I’m trying to track a jujube tree in Dallas area that has been on its own roots many years. I remember the taste is really good. The jujube is about medium sized, elongated shape. It can be eaten either fresh or dried. Fruit pit is present, but not very large.
This may be related to the original Chico project back to the 1920s.
I just wonder if jujube on own roots is more desirable than grafted. I lost several jujube grafts a while ago. Own root jujube won’t have such problem. But I do not know if own root jujube still has good cold hardiness in zone 6.
Yes we need everything to be on its own roots. Especially here in midwest… I recently checked my Lang i planted below graft it has already put out a good root above graft! Im hoping the rest are doing that too!! Then suckers for propagation are next!!
Yes, my friend bought the former house in 1982. Took a sucker to “new” house in 1990s. That sucker plant covered her entire backyard. Then she took another sucker to his son’s house. Not sure how large that sucker plant is now. But they do have sucker plants again.
I’m just not sure how good those Southern plants can be in my cold climate. Most of my jujube trees are not thriving. Maybe I should move them to another place that get better soil. I recall jujube trees are not picky about soil and nutrients…
Hmm… Yeah mine have started slow too. But those well cared for are doing better than those less cared for. The saying goes on trees 1st year they sleep, 2nd year they creep, third year they leap. I tend to be seeing them leap in their second year in my grow bed in burried 4 gal pots i will later transplant, and still creeping 3rd year out at my orchard. So everything is getting its first 2 years head start in burried pots in hhe garden for a bigger root ball.
I like getting them on their own roots, but it’s very hard to find them sold that way. JFaE has sold some on their own roots, but most of their trees are grafted. I did manage to get Winter Delight (appears to be Autumn Beauty), Honey Jar, and Sugar Cane on their own roots from them in June 2019. So far, in two years, none of those trees has sent out any suckers.
Getting suckers of those cultivars without needing to graft would be nice. Especially for people who let the suckers grow up (I’d transplant…).
I don’t think it would have much impact. Most jujube that are sold are either on random seedlings or on suckers. So there is a lot of variability in rootstock and most jujube seem pretty solid in zone 6. I suppose it’s conceivable that named varieties aren’t as hardy, but it would surprise me. The fact that my trees have been fine (other than a Lang which never really did well) doesn’t prove much, as the last two winters have been pretty warm (10-12F lows, which makes it more zone 7-8 than 6, unlike the -9F we had a few years earlier).
I’m actually trying to root some cuttings now and will post the results. In one of the other jujube threads, Tony describes how he has successfully rooted green cuttings.
I’ve seen a huge difference in how fast they grow based on the site they are planted at. I’ve been planting them at various rental properties and the fastest growth is at two sites with porous easy to dig soil. I think both have a decent amount of organic material, though neither seems to get water logged (well drained).
The trees at sites with hard, rocky, dry soil grow very slowly. I’ve been top-dressing with leaf compost and fertilizer, as well as watering a bit during the summer and they’ve started to put on some growth.
I’ve tried rooting jujube cuttings, both soft and semi-soft. No success. But I’ve dug out some runners from some grafted trees. Cliff England uses wild or sour jujube as rootstock and this is something I asked him. So most of those runners are sour jujube. The rest unknow. So I’m not sure those runners can be of any good quality. It would take too long to trial those root runners.
But this “Lake Dallas” jujube can be traced back to 1982. It is always on its own roots. The owner has dug up the runners to other two houses. Same jujube fruits. I remember it is of good quality. It probably can’t compare to the new variety we bought from Asian market. But it is probably better than Li. At least it is something that is so easy to grow. It sends a lot of runners. That is the minus. I’m not sure if the seeds readily germinate.
Air layered Sherwood and Honey Jar last year and was able to get them to root. They survived the mega cold snap in Feb 2021 here in North Texas. HJ stayed alive for months but never pushed buds and eventually dried up. Sherwood started buds but got burned. Then started again. A year later it has hardly grown but alive and well!! For reference it is in a 1 gal container.
Update on my Honey Jar jujube green cuttings. They are still looking good going into the 4 weeks. If they survived this long so far then the roots are coming soon. I think the tip are getting taller and almost touching the top of the upside down cup. @jujubemulberry
I planted a rooted Li stem cutting 4 years ago, and this is the first year that it has produced a sucker. Just one, but I imagine I’ll be seeing more in the coming years.
Those are looking great! In my experience, roots start showing in about 6 weeks.
These June cuttings of Lang are after 7 weeks. I had 87% of the primary shoots root, and 80% of secondary and fruit bearing shoots root. Of course, I doubt the fruit bearing shoots will do much after rooting, but I’m tracking all of them to see how they do in terms of winter survival and new primary shoot development.
I was also surprised to have success rooting some old spurs. Three out of four rooted. These were taken as dormant cuttings and took longer to root. But, none of the dormant first year primary and secondarycuttings took. It will be interesting to see how they develop over time.
Great trial. I started jujube rooting trials about 4 years ago and all the green cuttings rooted with my clear cups method. Now that I am moving next year and will be starting a brand new 1 acre ish orchard. I wanted most of my jujube trees to be on their own roots because of the Polar Vortex this February which dropped the low temp down to -31F and killed 95% of my 7 to 12 yrs old mature jujube trees in the total of 12 trees. The 10 new HJ green cuttings on their own roots will give me insurance because they can send up new shoot of the same cultivar in case of the -31F again every 10 to 12 years. To me, nothing beat Honey Jar jujube in sweetness, crunchiness, and juciness.
in vegas conditions, have only been lucky with lignified stems, including dormant ones. Our first successful clone was a dormant HJ but for some reason that one was weakly for about 3 years then croaked. Maybe got zapped by too much rooting hormone of the wrong combination, not too sure…
i presume your li has grown a sizeable rootball, considering its age. You can poach a few root cuttings this winter when specimen is dormant. Such cuttings will be ‘obliged’ to activate adventitious nodes next spring, being in a do-or-die situation. This would speed up propagation of vigorous clones, as root cuttings mature or grow faster on its first year, compared to a recently rooted stem
my estimate is that a self-rooted specimen that has reached a minimum of pencil-thick caliper at the base will yield at least 5 viable self-rooted clones.
Sounds like a good plan to me! I don’t have to worry too much about the temps where I’m at. But that’s definitely another plus to having them on their own roots.
That’s interesting! Over the last several years, I’ve tried rooting dozens of dormant woody cuttings (all previous season’s growth) with very, very little success. That’s why I was surprised to get such a good response from the older spurs. Are you rooting one year old dormant wood, or older?
