I ran across a person selling Horsetooth, Tiger tooth, and Sandia jujube. I’m having trouble finding details and they are pretty expensive. Have any of you tried any of these? Are they really good? I’m looking for delicious, productive, and not dry (a little more juice than normal). I’ve already got a honey jar air layering for me and have one (or maybe a couple more) spots.
Also are they usually hard to air layer or propogate from sucker? Is that why people usually graft them? I plan to avoid putting grafted ones in the ground because I want my suckers true to plant.
Cuttings are hard to root. It’s easier to airlayer, and much easier to graft.
You can’t propagate a grafted cultivar from suckers but you can propagate rooted cultivars from suckers.
Horsetooth is very good.
The real Tigertooth is very good, but many Tigertooth trees are not really Tigertooth.
Sandia is very good but matures very late in the season. It’s not optimal for zone 6 or lower.
They’re more expensive because they’re harder to find. None of them are as good as Chico, which is much cheaper, but easier to find.
They’re not worth that much more money to most people, but jujube collectors are willing to pay it.
I’m not interested in collecting, so it won’t be worth it for me. However does Sandia extend the season? Are it’s fruits ready about the time others are done?
Thanks for your input. It sounds like I’m better off doing ga866, honey jar, and Chico.
Haha I have too many other project plants and other hobbies to get into jujube like that. Especially when I’m not hearing a wow factor that sets these other cultivars apart.
In your opinion of growing these varieties in California, which one should I add to my collection. I have Winter Delight, Ga866, Black Sea. Is Autum Delight the same as Autumn Beauty.
So maybe I should try Sugarcane, Honey jar (or Chico),
GA866, and Sandia (or one of the others you listed) for the longest season and if I can find space.
Of Sandia, Winter Delight, Dongzao and Sweet Tart which is more prolific?
I’ve had the fortune of trying some. I don’t know what varieties though. They tasted like a sweet apple, but dry instead of juicy. I liked it well enough to enjoy eating them that way, but would definitely enjoy them even more if they were juicier. When I say apple I mean like maybe gala. It had a little floral tone to the taste. I would try to source some more fruit and try now before you give up.
It’s Autumn Beauty not Autumn Delight. Thanks for catching that.
I think you should add another early fruit like Autumn Beauty, a mid season fruit like Chico, and a mid/late fruit like Li 2, Redlands, Dabailing, or Dae Sol Jo.
Unless you are planning on selling the fresh fruit it really doesn’t matter which one is most prolific because they will all produce more fruit than you can eat.
Most jujubes don’t typically reach their peak flavor until they are at least 3 or 4 years old, and those that produce larger fruit often take longer than that. GA 866 is suitable only for areas with hot long growing seasons like the California Central Valley or Florida. It may or may not eventually mature fruit properly in your area, but if it does, it won’t do so until the tree is older.
No jujubes reach their peak unless they are well watered. Failure to water them adequately results in tasteless styrofoam fruit.
Lang, on the other hand, is the worst commonly available jujube cultivar and always has a dry stryofoam texture with little sweetness no matter how much water it gets. Lang makes good rootstock for better cultivars.
Black Sea and Honeyjar will often reach their peak flavor while the trees are still small. They are very sweet.
