Jujube fruit set if you don't have hot dry summers

[scottfsmith]

I am amazed your tree has not produced in all these years.

It produced for several years but in the last few years has produced almost nothing. This is not uncommon with jujubes, I think there are a few posts about this in the pile of 400 or so above. I have a new graft I made this spring and it has three fruits on it.

[mamuang]

I just found out last week that the house across the street blocks the evening sun from this tree. I am wondering how I could remove the house

[Bhawkins]

much, much too dark for jujubee’s!

[BobVance]

It produced for several years but in the last few years has produced almost nothing. This is not uncommon with jujubes

My guess would be that when they are young, there is almost no self-shading. Then, as they get bigger, parts of the tree shade other parts of the tree at various points in the day and then none of it gets enough sun to set fruit.

I just found out last week that the house across the street blocks the evening sun from this tree. I am wondering how I could remove the house

That is the problem with living in a populated area. I have the same issue- you can pay to cut down a neighbors trees (preferably with permission), but they will rarely agree to let you take down their house

I’m starting to get more than the few initial fruit ripening now. Here was this morning’s haul. Until today, I was getting ~6 per day for the last 3-4 days.

It is supposed to be pretty cloudy and rainy for the next few days (8 of the next 9) and I’m interested in how the trees will handle it. I’m hoping that there is already plenty of sugar (24 vs 28 wouldn’t be all that noticeable…) and this will just add juice and crispness (and maybe a bit of cracking).

[mamuang]

Bob,

Those looked so good. Congrats.

While rain probably help increase jujube’s juiciness;, it’s really negatively affected my figs which are ripening. So far, they tasted watery and sometimes fermented. The next 8-9 days of rain will really ruin them.

No win situation for me.

[BobVance]

Here’s one more new variety: Mei Mi Zao.

I grafted it last year and it put on zero new growth both last year and this year- just the side branches/leaves, this year with 2 fruits.

It is a bit of a mixed bag:
1.) The smaller, more round one was actually drying on the tree, even before turning all brown. I’ve had this happen to a couple others this year, though all were on the same branch. I didn’t see a graft on that branch, so I suppose this can happen to So on rare occasions too.
2.) The larger (more elongated) one was badly cracked with ant eating it. This is the first cracked one that I’ve seen this year, so this isn’t a good sign either.
3.) On the good side, after I cut the ants away, the rest of that jujube was very good. Crisp, juicy and sweet (25 brix).

So while #1 and #2 are cautions, #3 means that it’s worth further testing with this one.

Note on the So (right of the pic): the large dark one was 28 brix and the others I tested were 23-24.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Bob,

This is the first year that the ants starting to eat my Honey Jar Jujube fruits. I am guessing that they can smell the sweet sugar from the fruits. I may have to use tangle foot next year.

Tony

[jujubemulberry]

if your trees are still small, you could probably make water moats out of concrete around the base of each tree, or a collar of fly paper around the main trunk and seal the underlying corrugations with school glue.

[BobVance]

This is the first year that the ants starting to eat my Honey Jar Jujube fruits.

No more ants for me (they were bad on Anne raspberries today though), but here’s another insect which likes jujube. I’m not sure what it is, but I found it this morning in the small leaf home. Apparently, it comes out to feed on the fruit.

The clouds and rain haven’t hurt quality. If anything, they are better than ever. I sampled two this morning and got:
So- 26 brix
Honey Jar- 29 brix

Both were crisp and juicy, though HJ was especially so. Too bad my graft isn’t bigger- I’ll need to wait for the HJ tree I planted this spring to size up a bit. Right now, I think it is #1 for fresh eating.

[jujubemulberry]

here, squash/stink bugs and 'pillars(similar to the one in your photo) damages the fruit . Fortunately they don’t visit in large numbers.
Of the pests, birds are the worst offenders by far. Fortunately, jujus fruit so abundantly there’s always a surplus for everyone and every crawling or flying critter. Think have given away >200 lbs of fresh and dried fruits to family and friends all across america, and perhaps 200 lbs more ended up as compost during windy weather, haha.

[JamesWNY]

Will my honey jar ripe in 2weekd before frost? Hope I can taste some fresh ones!

[BobVance]

Will my honey jar ripe in 2weekd before frost? Hope I can taste some fresh ones!

Those look like they could ripen any day- I see the dark ring around the stem (far left and possibly a couple others) and it looks like another has one (2nd from left) small spot turning brown. In fact, I would bet that if the frost was coming tomorrow and you had to pick them now, they would still be pretty good. My daughter picked a couple with only the tiniest brown area today and still thought that they were sweet and very good.

[jujubemulberry]

agree with @BobVance that your hj’s are ‘in the bag’.
besides, hj’s(like li’s, sihongs, ga-866 and many others)can be eaten at a relatively immature stage.
you could harvest them at the last minute, or you could harvest them now if you want.
immature jujus are similar to immature tropical guavas–not as sweet but quite refreshing. Has this perky eucalypt flavor in the mouth.

[danzeb]

immature jujus are similar to immature tropical guavas–not as sweet but quite refreshing. Has this perky eucalypt flavor in the mouth.

I’ve got this little 12 inch Jujube in a pot with 2 fruit on it. It’s amazing to me that a tree can flower and produce fruit at such a small size. The fruit came very late and are marble size. If the fruit is edible when immature I will try to keep it from a freeze for a month or two and give it a try for the fun of it.

[jujubemulberry]

really amazing that many jujus are precocious(fruiting on the same year grafted, even with the tiniest budwood), and considering they have the longest productive lifespans among deciduous fruit trees . And hj seems to be the most precocious of the bunch.

another thing about hj’s is that their fruits on the first year often represent the taste of fruits harvested from a mature tree, even though fruit size may be tinier than those from mature trees. Here’s one of our tiny but productive hj “tree” from years ago. The weeds are taller

[tonyOmahaz5]

Harvested some Li and Honey Jar today. The Li are good this year but a little behind Honey Jar in juiciness.

Tony

[mamuang]

Hi Bob,

I know you said Autumn Beauty taste good. Could you please describe in more details or compare its taste to more common varieties? Thanks.

The question also goes to anyone who have tasted Autumn Beauty, too.

[jujubemulberry]

am sure Bob will have a more accurate verdict, but i should have some ideas within a ~couple of weeks. The budwood Bob gave me last June ‘rushed’ themselves to produce a few clumps of fruit, but evidently a bit late in the season due to the recent grafting, so trying to have them ripen as long as they can on the tree before fall gets nippy. And hoping the prolonged warm spell here in the southwest extends further into at least mid-nov.

[mamuang]

I wonder when is the " normal" ripening peroid of Autum Beauty. Ripening too late won’t work here, unfortunately.

[jujubemulberry]

it actually seems early, or at the most a mid-season, considerating that grafted them very late, and the budwood used had yet to produce fruiting laterals. And it was already sizzling with almost zero humidity when grafted them, which may have hindered growth/fruit maturity.

btw, not sure if you’ve seen my other post about autumn beauty being offered by rollingriver, and they only have 7 in stock as i type this…

and if you’re interested in obtaining older seedlings, this nursery is actually selling them too, for 15$ a pop. May well be the first nursery to offer this!

Relatively rare jujus available

this is hot off the press-- winter delight and autumn beauty for sale. The first time rolling river offered these https://rollingrivernursery.com/products/50/fruit-trees/jujubes-ziziphus-jujuba