Anyone had success with growing jujube from seed? Any tips to increase success? What’s the best method? I’ve read about putting them in the fridge for a few months, or just using a hammer to lightly crack them.
I have some seeds from my Sugar Cane, but forget to collect from Li before all the fruit were gone. I know the fruits will likely be different from the mother plant, but will either try to graft, or just plant as wild trees. I had hundreds of fruit from Sugar Cane this year.
I also have persimmon seeds in the fridge now. Seeds from Yates, and from a wild tree. The seedlings will end up being wildlife plantings, so not too concerned with fruit quality.
They will germinate at a pretty decent rate usually. Li are usually sterile with no pips in the shell but sugar cane will have seed. They don’t require stratification. They can be hard to crack without damaging the pip inside. I use a pair of small vice grips to open each tip end and then gently crack the shell without crushing the seed. The seed is usually good sized in there so if you use a hammer you’re going to smash the seed. Most are pretty vigorous and will sprout in a week or two just in soil. Some people put them in a slightly moist paper towel in a baggy in a warm spot for a few days and then plant the ones that germinate. I have found that by the time you do that and the cotyledons are above soil the ones you just plant will have reached the same stage at the same time. If you use the damp paper towel trick you will pretty well know which ones are going to germinate and not waste time planting all the seeds. I just like planting them.
I can imagine that is true where Jujube trees are scarce. Here I would guess that every 5 to 10 houses there is Jujube grown – and from seed they obtained from some acquaintance. The fruit from those trees are small – referred to as “chicken scratch” by asian immigrants, who also grow them
I’ve cracked a bunch of empty shells and many were from areas where there were other Jujubes growing. I did find a pip in a couple of seeds but they didn’t germinate. . @tonyOmahaz5 says he has a Li growing from seed.
I just cracked mine open, put the seeds in a moist towel, let sit in a warm area and once sprouted and planted grew like weeds! Exactly like you say… now I several and will graft them and probably share them as well…
I know this is an old thread. Just borrow it instead of starting a new one.
A friend of mine sent me some dry jujube from California. The jujube tastes fine. But they have large seeds. I planted the seeds and the germination rate was pretty good. Here are the plants in summer 2015.
I believe the jujube should be true as the mother jujube. This is not the named varieties where the seeds may be empty. I still have not decided if I want to grow them on the field, or use them as rootstocks. I get plenty jujube rootstocks. The unnamed jujube trees may grow to large size. They may be called wild jujube or sour jujube trees.
I cracked the shells tonight with a metal hand clamp like this and it worked perfect every time. A tiny turn more past when you hear the cracking sound and it breaks apart easily without damaging the seed like with a hammer. Now onto the damp paper towel…
Do you really have to crack seeds to get them to germinate? I found a bunch of jujubes that we forgot about in a container, and want to just stick them in the ground. There will be months of cold/wet still left this winter before spring. Anyone had any luck with that (we’re zone 6)?
You don’t have to crack seeds. It’s best to soak them first before planting. And I would think it would be better to plant them in a heavy medium with maybe lots of sand to help hold the shells down and let the seedling rise. I’ve seen them come up wearing the shells and unable to shed them. I think @tonyOmahaz5 has planted seeds in the shell with success.
You don’t have to crack them to germinate, but sometimes there will be no seed at all inside so taking the seeds out will let you know how many seeds you actually have.
Perhaps this is a stupid question, but what does the seed look like inside. I’m assuming the “shell” is the pit inside the fruit, yes? I don’t have all that many (we ate most of ours, and just spit out what we were calling the seeds), but I guess I’ll crack a few to see what’s inside…
Sometimes there isn’t any seed and sometimes there is non viable seed so cracking does give you expectations. Some cultivars just don’t produce seed at all.
Thanks! I cracked all of mine. Only about 1 in 3 had seeds, and of those, I inadvertently destroyed about half of them. Alas. I’ll try again next year.
. 
