I feel like I have just barely enough experience now that some others might be interested in a jujube variety report from me. Lang and Sherwood were the first two varieties I planted, and I probably started getting fruit from them about 6-8 years ago. Li has been fruiting almost as long. Then I’ve had about three crops for Shanxi Li, Sugarcane, and Coco. This is my second year getting fruit from Honeyjar, Redlands, and my first year getting fruit from So. So in somewhat random order here’s my report:
Lang has been a consistent but never heavy producer for me. Lang seems very under-rated for fresh eating quality. It’s not quite as sweet and it’s a little less crunchy-juicy than Li, but there’s consistently more to enjoy to Lang than just sweetness, and I and the rest of my family would rank it highly for overall fresh eating quality, in the top half of all the varieties I’m growing. Medium-large size. Its ripening season begins early.
Sherwood has been a very irregular producer for me. Some years it has made really big crops for me, but just as often it makes almost nothing. Sometimes the last fruits of the year to ripen are pretty sweet and enjoyable to eat fresh, but mostly the sweetness, texture, and flavor are all lacking. Medium size. Its ripening season extends significantly later than any of my other varieties.
Li has maybe been just a little more productive for me than Lang and also consistent from year to year. The sweetness is mostly better than Lang. Size is a little bigger. It’s probably the biggest of all the varieties I’m growing. Texture (crunchy-juiciness) is probably as good as any, too. There’s some flavor to go along with the sweetness, but not as much as some of the others at their best. All in all it might be my favorite.
Redlands seems very similar to Li but just slightly inferior in most respects except productivity where it’s showing very good promise so far. It’s nearly as large, nearly as sweet, a little less flavorful (which isn’t an especially strong trait of Li to start with). Texture might be just as good as Li. If it continues to prove to be more productive, I think I’d definitely consider it a keeper. Based on my experience so far, I don’t think I’d ever choose it for top eating quality, but it’s enjoyable, and combined with good size and promising productivity that’s a pretty good package.
Shanxi Li has been a disappointment. Size is very good – it’s about the same size as Li – and productivity might be better than average for me, but fruit quality is mostly very disappointing. Texture is frequently relatively dry and dense. Neither the flavor nor sweetness has ever really impressed me. I can enjoy eating them – they’re not bad – but given a choice of anything but Sherwood, I’d choose one of the other varieties every time.
Sugarcane at its sweetest has been over the top sweet, but most of the fruit I’ve gotten has had good sweetness but not any better than Li. Even the super sweet fruit I’ve tasted hasn’t been my favorite, because it seemed to lack any other flavor to go along with the sweetness. Size is small. Only Honeyjar is significantly smaller. One average Li might have as much as 4 times the fruit as an average Sugarcane. Texture is mostly very good. Productivity so far seems about average to maybe below average.
Coco is similar to an average Sugarcane, maybe not quite as sweet or juicy but pretty similar. Size is almost identical (small.) I’ve had some fruit that seemed to have a very noticeable coconut taste, but mostly the coconut taste has been faint to unnoticeable. It’s definitely enjoyable, but given the small size, the coconut taste is probably its main appeal, and that hasn’t been consistent.
Honeyjar at its best has probably had the best flavor to go along with sweetness of any variety except maybe So (which has only given me the first few fruits this year – I grafted So last year.) The flavor is reminiscent of the little fruits on my rootstock suckers except with sweetness and probably better texture. The fruit size is barely bigger than the rootstock suckers, though. Sweetness is good but not at all outstanding compared to my other grafted varieties. I guess the texture is good, but they’re so small that the texture isn’t as noticeable. I don’t really have a gauge on productivity yet.
So fruit seems to be about the same small size as Sugarcane or Coco, maybe just slightly larger. The first fruit I tasted had excellent flavor. Other fruits reminded me of Shanxi Li: inferior texture and taste. I’m hopeful, though. The tree form is definitely contorted, and I wonder if it’s going to be dwarfing.
I was just curious if you’ve noticed that it’s more productive for you as well, but it could just be based on planting site.
