Mature viewers only -- explicit Jujube videos/photos

Great work @jujubemulberry!!!

1 Like

great work @jujubemulberry .

Scott

Thanks @Chills and @Chriso :slightly_smiling_face:

and speaking of explicit, if not sordid: subprime li jujus continue to be sold here at unreasonable prices. I don’t understand why the easiest to grow(and don’t need to be imported and don’t need much water and maintenance) should be the most expensive. More pricey than longans, pluots, and grapes :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

4 Likes

I’ve seen jujubes for sale exactly once here in Michigan. It was at a fruit market and they were ok, enough so that I planted trees the next year. Once mine had produced (which is still spotty most years) they were definitely superior in flavor, but not in size to the ones I had gotten at the fruit market all those years ago.

Scott

4 Likes

jujus are often an acquired taste, and more often than not, they require that the person naive to it is made aware of the effects of harsh climates on the fruits.
have to say though that the price tags of the mediocre jujus sold here or elsewhere are often atrocious, especially for a would-be customer trying them for the first time.
moreover, sellers should at least mention that fresh jujus that are subprime in quality are better left to dry as dates.
it might sound counterintuitive, but jujubes with dry and cardboard-y pulp as fresh fruits often end up being juicier and moist, if not syrupy --when shriveled as dates. At least the first two or three weeks of drying. Jujube pulp is just weird that way. Our sihongs as fresh fruits were baked dry on the trees this summer, but when further dried into dates, the dryness is now far less discernible for some reason.
Further drying however, will crystallize the sugars within the pulp which transform the date into lozenges. Still edible, if not indefinitely edible, but rock-hard!

4 Likes

more explicit juju photos:

coco, note the stiff growth.

li, raided by birds

bok jo

hj-- had to braid the two prongs together as been saggy with fruits

sihong

ant admire, always productive

sugar cane, two photos below

14 Likes

How is Ant Admire compare to HJ in taste and texture?

hj is better. Ant admire is quite productive, but not as crisp as hj, and aa’s fruits seem sensitive to >110F

2 Likes

mucho mas:

tae seoul jo

named this ‘vegas baby’, one of our favorite seed-grown jujus

li

massandra

this we christened ‘vegas booty’, another favorite seed-grown juju in the vegas series :slightly_smiling_face:

qiyue xian, also known as autumn beauty

gi1183, stingy producer and late to ripen, so no bueno

chang or jin-chang

19 Likes

jujus in autumn:

‘vegas spicy’, a seedling of unknown parentage. Spicy like lafleur, but more intense

winter delight in a tiny pot, i can foresee this cultivar being super-productive as it gets bigger and rooted on mother earth

sihong, fruits are generally smaller at this time of year, but way more juicy

‘vegas candy’, another vegas-grown seedling. Has a nice sweet and sour combination, but somewhat mealy. Better eaten as dried dates

ultra-precocious seedling from lafleur pit. This is ~6 months old, so obviously needed no ‘chill hours’. Really curious about quality of fruits. Just started getting cold mornings here, so hoping the fruits mature before it drops its leaves

‘vegas cooty’, another vegas-grown seedling from spinosa-type pit. Fruits have a thin film of pulp, so pits are easier to access. Seeds have high rates of viability

‘bok jo’, sweet and quite productive, but something about our hot summer resulted in a mealy texture. The lone fruit borne last year was so much better than any of these

contorted ‘so’

chico, these will be more juicy than those that preceded them, thanks to cool weather

12 Likes

Nice!!

This is my last juju of the year: Xu Thou (a passing shot in the wind so no focus)

:cry::cry::cry:

Katy

3 Likes

on their 3rd yr here , xu zhou has not improved in overall quality as mature, ripe fruits. Call me weird, but of all the jujus that i ate immature/green(as long as they’ve attained ~1.5 " long), they are pretty good!

can predict though that they’d be so much better in milder climates

1 Like

So many of mine have been suboptimal…large multiple splits on the fruit but we’ve had a very hot dry year. They seem to take forever to mature and they seem to always taste a bit immature. However, I have not let one get solid brown yet so maybe they are better when allowed to completely color up. It’s a first year small tree that has been very productive for its size and they are pretty sweet and good even with imperfect fruit so I think it might have the potential to be really good. It would be nice to have a really late good cultivar.

Katy

it is one of the reasons why i eat them green, as they’re inclined to split, even in in our dry climate. Suffice it to say that xu zhou’s( like several elongated and pear-shaped jujus)will never be a viable prospect for commercial production due to fruit-split

more autumn-bearing jujus:

li juju, still bearing fruit despite what appears to be a nutrient deficiency. Incidentally, i sometimes feel that nutrient intake(or lack of-- like in this case), is dependent on rootstock’s ability to assimilate, as this is the only li which presents with the problem . Trees nearby seem very healthy

vegas baby: fruits may be tiny, but quality is somewhat similar to sihong when fully-tanned. An excellent alternative as it seems “energy-efficient”, being able to produce fruits as an understory graft/ in shaded conditions

sherwood, often the laggard, but seem to be more tolerant of hot weather than other jujus, as fruits are more juicy. I guess it also helps that it is a late variety. Not a dense producer, but still advisable to grow if in desert conditions.

two photos of shanxi li below, often the largest-fruited(beats out autumn beauty, li, li2,globe, kuk jae, and redlands in size), but we find this subpar to autumn beauty and li in overall quality

7 Likes

Update on the lone XuThou… had a storm come through and it went to Oz…

On the flip side we got some rain!!! :+1::grin:

Katy

sad to hear it’s not in texas anymore, ouch!

and your trees, seedlings, grafts will be bigger next year. Increases your juju immersion–more suckers, uprights, laterals, and fruiting stems to watch. And more jujus to pop in your mouths, yay!

1 Like

contorted juju from jfae supposedly on its own roots.

below, no discernible graft union, at least from what could see above the rootball

below, the root mass that got me greedy-- poached for several sizeable segments, as a root cutting from a supposedly self-rooted contorted would quickly determine if it is in fact on its own roots, if subsequent vegetative growth will be contorted

below, the poached root material, with a fair amount of fine root hairs.Hoping at least one of these has viable adventitious vegetative buds

below, the mother tree and three root segments potted. Will post photos of any success with these root cuttings, and crossing my fingers!

9 Likes

Looks like a nice tree. I was well pleased with mine. It shows up well as contorted when dormant.

This one had great roots too but I just buried them…

1 Like