The photo below is of a seedling I grew out in California that had very tart fruit with a little sweetness and a nice flavor. This was a very good fruit if you like tartness. This one got left behind because the pot was rooted into the ground. I also left behind Texas Tart. This was much better than Texas Tart.
My alleged Porterville grafts have not set fruit. I have a couple of flowers on Sweet Tart but I am not sure they’re going to make it. I have some Chico fruit that may make it. Basically though, I need more tart jujubes.
Is anyone growing any tart jujube varieties that are new?
I grow several kinds of “tart” jujubes. They are various rootstocks that were productive of “somewhat OK” fruit. They are generally small and texture challenged (a bit tough, but still crunchy). But they are very productive…something which has been pretty important to me, as I wait impatiently for my other trees to become productive.
They make a nice snack to chew on, some might find them a bit tough. And I suspect that many wouldn’t think they are sweet enough, even though they reach 30+ brix. But I far prefer them (both texture and flavor) to the bland spongy Li from Chinatown which are 10-12 brix.
Here’s a pic of a different rootstock from last October. This one is so productive (and the scions grafted to it are also very productive) I have referred to it as “Fruitful rootstock” in my notes and grafted it to several trees to see if pollination will help.
But, even though I like these two rootstocks and will continue to grow them, I’m not pushing for others to try them out. I think they fit my palate better than they would for most other people. But, if anyone is having a lot of trouble getting any production out of their trees and either wants to ensure pollination or sample a “non-standard” jujube, I’d be open to sending wood.
Wow. They all sound interesting. I would love to try all of them if I had enough rootstock. I will get back to you in the winter and talk about getting some wood.
The one I left behind, along with hundreds of other trees, was cut down. I think the new owners left 5 trees while removing everything else.
That’s a shame about all those interesting jujubes being cut down.
I’d be happy to send some out- I’ll post more detailed pics and descriptions when they are ripe.
Here’s 2 different branches with “Fruitful seedling”. Both are fairly low to the ground- I didn’t want to waste prime sun exposure on them, as they seem able to fruit anyway.
Several trees I have it grafted to have good fruit-sets this year. But, a lot of trees do, so it’s hard to establish a cause-effect relationship. But, I figure the extra pollination can’t hurt. The only downside of having it in more places is that there is an increased chance my open pollinated seedlings will have smaller fruit.
Close, but without the point. More oval. The other productive rootstock (from 2011 So) is more of a (sometimes slightly flattened) ball.
I should also mention that I have 2-3 Sweet Tart grafts from this spring which seem to be alive, but none has put on any actual growth.
I have an Orange Beauty (some tart, I think) graft from several years ago which has gotten quite large. It made 3 fruit in 2020 and none last year. This year it has a handful. The other half of the tree is Dae Sol Jo, which has more fruit.
Texas Tart is going crazy with fruit. It looks like it is forming a 2nd crop of smaller fruits. No idea if they will have time to ripen. First frost is normally about 65 days from now (wow- seems quick, given that it was almost 90F today). From one of Prof Yao’s videos, some jujube ripen in as little as 70 days, so these could have a shot if they are “Early”, given that these new fruit likely formed about a week ago. Especially if we keep having 80-90F through September…
I had fruit on my new Porterville graft. Photo below. Obviously it looks nothing like Porterville.
I spoke the guy who sent the wood to me (the same wood I sent to you). He says he cut it back severely in 2020/2021 and the next year it grew back looking different.
There is still no fruit on my older graft which might be Porterville or might be rootstock.
That was the same wood I grafted too, right? The new growth on my graft has a few small fruit on it, but I’m not sure if they will ripen. How was the fruit quality on this?
For other tart jujubes, I got a few ripe Texas Tart the other day. They are THE MOST tart I’ve had. Not just a hint, but lemon drop tart. And at 32 brix, there was plenty of sugar, even if it was hard to notice. While the flavor was very distinctive, the texture was lacking. Not much juice to it and the pit is quite large. But, it is productive, so I’ll definitively keep a few branches around. Due to the strong acid kick, it would probably be a good one to save some in the fridge. Similar to how some acid apples mellow slightly over time.
One of the other varieties I described earlier has also started to ripen. It is generally slightly smaller than Honey Jar, though it looks a bit bigger in this pic. While it has some acid to it, it isn’t as strong as Texas Tart. They are similar, with regards to texture. The rootstock also has a large pit, but not as big as TT. Both are quite productive and I’ll have to sample a bit more with both their fruit.
