Bob. H,
Thanks for the report. It seems like GA-866 is a dud every where. Such a shy producer.
Tony
thans for this helpful spreadsheet. While have many similar findings, quite intrigued there are some which find quite different from mine.
i find li better-tasting than contorted and sugarcane, and that sihong is way better than any other, although havenāt tried ga-866, autumn beauty or winter delight in enough quantities.
also, sugarcane is extremely productive and vigorous, that have been grafting them over with chico and sihong!
Hi Tony, youāre right, Iāve only read about success with GA866 in S Cal & Houston
Hi JJMulberry, I bet your Las Vegas sun brings out the best in Jujubeās. My results are hardly scientitic, thereās variation in sunlight & water amoung my trees. I had my some of my best tasting Liās this year on a couple trees, but I wasnāt sure if it was due to the trees getting older, the record amount of rain we had this springāevery dayāthe increased water I gave them in the middle of summer, or just a fluke; so I wasnāt ready to raise their taste score this year; & on a couple other trees the Liās were average.
the only thing scientific(if it could even be called that) about our jujus is that they all border on dehydration/death every summer, and get ~6-10 hrs of direct sunlight. It rarely rains heavily enough here to soak the soil, and even with heavy rains(which occurs only once or twice during summer), the top earth is just too compact that the water simply runs off and rolls straight to the gutter.
as for direct sunlight, 6 hrs seem to be all that is needed. Our hjās being dwarfish, bear plenty of fruits with 6 hrs under tall trees just as they bear lots with 10 hrs out in the open, and the taste is the same. Same with silverhill and other still-tiny varieties in the property.
thus said, makes me think most jujus prefer to dry out in-between waterings.
*have to add though, unlike most other jujus, li does vary somewhat in taste, even from the same fully-grown tree, depending on the month of year the fruits mature. And that many jujus bear fruits like styrofoam on first or second year of grafting, but will be consistently excellent thereon(regardless of month of year fruits mature).
our liās taste much better after the first crop(july).
Bob, I think I counted a total of 31. Iām assuming those are all separate trees. Iām hoping you have reason to expect far more fruit from that many jujube trees than your family can eat, even drying and processing, etc. So Iām curious what you plan to do with all those trees?
I should have begun by saying thank you for sharing, So thank you!
Hi CF, with a Korean wife & Korean church, there can never be enough jujubeās. Yes, I have separate trees. Iām building a new home & will lose about a dozen when I move next spring; Iāll start over with my 10 favorites.
JuJuBm, do you irrigate? if so, how much? do you know what your soil ph is? just curious.
Re jujubees tasting better as trees age, Iāve noticed that with Winter Delight, and maybe Li. But with others such as Shihong, HJ, SC, etc I donāt remember taste changing much as the trees got older; though I have to admit I havenāt been watching for that.
Bob V, that was really interesting the difference in brix you measured at different parts of the tree, Iāll watch for that
we used to irrigate, but the tubing gets clogged all the time with calcium deposits that we actually āmanagedā to kill several jujubes. We still irrigate them when weāre away, but manually irrigate as much as we can when weāre home. Our soil ph is ~8(not the best for jujus), and ph is not going down anytime soon due to the-- wellācalcium deposits from the colorado river, ouch!
[quote=āBhawkins, post:8, topic:2652ā]
Re jujubees tasting better as trees age, Iāve noticed that with Winter Delight, and maybe Li. But with others such as Shihong, HJ, SC, etc I donāt remember taste changing much as the trees got older
[/quote] could be that with not many trees to start with, some of yours, and some of ours were prepubertalātrying to bear fruit which dud out. Much like some young hens, laying yolkless eggs when theyāve just started laying.
budwood calipers and graft fusion may play a part in it too.
hj was the exception. I think it is the most consistent, and consistently good, even on year of grafting!
My ph is about 7.8 so were the same. Sounds like jujubees are just happy where you are. I bet the trees from the Chico research project would all do well there, same desert conditions
jujus are truly amazing.
i have grown(and neglected/abused/killed) all manner of tropicals and temperate trees (from bananas all the way to cherries and nectarines), and can conclude thereās none as tough as jujus.
while i hope it holds true here, am a bit resigned it might not be the case. Next to death valley, this mojave desert is hands-down the most hostile place to grow anything in continental america.
I can generally agree with the ā2ā rating given to āTiger Toothā for taste (in the chart at the top of this post). But I have had a few stragglers that have been ripening now in November that have been incredibly flavorful and sweetā¦Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon with Jujubes? It hasnāt been cold yet, just a few nights down to 50 degrees or soā¦and back up to 80 degrees during the day (Florida).
Of five varieties, TigerTooth was number 5 (last) when it came to personal preference. It was less sweet and dryer than the So or Lang for example. But this year, the flavor has improved dramatically and matched Lang but yield was also very low.
Perhaps this trees needs more time to show the real taste of its fruit which keeps improving. My tree is in its fourth or fifth leaf in the ground.
Iāve noticed ever since my Sherwood first bore heavily last year that the firs 80% or so of the crop seems to be dramatically inferior in fresh eating appeal to the latest part of the crop. Sherwood is apparently consistently quite good in other parts of the country, though.
Iāve had a couple years where Lang & Tigertooth taste good, but then the next year they revert to bland
Iāve never had more than 1 crop/year, though I know some lucky people get 2; so I dont know how late fruit compares to early fruit
Winter Delight dramatically improved from year 2 to 3; Li has been better the last 3 years, last year being the best
CF, Iām curious, how many years did the Sherwood take to start bearing?
it is the trend pretty much across the board here in vegas. The bigger ābrebasā are not as sweet as the subsequent crops. Even langs and ed hegards taste considerably better .with cooler weather.
70 + degree nights already have a positive effect hereā¦
forgot to mention, hj and some obscure varieties seem unaffected by summer heat, and bear fruits of uniform quality, regardless of time of year they are borne, even in 110F highs.
I planted my Sherwood, a pretty good size tree at the time (maybe 6ā tall), in November of 2008. I had a really good crop in 2015. Before that I think I had a taste but definitely no more than just barely a taste. I planted a Lang at the same time as the Sherwood that has yet to give me anything like the crop I got off the Sherwood last year, but it has consistently given me a small crop (more than a taste) for several years.
When I talk about the late crop, I donāt mean anything like the difference between a breba crop and a main crop with figs, by the way. I just meant the tail end of the one and only crop I get, typically spread out over 4-6 weeks or something like that. The Lang crop probably all ripens over about 3 weeks, but Sherwood seems to be a little bit later and longer.
I have a few other jujubes, but those two are the ones that have been in the ground the longest.
I was told that in cold zones Sherwood and GA186 both need a long time to get established before performing well (still experimental) and that they are both late ripening varieties.
In zone 8b, I planted both two years ago and saw only one fruit on the GA186. They both have a straight up growth habit. Despite being over 6 ft tall they failed to branch out. Lang has been a steady producer since day one with increasing production each year.
SAS, how large are your Langās?
CF, I havenāt noticed much difference between 1st fruit & last, though mine seem to ripen over only 2-3 weeks
My Sherwood took forever, 6-7 years, to start fruiting; but its very tasty