I agree than annual pruning is the minimum, but I think a few summer waterings would go a long way to improving productivity. It doesn’t absolutely need it, but I’ve seen fruit shrivel and drop (especially large fruited varieties) after a few weeks to a month of sunny weather and no rain. Maybe that wouldn’t happen on more mature trees with deeper roots, but some watering is helpful.
Sounds like pruning to me
I like to do that in late June as it mostly stops growth for the year and encourages fruit-set.
I don’t dislike Sihong- it is just difficult to get it to produce here. I had one tree where is made some very good fruit last year. I wouldn’t say that it is super dense, like Sherwood (which I don’t care for). Sihong is more intermediate dense, with good flavor. Good for drying too. But, as I said, it doesn’t produce well here, at least early on. I planted 2 Sihong trees in 2018 and neither has made more than a few fruit so far. Only a graft from 2019 at an ideal site has been somewhat productive.
Sihong is decidedly not precocious here. Any large fruited ones seem to take their time. Honey Jar, Bok Jo, Xu Zhou, and Texas Tart are all very precocious, but there are fruit-quality issues with XZ and TT, so I’d suggest Honey Jar and Bok Jo for quick results.
If you get a good tree, it can sometimes make a few fruit in the very first year. I planted a few trees this past spring from ChineseRedDate nursery and 3 of the 6 had a bit of fruit (2 KFC and a Da Bai Ling). I completely agree with Katy- get the biggest tree you can find. A small tree adds at least 2-3 years to the timeline.
I also mix well composted leaf mold into the planting hole. Generally 2-3 buckets, which seems to get them going well. I started doing this after watching the video of the guy whose son planted a bunch in manure and surprisingly had them do well.
Bok Jo is an above average cultivar. Not the best, but there is something to be said for quick and bountiful production.
It’s a bit of a borning answer, but Honey Jar and Sugar Cane are the best easy to get cultivars. If you are ordering from CRD, you may be able to get Dong/Sandia (very late), Maya, Black Sea/Russia #2, or KFC which are also good.
That’s no accomplishment- most nurseries don’t have more than half a dozen varieties. Anyone on here should be able to say that I’m pushing 100, though a decent amount are new grafts.
I completely agree on Lang- the description from OGW is way off. Lang and GA866 are the two varieties to steer clear of, at least on the East coast.
I grafted over most of my Lang, but there are still a few branches left. I sampled a few fruit to confirm that they are still crappy, before tossing them in the dehydrator. I found one this year which was almost edible. So, the best lang is like a bad Xu Zhou. And a good Xu Zhou is like a bad Bok Jo. And the best Bok Jo still aren’t in the top tier. Comparing a Lang to a Honey Jar/Sugar Cane is like comparing a potato to a sweet cherry.
That;s a reasonable comparison.
Others on my naughty list:
Russia #4 (#2 is good), Tiger Tooth, Huping- bad quality
Ant Admire- non-productive
And I consider most of the large fruited ones iffy, taking longer to come into production and not being as crisp. I’d also lump a few mediums like Chico and Sherwood into that tier as well.
Thanks- I just finished picking jujubes yesterday and am working on a 2023 version. Hopefully sometime in the next week or so.