Hello! I have a question for you all. I’m wanting to graft some jujubes next season and am looking for a source for rootstock, and I can’t find any. I saw something about rooting jujube cuttings. Is that how most people get their rootstock? I have some seed planted but I doubt any will be big enough for grafting next year, if they even sprout.
What graft works best with jujubes? Any other specifics I should know about grafting them?
Thanks!
Most use sour jujube root suckers. Roger Meyer sells them as grafting rootstock. The wood is very hard. I don’t find grafting them particularly easy. My success grafting them has been somewhat limited. I grafted two successfully in the field. I used a bark graft on one and a whip and tongue on the other. Bark grafting on larger root stock is easier.
I tried some bench grafting of young seedlings in containers with limited success. In my application, I’m unwilling to do the maintenance required to keep sour jujube from thicketing. I bought some Tigertooth grown on their own rootstock. I have been propagating them by root cuttings for my root stock. My success rate is poor here. I got about 30% that make it from root cuttings.
My bench grafting on container grown tigertooth rootstock has been poor. I grafted 3 this spring with whip and tongue. 2 of them leafed out but only one survived, Admiral Wilkes on Tigertooth.
Here is a link to a good video on grafting Jujube: enter link description here
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Jujubes have aggressive roots. In more temperate areas there is little need to graft them. For colder climates, there are a few threads here and elsewhere about cold-hardy (freezing soil) root stocks.
Pls explain…
So how do you propagate jujube in Texas? From seeds? Cuttings? I just do not think so.
In Texas, I’d buy them from a retailer that stocks Dave Wilson trees. On the other hand, if you have access to an existing healthy tree then air-layer is also a possibility.
Richard,
Have you every successfully air layered a Chinese jujube? I have yet to find anyone who has had success air layering them although I’m sure it is theoretical possible. Most of the jujube you buy retail are grafted but you can find a few varieties grown on their own roots like TIgertooth.
Kate is in S. Carolina zone 8 but planning on moving to zone 6. I mentioned to her there are threads about Jujube rootstocks for colder climates and I hope she finds that useful. 
Redsun is in New Jersey but asked about Jujubes in Texas. Personally if I was there (excepting the Mtn climate zones) I’d grow the Li Jujube propagated by DWN.
I’m in Vista CA zone 10b and also growing Li here. People do succesfully air-layer Chinese jujube cultivars here but its outside of my experience. Quite frankly, I think it is penny-wise and pound-foolish to graft or air-layer something for personal use when a robust plant is available for sale within a hundred miles. But that’s just my perspective for my environment.
silverhill/tigertooth are known to root via cuttings, but i could surmise they won’t be as vigorous as when grafting onto rootstock(wild-type Ziziphus jujube var. spinosa) suckers, or onto wild-type seedlings.
silverhill has dwarfing tendencies, and i think it is because it doesn’t have access to a strong taproot( if not grafted to a seedling), nor the elaborate rootball formations common to suckers. I admit i haven’t really grafted silverhill to varieties with more vigorous growth, to see if it will somehow offset the dwarfing tendency.
looking at your pic background, it seems like you are not located in an arid environment. If you already have at least one jujube tree, and drought is not an issue, additional irrigation of your jujube trees will encourage sucker formations. You could dig them up during winter and use as rootstock next year. Most of those will also have borne fruits to maturity before winter, from which you could obtain seeds for planting next year.
seems like wild-type jujube seeds are the most viable. I have been sowing different varieties of jujus from seed the past couple of years, but only the wild-type seems to germinate readily. Have spat out hundreds of the variety Li seeds-- directly onto compost pits, and raised beds, but haven’t seen any sprouters.
so if this is too slow a process for you, buying suckers from Mr Meyer will be the only option.
he sells them at 3$ apiece, i think.
you’re right, jujube wood is definitely up there with ebony(asian or african persimmon wood), when it comes to topping the hardness scales—among fruit trees, that is. If you love woodworking or if you’re into violins and violas, jujube wood(along with ebony) is actually a vital component of that ensemble of the most renowned violins: the stradivari.
in my experience juju grafts are more likely to be successful when grafting onto primary shoots. Grafting on secondary shoots appear to stunt vegetative growth, since these branches are generally deciduous and shed after a few years of bearing fruit.
going back to jujube lumber and fine woodworking, it is an excellent medium for carvings, and maybe even for fine furniture, being very strong and quite durable, and has an attractive grain which develops a pleasing reddish-gold hue when polished:
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Thanks everyone, great info. That video was great forestandfarm, thanks!
I bought a bunch of Li and Lang on sale one year and used them as my rootstocks. Bark or cleft grafts work great on larger stocks. I use splice grafts on smaller ones. The wood is hard but other than that I find grafts have a high take and few problems. Rogers roots also work but I would let them grow out for a year. I never tried rooting.
What are those Dave Wilson jujube trees?
Who carry those trees?
What is the success rate of jujube air-layering?
Do you know any nurseries who use air-layering to propagate jujube tree stock?
Even in its native China, jujube trees are still grafted. It is very hard, or almost impossible to propagate in other ways.
You said “In more temperate areas there is little need to graft them”, because you can just buy the trees. You can buy jujube tree in any climate, from Texas to New York, warm or cold. I thought you offered a better alternate.
Dave Wilson Nursery does not grow its own jujube, as far as I know of. You are out of luck here.
They have nothing to do with DWN. DWN tries to be the Amazon of fruit trees. But nursery is a totally different kind of business than DVD movies…
I operated a fruit tree nursery for 7 years and had an inventory of over 1200 trees. Dave Wilson, Durling, and LaVerne were my major suppliers.
Did they supply you with Jujube trees?
Yes, I stocked Li from DWN.
Do you know how the trees are propagated? Root cuttings? Air-layering?
No idea.