that’s so encouraging @BobC.
2 Likes
My 2 new jujubes have absolutely gone crazy putting on new growth and blooms and etc ever since I put a pretty heavy dose of triple 15 granulated general purpose fertilize on them about 2-3 weeks ago. It’s amazing! I’ll post some photos soon.
Anyway, I have noticed one very, very unusual thing and am very curious if other jujube owners have seen this on their jujubes (esp you Raf). The thing I’m talking about is the large number of tree frogs that love to hang out on my jujube trees! I’m sure its because the trees have so many ants that work the blooms, and I know tree frogs don’t hurt anything and are probably a good thing over all. But I very rarely see tree frogs at all, yet I’ll find 2-3 on both of my little jujube trees every time I look! Again, just a quirky little thing that doesn’t amount to much, but its unusual and I just wondered if its just in my area and my trees or if this is a fairly common phenomenon?
2 Likes
your trees must have grown a great deal for tree frogs to start hanging out on them. I am stumped as to why tree froggies would love to hang out on your jujus-- other than the blossoms attracting lots of insects. Our climate here in vegas is way too dry for kermit’s arboreal kin, so certain wasps, flies, and occasional native bees(not honeybees) may visit the flowers with no worries. Strangely, the european honeybee seems naive to the blooms, and actually think the blooms are invisible to them. In china/korea/japan, it is the asian honeybee species which services juju blossoms.
1 Like
Well, now that you mention it I have seen tree frogs hang out. I happen to have a picture…imagine that!!!
Katy
7 Likes
Sounds like they are negatives on 2 fronts. They eat your pollinators and their bodies make better doors than windows (block sun). Did we finally find something you need to spray jujubes for? 
3 Likes
@k8tpayaso that is just so neat that you’ve seen them as well! And cool photos.
I had been thinking of it as a positive thing because they eat insects, but I hadn’t looked at it from the perspective @BobVance mentioned- that the insects they are eating may be pollinators and not harmful ones. But (and this also addresses @jujubemulberry ’ s comment about my trees must be getting big to hold tree frogs) the fact is the tree frogs that live on my little jujubes are tiny…I mean so tiny you could fit 2 of them on the face of a dime! Smallest ones I’ve ever seen anywhere. I assume they are just baby tree frogs but perhaps they are some type that stay this tiny…I’m no tree frog expert. The point is, the ones I have can’t possibly block enough light to matter and I doubt they could even eat enough pollinators to matter.
I’ve got thousands of bees in 2 bee hives near my jujubes and I’ve never seen a single one on my jujube blooms. The only thing I ever see working those blooms are ants. I also find it interesting that my trees have been blooming ever since spring and still have lots of blooms today. You’d think that after all that time blooming and all those ants crawling on them I’d have a few fruits, but none so far! oh well. At least my trees are growing again.
2 Likes
Kevin,
I am with @BobVance on the frogs eating pollinators. I don’t see any bees near my jujubes. I have tons of bee on my lavender 20 ft away. All I see on jujube flowers are ants and tiny flying insects.
I don’t know if ants could help my jujubes as they would need to climb down off each raised bed, through a jungle of strawberry plants on to the next raised bed to the tree… Just thinking of it, I am tired for those ants. I hope some of them have that stamina.
I hope those flying insects do the job. I want to be sure so I use a paint brush as @tonyOmahaz5 suggested. If Sugar Cane and Shanxi Li set fruit, I’ll have to thank the paint brush (and Tony) 
5 Likes
Here are my jujubes as of today. WHile they may not look all that big, I wish you had seen them 3 weeks ago before the fertilize. 75% of the growth you are seeing has happened in the last 2.5 weeks.
I also threw in a photo of one of the many tree frogs that live on these trees for whatever reason!
9 Likes
The second photo on the bottom of the tree tells me that you have a bunch of rootstock sprouts. You can leave a few for cross pollination or to graft some new varieties when those branches get larger.
Tony
1 Like
Thanks Tony! I’m going to look when I get home, but I think that photo may be very misleading. I think all that growth is from above ground…but I’ll let you know in a couple hours because you have me curious now.
1 Like
You can check for thorns. Li does not have too much thorns and has larger leaves than native rootstock jujube.
Tony
1 Like
Wait…one of us might be confused. To be clear, the first jujube is my sugar cane and the 2ed is my big Honey Jar I got from Edible Landscaping. SO neither should be LI. Or are you suggesting that if it has a lot of thorns and big leaves that they may have used LI as a rootstock? Thanks
1 Like
I was thinking the second one is a Li. You can check where the graft union to be sure and also compare the two leaves.
Tony
1 Like
could also be a seedling of li parentage.
li is not as thorny as rootstoc, but li’s thorns may grow as long as the rootstocks’, and generally thicker. Speaking of rootstock and seedlings, there are at least three thorny rootstock cultivars we’ve identified, that we couldn’t anymore identify which might be the true wild-type spinosa. And judging from one of the late Roger Meyer’s specimens, he seemed to have used another rootstoc cultivar, which continue to crowd the growing number of impostors.
the cultivar jin is another rootstock impostor, and could just surmise it was grown from a rootstoc seedling.
incidentally, if the herbaceous leaf-bearing stems(deciduous fruiting/flowering stems) have tiny leaves and are thorny, then it likely has strong rootstock genes. Most domesticated cultivars’ deciduous fruiting stems don’t have thorns.
to complicate matters, li may exhibit this thorny trait on some of its fruiting stems, but none on other fruiting stems–on the same tree.
btw, @thecityman and @k8tpayaso 's froggies seem to be competing for a cuteness award. Somewhat worried about any of them accidentally landing on and getting impaled by a 1.5 " thorn, yikes!
3 Likes
forgot to ask-- do tree frogs find japanese beetles palatable?
1 Like
I hate to say this … possible jinx time… I have never seen a Japanese beetle in real. I looked them up and supposedly they are present in Texas but not here—not yet. Fingers crossed…
2 Likes
Well now you’ve really done it! Why couldn’t you have typed “I have never seen a leprechaun with a pot of gold in real” or at least “a unicorn”. Lol.
Anthony
2 Likes
So true…I’d rather have a pot of gold than a JB infestation!!! I’m an idiot! 
1 Like
I forgot to mention…when I took those photos yesterday, there were 5 tree frog on one of my jujubes and 4 tree frogs on the other…possibly more on both!!! So we are WAY past just random chance, they are very clearly preferring my jujubes to any other tree or plant I’ve ever seen. I almost never see tree frogs other than those on my jujubes. To answer your question, though, the ones on my jujube are really far to small to eat a Jap beetle. I’m not sure if I just have babies or a very small breed of tree frogs, though.
You were right about a lot of the growth on my Honey Jar being from rootstock. It is clearly from below the graft knot and the leaves look different and its more thorny.
3 Likes
i guess those jap beetles can only be addressed with frogzilla’s…
kidding aside, probably best to remove the below-graft growth, considering that your trees were recently planted.
2 Likes