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I don’t know if this is your whole issue, but Sevin is used to thin fruit, such as apples. That is, it makes some of them fall off.
I don’t think I would want to spray it on jujubes for several reasons:
1.) Potential impact on fruit-set (I don’t know if it has this impact on jujubes, but if it does it with other fruits, it is worth being cautious over)
2.) It is a insecticide, so it is always good to limit their use when possible
3.) At least where I am, jujubes haven’t had any insects to worry about. From what I understand, it is different in China and it sounds like you may have something eating a few leaves, but I think starting with an insecticidal soap would be better.
It’s hard to know for sure, but I’ve been fertilizing a lot more in the last year or two and my jujubes seem happier for it. Much more fruitset this year. From the pic, it looks like you have very sandy soil, so it may need fairly constant fertilization.
Also, if you just replanted them this year, then it could take some time before they are established enough for a crop.
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Thank you Bob! I’ll try fertilizer tomorrow and stop spraying sevin or anything like that. Will continue to kill those white weevils by hand i guess.
@RoniSWFL,
Check out this article esp.!the suggestion about using an inverted umbrella to catch these weevils.
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/sri_lankan_weevil.htm
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One thing I would like to mention it the nursery you bought your tree from. Ty Ty may be one of nurseries that has very bad reputation over the years. Long story short, you are unable to read their bad reviews anymore due to a lawsuit.
I would say, you will be very fortunate if all your jujubes from Ty Ty is true to its label.
Buy from reputable nurseries so you don’t have to wait 3-5 years to find out you get the wrong varieties.
Nurseries list - #110 by Poncho65.
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Hey Floyd, thanks for the info!! Sounds very promising, as my Sherwood has been a total disappointment for my area. Any idea where can I get some scions? And what’s the best time to graft? Thanks again, Roni.
I have had the same experience with Bok Jo. I grafted it in 2017 and it has been productive in 2018, 2019, and so far this year. Here’s a current pic. It was by far the most productive last year, which was a very light year for everything else (other than one rootstock sucker, which produces so-so fruit).
Here it is today:
I grafted it to a few places this year and was hoping to spread it everywhere next year. I had one roostock that really grew well. Until a few days ago when a deer strolled through. The ONLY thing it ate was the new Bok Jo (and maybe the tops of a few tomato plants). Hopefully it can recover to supply me with some wood for next spring (I’ll keep one of the 3 leaders and use the others for scions).
Note the deer repellent I’ve since placed just to the right of the tree…
I didn’t know anyone else from the board was growing Bok Jo. Did they say anything about how it has performed for them?
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@BobVance I am starting to grow jujubes in CT too. Sounds like Bok Jo is the winner for CT grower which I need to buy tree next year. Do you have to spray GA3 for the tree in your pic?
These two trees are Li (on the left) and Lang (on the right). They are located in Middle Tennessee (z7a) and are the reason that I became interested in Jujubes. I’ve watched them for the past 14 years and they set a good crop every year. I’ve never seen any pest issues with them, and they don’t get any sort of irrigation, fertilization, or pruning (other than mowing which knocks down the suckers).
I’ve rooted a bunch of cuttings off of these and notice that the type of branch that I root plays a big role in how soon they fruit. For example… the easiest stems to root are the ‘primary shoots’. But, they don’t ever set fruit the following year, and most of the time don’t even produce flowers. But when I root a ‘mother bearing shoot’, they often produce fruit the following year, even when they are still very small.
I have a Li at home that’s been in the ground 3 years. It’s 7 or 8 foot tall, and nicely branched. But, this year is the first time it’s flowered. No fruit though! I’ve not yet had any of my 6 trees at home fruit (Li, Lang, Honeyjar, Shanx Li, Sugar Cane, and GA866).
So, I’m curious about the difference. One thought is light. My non-fruiting (but flowering) trees at home all get good light throughout the day. The two older trees in the photo are on the north side of the building, and get some shade during the hot afternoon. Also… the potted rooted cuttings that I’m growing are on the east side of a building and are shaded all afternoon and evening. But, those that were taken from ‘mother bearing shoots’ fruit anyway. Maybe there are multiple factors such as light, shoot type, and who knows what else!
Most of you are probably aware of this… But if you’re wondering about the stem type terminology I’m using Dr. Yao’s descriptions found here: NMSU: Jujube: Chinese Date in New Mexico
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It is still a small sample size. All of my production has been coming from a single branch. I’ve been trying to figure out is it is the cultivar, rootstock, situation of the specific tree, etc. That’s why I’m pretty excited to hear that someone else is seeing such production out of Bok Jo.
I just went back and looked for older pics and found one from 2018.
10/11/2018:
I also found this from 2019. It’s hard to tell from the pic, but it seems like the fruit is much smaller at almost this time of year. I’m interested to see if that means it ripens earlier this year.
Last year, it was ripe around the 1st of October.
July 30, 2019:
September 7, 2019 (you can see it wasn’t as heavy a crop as this year- just more than any of my other jujus):
Oct 2, 2019 (I had already started picking by this point. You can see a few more ripe ones waiting):
If it ripens earlier this year (as it seems on pace to do), that will make 3 years in a row that it has gotten earlier. Maybe the better established/healthier (I’ve been fertilizing more), the earlier it can set fruit, which I assume can lead to an earlier harvest (maybe).
Let me know if you see them for sale and I’ll buy one too! 
I think you’ll need to graft to get one of these, at least for the near future. Assuming that deer-damaged tree pulls through, I may have a bit I can share, if you have an established tree/rootstock to graft to.
This is the first year that I’ve sprayed GA3 and I skipped the above tree (and a few others), as I felt it was already doing well, so why mess with it. Others that have decent fruit-set without GA3: Contorted/So, Honey Jar, and Xu Zhou. You should be able to find So and HJ commercially, so that would be a good place to start. Sugar Cane isn’t a bad 3rd one to add, as it makes good fruit and is reasonably productive (just under the above list).
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we have the same hobby 
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I did a quick search and not many nurseries carry Bok Jo.
Thanks for the offer. But I am very new to fruit tree growing. In fact this is my first year growing fruit tree 
. I have Lang and sugar cane right now. But want to grow more types. Grafting is in my “to-try” list but don’t want to waste your scions.
Well, I see from your profile that you are in 6b/7a. That probably puts the chances of you being within 10 miles of me over 50% (for those from other states, the 7A part of CT is along the coast, mostly on the SW part of the state). Which means you could be within range of my travelling grafting service
Actually, I did that for a co-worker a few years ago. Stopped by with a bunch of scions, parafilm, rubber tape, and a blade. I grafted the first 5-10, while he watched and then had him do a few. At the end, I left the rest for him to practice with.
Who knows what next spring will be like (I couldn’t have predicted this spring…), but I’d be willing to do something similar for you or any others in the area. Even if I end up without Bok Jo, I’m confident I’ll have So and Honey Jar, as So is my oldest tree and I’ve probably planted 10 Honey Jars, between home and the rentals (every property needs at least one HJ!).
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Thanks for the tip on Bok Jo. I have it (in 4th leaf this year) but it is in a bad spot so I can’t blame it for not fruiting yet. I’ll put it on the list for a sunny spot.
This year as usual almost nothing on the jujube fruit set for me. It looked like I would have a bit more than usual but fruitlets dropped.
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And we know yours is the real Bok Jo, as you sent me your leftover wood to graft 4 years ago! Just like I sent Raf a bit that I had left over. I think he immediately got fruit, while I had to wait for the next year.
Raf, has Bok Jo stood out in terms of productivity, or are most cultivars just loaded where you are?
There is still time for everything to drop, but I’ve been pretty excited about mine so far. I think I’m up to 40 varieties with fruit now, though I’ll be thrilled if I actually get to sample 25. It’s probably a bit late in the season to expect fruit which is forming now to ripen.
Maybe GA3 will help you next year. The other thing I’ve been doing (aside from planting in near full sun when I can) is either thinning out the ones with too many branches, or pulling some of the branches down to horizontal. Either option opens up the canopy. And at the rentals, I’ve been spacing them 10’, compared to the 5’ I used in my yard.
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That is a generous offer! I will practice grafting on the fig tree which I finally able to grow. I may be able to graft jujube next spring.
From reading from this site, I am starting to realize why people started out with few trees and end up with an obsession!
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thanks for that scion @BobVance. It did bear fruit(just one) on same year of grafting which was excellent. Like a prime r4t3 but has a more delicate crisp like hj. It was sweeter than hj-- that one little fruit. That first fruit was borne in cooler weather, and not in intense heat as they have ever since, and unfortunately gets compromised by producing mealy jujus when borne mid-summer. I mean literally mealy, and the only cultivar out of 70+ cultivars that gets mealy, with an off-flavor despite being sweet. I predict it is better suited in regions having less oppressive summers.
bok jo is quite a curio due to the broad and relatively matte foliage. Also has this atypical hue of green. Makes me think might be one of those colchicine-induced polyploids. GA 866 and Li are the other two that can approximate its leaf size. And all three can get loaded with sugar, btw.
anyway when get the chance will post pic of that scraggly graft–as leaf-cutter bees unfortunately favor its foliage more than other juju cultivars. Still quite productive though despite severe leaf-loss.
guerilla-grafters, you and i both
juju propagation and broadcasting are truly worth the time and the resources expended, as the pro bono payoff is so fulfilling-- being an amazingly durable and perpetuating investment that hardly needs maintenance.
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Wow- I guess it is unique, between the large, thin leaves and the fruit set. It isn’t too surprising that there isn’t a single superman-cultivar for all situations, but this drives home that some jujubes aren’t ideal even in hot-sunny areas that you would think they would excel in.
I don’t want to oversell this one- it was good, but I still put Honey Jar slightly above it (though smaller). The Bok Jo was just as sweet, if not more so, but a bit more dense, rather than lightly crisp (like HJ and SC). At least, the ones I’ve got so far.
I would be a jujube guerrilla-grafter, except there aren’t any jujube out there for me to graft over. The best I can do is start planting them. Here is one I put in a traffic circle, across the (half the) street from one rental. The yard at that property is dry enough that even grass/weeds doesn’t grow well and it has some large trees on the city land by the street (I thought about guerilla lumberjacking, but it was kind of pricey). The 3 jujubes I planted in the yard have mostly died (I think one is coming back from the roots). So this time I planted in the traffic circle- South of the big trees and much better soil. One Sugar Cane and one Honey Jar (each property has to have one )
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