well, claiming expertise is often the downfall of people who project themselves as experts, so it is something will never ever claim. Actually mentioned in the book that everything wrote there were mere observations and analyses and should only be perceived as such, and not as gospel truth. I’m also the weird type who is happier proven wrong, than proven right(since i won’t learn anything new if i prove myself right)and will gladly engage in respectful discourse.
now, while i can’t claim expertise with jujus, i hereby claim and declare extreme obsession
at any rate, below is sugar cane in bloom and some fruitlets forming. To me, SC blossoms smell of pina colada. The fragrance gets concentrated when trees are grown in an enclosed courtyard, and further enhanced by humidity, so whenever need to unwind, just turn on the gargoyle irrigation, play some chopin/beethoven/schubert, then rock myself on the glider chair and absorb the sights, scents and sounds… Juju trees may bloom continuously for a month, and at least twice a year here.
Provides the longest periods of fragrance(by any fruit tree) in vegas conditions.
wish i could grow mangoes here(too cold in winter)! I probably could with some shelter and heating, but it is too much work…
i did grow mangoes and many other tropicals when i lived in the tropics more than a decade ago.
I forgot you used to live in Philippines. Those jujube blooms are mind blowing. Do you have to thin a lot of fruit or does the plant take care of that in some way?
BTW, I’m always amazed at how beautiful and how green your garden area is. In case you haven’t heard, Las Vegas is in the desert! ha.
am a very lazy fruit-farmer, so i don’t thin, hahaThe mojave gusts in spring do that for me somehow. Moreover, many jujus bear plenty of fruit-duds since trees bear innumerable flowers, often yellowing out at about the size of a bb gun pellet and then falling off. Sugar cane and honey jar seem to produce the least number of fruit-duds, btw, so thinning might be something to consider if you want bigger fruits.
btw, i don’t remember posting having lived in philippines, but you are right
Well now those blooms are absolutely fantastic! And I was kinda proud of mine… lol. And I know you’ll say but my trees are young and I know that but those trees of yours are beautiful! My Li has put it a lot of growth but there is little density to it. The Chico is sparse too. Blooming like crazy and setting fruit but very thin in its amount of leaves. Do you feed your trees?
and yes, i will say that they really are still young
it is usually the older laterals which send out denser growth of flowering stems,and each of these stems tend to have compound inflorescences, compared to laterals borne on the same year, or the year before… This will be most noticeable with your contorted, where older lateral growth will have matted, weepy flowering stems(like an old english sheepdogs fur), but the laterals of recent upright growth will only have sparse/widely spaced flowering stems. Will post some pictures tomorrow.
we don’t use fertilizers on our trees. Only kitchen refuse/weed clippings as mulch, if that could be considered ‘feeding’
I work for the government, you know. Big Brother knows EVERYTHING. I bet you and @jujubemulberry didn’t know small town city hall’s have direct access to all NSA databases. and do our own data-mining.
the search function is easy to use with hindsight(the country was already mentioned by him, so searching the word philippines with my username will show up quickly), but without the country-- will take a while to sift through my posts.
thus said, he really must be in cahoots with ed snowden
I don’t have your awesome artistic photo quality with the sunshine and so on, but our trees seem to be pretty close to the same stage (yours is a little ahead I think)- albeit far behind fellow grower @k8tpayaso . Since I haven’t shown mine in a while, here the are:
And here is my sugar cane. Even though it was much smaller diameter, my SC is actually putting out more growth than HJ. But I’m pretty happy with both at this point.
Very cool!! Your Honey Jar is putting out some long fruiting stems and has baby blooms as you thought. Last year my Li did not put out a lot of upward growth but did fruit it’s heart out. This year it has taken off with upright and lateral growth. That upright growth will take off soon. The SC is going like crazy.
I guess the koolaid pushers have done a good job on you and Zack. If I remember correctly neither of you have tasted the flavors yet…at least you’ve got pitchers of it brewing!!
You bring up the one thing that sort of worried me about my HJ…all the growth has been lateral. Nothing vertical, so obviously I’m concerned about how my tree will every get bigger. Of course I know if it stays alive that eventually it should send up some vertical growth, but its hard to see where it will come from and when it will happen. So I’m glad you mentioned that and said it will. My sugar cane, on the other hand, has already sent up 2 new, good looking vertical growth-either of which could easily be a new central leader.
BTW, to you or @jujubemulberry , I don’t recall much conversation in the way of pruning. What is the general philosophy on pruning jujubes? Central leader, open center, modified CL, other system, or none at all?
Actually I have noted even on my young Contorted and HJ that the fruiting stems are tangling up together. I have blamed the incessant wind (which I’m sure helps) and I find myself trying to straighten them out only to find them retangled. The Li is just trying to see how far apart it can space it’s branches
I think the basic philosophy is not to prune however I defer to others with more experience. @jujubemulberry does cover some reasons to prune in his book which is nicely explained but it deals mainly with pruning either lateral growth or upright growth to enhance fruit production according to your growing season. Basically at this point wth young trees he has advised me not to take any growth off that is above the graft union. @BobVance has a lot of trees and could chime in on that and also @castanea has much much experience. Not to mention @tonyOmahaz5 and @Bhawkins (another dfw grower). Calling all troops!!
And I know you’ll say but my trees are young and I know that but those trees of yours are beautiful! My Li has put it a lot of growth but there is little density to it. The Chico is sparse too. Blooming like crazy and setting fruit but very thin in its amount of leaves. Do you feed your trees?
