Question on Sherwood. I know that it is a very shy producer. Does it bloom and just not set fruit? Or does it just produce very few fruit?
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I didnāt know where to put thisā¦I know weāve talked about it somewhere so here it is. Itās that time a year where several of my trees have damage to new upright (primary) growth. It always looks like a torch has singed them. It is not hot hereā¦80ās. Not all trees do it. Li, Lang, Contorted, and this year, Redlandās #2.
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I remember seeing a Roger Meyers video where he described what happens when jujube are water stressed. His thought was that they tap into the water in the fruit, which makes them shrivel. I didnāt rewatch to find where he talked about it, but I think it was in this video:
Edit: he talks about this around the 26 minute mark. He also compares some of the varieties around the 1:00 mark.
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For my Sherwoodās, both. Not as many flowers as Li, and a lower percentage set
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Bob,
Do you grow any Massandra jujube. I got a small Scion to graft to a 2 years old rootstock in a few days here because my Jujube trees are just showing some green tips. I have heard it tastes good.
Tony
Thank god for Love Bugs! If you live in the southeast you are most likely familiar with them by their smashed bodies all over your windshield. They appear to be my chief pollinator this year, swarming all over the flowers.
Although they REALLY LIKE jujubes, there is one plant they like even betterā¦Chinese Chestnut.
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Wow! Iāve seen a few wasp, ants and fake lady bugs but my blooms are just now getting started.
I also get some of that tip blackening. It reminds me a lot of brown rot shoot blight so I assumed it was a related issue.
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It happens for me every year. Not every branch but some on certain trees but not on others. I donāt know why but itās only on the growth branches. Sort of a fireblight type thing but doesnāt seem to spread or even look infected. Just looks singed and no more growth there.
i get those burnt-tips too @k8tpayaso . It looks ugly, but not lethal, at least so farā¦ Green growth, being tender, easily gets wounded as it gets thrashed by wind, bitten by insects, etc. Wounds are a magnet for infection, especially if insects have previously bitten into infected members of the rosales order. If researchers have mentioned jujubeās remarkable autophagy abilities(self-amputation)-- green growth burnt-tips may well be that.
the following is what i copy-pasted from this dissertation about jujubesā remarkable abilities:
āThere are 13 genes encoding homologues of autophagy-related protein 9 in the jujube genome, and only 1ā2 in the other 6 related species of Rosales (Supplementary Table 27). Autophagy has important roles in various cellular functions26. **Specifically, in immunity, the stimulation of autophagy in infected cells helps the cells to degrade and eliminate intracellular pathogens. Therefore, autophagy may play important roles in jujubeās defence responses**.ā
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Hi Tony, I planted one last spring, should see some fruit this year
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Iām seeing something similar on my young pecans (although maybe itās something totally different with similar symptoms.) I have some pecan trees that donāt hardly have a leaf remaining, but I have multiples of some of the same varieties that are totally fine, and the trees that are damaged are all more or less at one end of a row. Iām suspecting some kind of insect. I feel like Iāve seen marginal damage to jujubes like in your photos before, but I canāt remember for sure.
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These āsingedā branches are in no way a big problem. Itās always just 2-3 all at the top of the tree. Itās a curiosity though why it happens and what trees it happens to. If it were universal it might be more logical but itās not. It isnāt even on the trees that are most vigorous. Soā¦Iāll just keep watching and wonderingā¦ 
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Looked at all the flowers today. Honey jar has the most, GA866 the least, Sherwood just a few more than GA866
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So sad because Iāve heard they both are so good! I grafted Sherwood this year. It threw out a bunch of fruiting stems that are loaded with blooms and bloom buds. I can always dreamā¦ 
Sherwood is great in Dallas. I find GA 866 just sweet. Loaded with blooms sounds great!
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Has anyone come to some sort of conclusion?
My personal belief is that poor fruit set is due to a lack of pollination. For instance, I had a Lang tree for years that never set well. Even with Li and Honey Jar right next to it. Last season I grafted it over to Xu Zhou, a variety Cliff recommended and it is the picture of productivity this year. I also got some really nice numbers from Honey Jar, no fruit set from Sugarcane and low productivity from Li, which has been my standout in the past. I saw pollinators on the flowers, but not many. The few I did were some sort of wasp (Iām assuming a parasitic wasp) and flies. Heat and sunlight hours canāt be the issue as I have them in pots on the warmest and sunniest spot on my patio. They also got off to an incredible start this season due to our warmer spring.
Unless someone can convince my otherwise my plan is to plant my Sugarcane in ground as it seems to be a bit weak. Also my Li and underneath both Iāll companion plant shallots. Their flowers should coincide with each other and therefore plenty of pollinators should be there. Specifically the 3-5 species of wasps Iāve been seeing here. I donāt know what normally pollinates these, but I donāt think that pollinator exists or does a great job here. I believe something similar is going on with my pomegranates.
Another observation is that they require much more water than my figs. I gave them 4 times more water this year and they did wonderfully in terms of the fruit that set not shriveling and falling off. Although some still did occur on my Li, but much less dropped off than in prior years.
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All my 15 plus jujube trees are inground. I moved all the shaded ones to a more sunnier spots about 5 years ago plus I planted a rootstock of wild jujube for cross polination and all the Honey Jar trees that were near the rootstock had twice as much fruits as farthest way. So I think the sunnier spots and the Wild jujube rootstock did the job for me.
Tony
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I have a dozen varieties blooming within 20ā of each other and got zero fruit this year. I did have a few on Xu Zhou but they dropped. So while there could be some pollination issue I doubt it is from lack of varieties to cross-pollinate.
I was going to try the gibberellin treatment this year but never got around to it. Maybe next year. I see enough random things on the flowers (ants and various flying insects) that it looks like I should be OK on pollinators, but I have not yet tried hand pollination. They are also supposed to be self-fruitful.
I have some younger trees in sunnier spots, they were not growing fast due to deer munching but this year I fenced them in so in a few years I should have some nice big trees in the sun. If those guys with the gibberellin treatment donāt fruit itās time to chop things down.
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Scott,
How much sun these trees that do not set fruit get?
Mine are from 8 am to the end of the day, planted only 8 feet apart. All flowered well. Only Honey Jar set good amount of fruit.
My 8ā tall Sugar Cane set fruit mostly on the top 1/3 of the tree, nothing at all in the middle and a bit at he lowest 1/3 portion of the tree. Very odd.
Shanxi Li set one fruit!!!