Question: I want to plant an acre of jujube seeds from varieties or crosses that have a better chance of a good new fruit cultivar, as well as for lumber.
Connect with Dr. Yao at NMSU. She has tremendous knowledge of jujubes both here and in China.
I would say Honey Jar got the highest viable seeds. Hj tasted very good so the good gene should be good if crossed with another good varieties like Sihong or even better yet with Turkish or Orange Beauty.
Tony
I agree that HJ seeds are very easy to germinate and the wood is fairly straight but the do tend to be more slight than some other varieties. I find that Honey Jar seedlings are harder to get growing bigger than say Contorted which are very crooked.
for query 1 and 2: will go for sihong, which has excellent fresh fruits as well as dried dates, and sihong tends to go straight up, PLUS the wood seems to be one of the stiffest(minimal sagging even when laden with fruits)
for query 3, hj, contorted(both big-fruited and small-fruited varieties), ant admire, and sugarcane have high seed viability. HJ is unfortunately not too excited about producing wood, and the wood it produces is relatively weak. Sugarcane and ant admire both have strong wood. The trouble with sugarcane is it seems to know its wood strength so will skimp on producing lumber by growing slim branches. Ant admire tends to grow monopodial uprights.
for query 4, i probably would still try sihong seeds even though its seeds have less viability compared to the others mentioned.
incidentally, have to add that the fastest growing jujus don’t really care much for producing lumber since they are not particularly large trees. A 15 yr old juju trunk isn’t likely to exceed 8" in diameter at its widest, and the tree won’t be much taller than 15 feet. While juju wood may not be suited for structural lumber due to size of tree, it will do well as fine furniture/woodworking due to its strength, hardness, deep red color, and fine grain.
most certainly Professor Yao will have additional info. Just wishing she gets to be more active here.
Thank yall so much for the replies so far! Interesting thoughts yall!!
Sounds like I need Sihong for wood growing seed source! And i need honey jar too it was already on my want list for delicious eating! 
My sugarcane i planted last fall was mysterously split this spring and died down and almost died but i have a new sprig just above the graft so i am hoping it pulls through!!
What use(s) do you foresee for the lumber?
Yup, I had a few young jujube trees split the bark and died due to the cold and only the rootstock spouted back. I just have to re grafted them.
Tony
Well my primary focus would be new fruit varieties but maybe 20 to 50 years down the road i or the next generation may want to use them for axe and shovel handles in place of osage orange or locust, and furniture and home decoration like stairway railings etc? Even beams in a home. Some of my friends have used osage orange and locust in their homes. And i wonder if jujube wood would last as fence posts? I am planning to plant a 2 acre treerow and another 1 acre one. So i was thinking sections of jujube in among the sections of osage orange and mulberry and locust and a few other things. I will leave some volunteer siberian elm but i wont be panting more of it - low quality…
@tonyOmahaz5 oh ok thats too bad! Yeah here it only got down to +3 but we had some windchill and it was a new planting so it may have been. I hope it makes it but it is a major backset for sure but anyway!