Mamaung, even your “mess” is classy! 
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Katy,
Are you sure your trees are not on steroids?
They grow so well making us in the east coast envious.
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They do grow fast here …but just remember when you are eating your apricots and cherries (that I absolutely LOVE) that I cannot grow them here! So I’m envious of that… and your trees have really grown since spring!
Katy
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more often than not, bare-root trees arrive with little more than the the thick stumps of their roots, practically stripped of finer roots/root hairs.The stumps have plenty moisture and food stored, but the moisture soon runs out and the initial rapid growth during cool weather of spring suddenly gets shocked by the lack of rootlets when the temps rise rapidly. Would rather the farm workers strip all the thick stumps but one, and just have the one keep its finer roots which should be manageable to coiling into the tight packaging…
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li and contorted are great starter trees that we’ve proved self-fertile(by flower-bagging).
contorted will have seedless pits when grown by its lonesome, while li will be seedless or will have deformed sterile seeds with or without cross pollination.
li is a great starter tree due to vigor, easy availability, and large size of fruits(which are also pretty good in mild-summer regions), while contorted is also relatively available and quite ornamental, and seem to bear good quality fruits in regions with mild summers.
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It’s too late…as soon as I saw those pics I was totally riled up!!! Not only by the fruit, but by the growth on your trees as well. H O L Y C O W!
Thanks to everyone for the great photos and advice. I feel like my little trees will be ok.
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Thanks Scott- that worked. My pics were from a SLR- my phone probably doesn’t have the resolution to cause the issue. I opened them in Paint, then saved it as it was. That did reduce the size to about 63% of previous, so it could just the smaller size which did it.
Sounds great, thanks- I don’t head out that way often, but next time I do, I’ll let you know. Though I’ve found that the amount of time that can be spent talking gardening isn’t really limited by the area of the yard 
If your yard is messy, I’d be kicked out of the neighborhood!
Apricots and cherries aren’t easy for us either. birds, fungus, late frost, etc will get most of them. You have had great growth. Only 2 of the 16 I planted last year are close to matching your runt- and it gave you 8 fruits, while mine gave me 1 (from all 16). I’m especially impressed by how bushy they are getting. Mine are getting tall (at least the ones from ToA), but much narrower. Though that’s probably not a bad thing, given the spacing I’ve used.
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Mine are in complete sun and one thing that is constant here is intense sunlight so perhaps that allows them to bush out more. We have had optimal weather here this spring/summer with temperatures a bit lower than normal and rain in good amounts and spread out enough so that we have had to water very little. These trees are supposed to enjoy the heat and do well in the drought but I don’t think that means that they suffer with the water as long as it drains well. I know it has been much warmer in the north than usual but even though your temps are higher at times I think ours are more constantly “warm”. I know that sounds funny but the one thing you can’t get away from here in the spring/summer is “warm”— This year it just hasn’t gotten to “hell hot” yet. And I say that and Raf talks about his 117 degree spell and I cringe…but at least his sweat evaporates…ours drips off our nose and fills our ear canals and makes our clothes wet so that they cling to us and make us hotter. But that also give us another advantage. Our ground does not freeze. Once in my lifetime (and I’m old) did I have frozen dirt and I was living north of where I am now. That seed packet statement “as soon as the ground can be worked” really stumped me as to what it meant. So when I plant my trees those roots are going into warm dirt.
Okay, I have to confess, I do fertilize. Every tree I plant gets a portion of horse manure mixed in with the fill dirt. How much depends on the tree and the state of the manure we have available and there is no control factor…we “eyeball” it and that may not be a good practice. Perhaps I’ll pay a price for that later. And I did hit my Chico with some 10-10-10 early this year and again a few weeks ago but then he wasn’t a bare root and he had a strained and neglected “childhood”. He has also had a dose of manure with planting and one with top dressing in January. I may well be over doing it because I know little of the actually chemistry of growth. That tree has a lot of fruit and very bare foliage but has just put on a bit of growth. I’m pushing it with that tree and I realize I might be stressing it too much. I’ve really never been strong on patience.
Chico from Discount Trees of Brenham Fall 2016 (15 gallon pot in back of nursery sitting under a large tree with about twenty more of them all lined up…some of them had no label. Fruiting. I think that’s why the trunk is so curved as it was trying to reach sunlight. I’m also a sucker for a rescue!!)
Katy
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I’ve planted hundreds of bare root fruit trees over the past 50 yrs. The majority and probably nearly every one was fertilized the first yr. But not at planting and not mixed in with soil placed around the roots. Usually I wait until the tree starts growing and then top dress a high N fertilizer.
Putting any fertilizer in the planting hole risks burning the roots. I once saw hundreds of dead/damaged fruit trees because manure was put in the planting hole. It’s a matter of the amount and salt content of the fertilizer/manure.
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Yes, I can see that happening. I guess I could clarify that it isn’t a green manure but some that is aged and about as heavy as perlite. Occasionally some will be a bit greener and of course not nearly as much will be used. I have a heavy clay soil in most spots and actually I think it helps to add a little something to that clay…I know…compost… I live in podunk and even our lowes leaves the compost outside where it is mostly a chunk of wet mud when it comes out of the bag. I do know it isn’t recommended but so far I’ve had good results from it. Maybe I could do a study side by side sometime…
No need for studies. You’ve made it work. Manure probably does help in moderation. Especially if the salts have been leached out.
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A pic of my honey jar from today. It actually looks much better than a few weeks ago when deer ate the lower 2/3rds.
I did give it a cup of 10-10-10 about a month ago. I think the deer damage on bottom 2/3rds stimulated the top 1/3 because it seems to have had a surge in growth. in
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If that is a six or seven foot t-post then yours is much taller than mine. Looking good!!
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i agree. Where we’re at, the soil gets dry fast, and any solutes added crystallizes pretty quickly, and may burn what few roots/rootlets the bare-root trees need so badly.
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I think it’s a 6.5 footer and in ground a foot.
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That’s really good!!
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Thanks Katy!! I’m thinking the top went so crazy because the deer ate the bottom 2/3. I haven’t watered it much at all.
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I do agree with you guys but I did have to dig up one tree I planted as bare root last year with the same treatment and the roots were so massive that it was difficult getting it up and we were not able to get all the root out. It was not a jujube but a mulb (with root reputation) but the root system in one year’s time was terrific.
Of course I would never recommend that anyone else do this…and perhaps I should have already placed a disclaimer. I know that manure that is sold or can be attained at other facilities is probabaly a lot richer than mine and I’m positive it’s not as dry as what I use so it could be a bad use for anyone else. I haven’t had a problem yet with how I use it but the product that I use is exclusively mine. (So I guess I have bragging rights to my brand of poop!!! 
)
Katy
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I have the Sugar Cane Jujube for two years now it has lots of flowers but no fruits,
Do I need a pollinater?
Kim
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Hi Kim, Welcome! I really can’t answer your question but there are some members on here that can give you an idea. I don’t have sugar cane and I know there is a lot of speculation on which varieties need or do best with a pollinator. I’m sure someone will pop in and help you with your question.
@BobVance @jujubemulberry 
Katy.
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