus) growing native.
I think that what my wild mulberries are. They should be compatible.
You guys see why I can’t post on this site much… One simple question and I’m going to end up buying a small fortune worth of trees and begging for handouts (I sure to try to find scion wood here). By the way; it looks like I’m going to be looking for mulberry and jujube scions this spring.
1 Like
You have officially joined us…heart and soul!
Katy
1 Like
Ok, I’m wondering about time frame for fruiting. The way I see it is that I can buy or beg for seeds and rootstock to get quite a few of these things going, or I can spend pretty good money for nursery stock and get a couple started right off the the bat. If I choose to start seed and rootstock how long before I start seeing significant fruiting vs buying bigger and older bareroot trees? For apples and pears it’s an easy choice as they already take a long time to fruit.
Also, what kind of root system do they have; taproot or fibrous. I have Airpruning pots so I can start them indoors and grow them to 3 gallons before planting in the fall if that’s what works best with these. Or I can just plant them in their final destination with access to water and weed control.
Any help is appreciated!
1 Like
If you start seeds its a gamble for what fruit you get. I grow seeds for rootstocks and allow them to fruit so the fruit can be evaluated for taste. However you can’t just plant a seed from a Honey Jar, etc and get a Honey Jar tree. Some varieties, like Li or Chico, don’t even produce seed…just empty pits. If you want to grow your own rootstocks and graft known cultivars to them it will take months to a year or two for the seedling to get up to size. Rootstocks can produce fruit in a year or two or three or five. Most jujubes are rather precocious and will bear early. I have some 18 month seedlings that are beginning to bear fruit. Some of that fruit may be good for eating and most will at least be good for seeds for more rootstocks. Bare root trees from nurseries are expensive but many will bear fruit the same year you plant them. Sometimes it takes longer and depending on the cultivar it can be a long time. I have purchased a lot of bare root trees because I wanted fruit asap.
My seedling trees mostly develop a tap root but some of them do not. I haven’t figured out what prompts them to do this. I do not use air pruning pots but some of them just develop a root ball. Some that I have planted out (and have later moved) have set down a long tap root and others do not. I am not familiar enough with them to know why. It seems to me that both of them grow equally well in ground. There are others here that know much more about them than I do.
If you wanted to buy rootstock Rolling River nursery sells it but it’s kinda pricey compared to other rootstocks…$15 each. Seeds are hard to come by commercially. A lot of places that sell seeds are selling ziziphus mauritiana seeds that are Indian jujube and they need subtropical to tropical zones to live. Even if they say they are jujuba seeds you are taking a chance that they aren’t. Lots of people are looking for bulk seeds and they are difficult if not impossible to find.
Katy
Thanks a ton for the detailed reply! It sounds like sexual reproduction just like anything else… if grown my seed diversity takes over and you get what you get. Interesting that Indian jujube seed is being passed off as these… I’m glad to know to watch out for that.
The time frame is important to me. I think I’ll order a couple of nursery trees (I emailed England’s yesterday asking questions) to satisfy my impatient side, and also try to come up with some rootstock in the meantime to nurture and play with.
I’ve experimented a lot with airpruning pots. Most tap root trees also have the genetic code to also produce a fibrous root system. The form they take depends on environmental conditions (they are genetically responding to their environment, which is cool). It’s pretty cool that your seedling jujube’s don’t seem to have a dominant root trait.
Once again thanks for taking the time for the info!
1 Like
Just remember when planting that jujus need full sun to fruit–probably the most important factor. Some of them need another variety for pollination. I have planted out a lot of my seedlings just to allow them to grow in the ground. I have a couple of rootstocks the same age–a couple in the ground and also in pots. I just ate my first ripened seedling fruit from one that has been inground for almost a year. They are amazing plants. I just planted seeds from fruit produced this year and >90% of the seeds germinated. There is no need for stratification.
Katy