Jujubes- Our New Adventure

oh, ok

Here is side by side comparison.

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My Shihongā€™s are about twice that size

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Mine are too this year but they were that small last year. Last year was the first year that my tree had more than just a few fruit. It had a bunch but they werenā€™t much bigger than Honey Jar.

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Hi Katie! Ok. I canā€™t remember size of my Shihong when new.

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So what is the story on Tae Sang Wang? Where did it come from? How does it taste? What does it look like?

I didnā€™t make it through 2000 posts, but the first couple and last couple hundred imply that SC and HJ are the fan favorites. Iā€™m in North Dallas, zone 8a, just wanted to see if anyone had experience in my area. My soil is mostly clay, so Iā€™ve been digging 4ft diameter holes and heavily supplementing with sandy loam/compost from from the local dump. Also mounding my trees this year to hopefully improve drainage.

I guess Iā€™m going to have to learn how to graft now too, in order to combine the varieties. This ā€œhobbyā€ sure takes over quickly! :rofl:

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I am tagging @Bhawkins for you. Bob lives in TX and has grown jujubes longer than most people. He probably the right person to help answer your Question.

Bob Hawkins (@Bhawkins) is actually in the metroplex. @chadspur is in the Rockwall area I think. There are a couple of others that I cannot remember their names. One girl I think in Plano maybe? Iā€™m 75 miles SE. Welcome to the ā€œhobbyā€. :joy::joy::joy:

Thanks Mamuang! LR, your jujubees will love it here. Iā€™m in Mckinney. Katie is about 60 miles from me, she has a lot of experience too. You canā€™t go wrong w HJ or SC. I also like Li, Shihong, Chico, Autumn Beauty and Contorted, if itā€™s the right variety of contorted, I donā€™t amend soil and usually donā€™t fertilize, and the jujubees thrive. They fruit better with a little extra water in June-Aug. Let me know if you need any wood to graft, I have 15 or so varieties.

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@k8tpayaso,
How did I forgot that you are a Texan!!! My very bad. I blame it on my senior moment :relaxed:

I donā€™tknow that @chadspur grow jujubes.

Well thatā€™s reassuring! Hereā€™s the thing, I know precisely nothing. We started with 13 trees last October. Turns out fruit trees need all sorts of attention, who knew!

This year we put in another batch to replace the failures, and I think we have 3-5 spots left in the orchard. Iā€™m sure weā€™ll have more death this season, but jujubes are something I never even heard of!

As for grafting, Iā€™m assuming thereā€™s a guide here I can use? Iā€™m a jump-in-with-both-feet type of person, but Iā€™ll need a bit of help with finding the right suppliesā€¦ I would love to take you up on your offer. When should I plant?

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Iā€™m in Plano! Only 3 trees in ground so far. Most others in pots.

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Sorry! I was actually thinking ā€œEllenā€ but I couldnā€™t remember 7catcmom. I knew you had a bunch in pots! Is there someone else in maybe Fort Worth? (My memory knows how old I am and doesnā€™t attempt to impress anyone!)

What have you tried growing? Persimmons and figs do well here. If you have space for 3 trees, Iā€™d go HJ, SC, Li. Liā€™s a good pollinator, which usually isnā€™t important with jujubees but once in a while it is. Plant now through March. Doans in Irving is a good source of Dave Wilson trees in Feb

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I grow Sugarcane and Honey Jar.

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Get on the search here and type grafting guide and youā€™ll find several threads. Also Dr Shangri Yao has some jujube grafting videos on YouTube that are really good. Everyone here is eager to help. I didnā€™t graft before I joined this forum but no one lasts long without getting into it. Youā€™ll be able to get scion wood here for whatever varieties you want to add. Jujubes are much hardier than a lot of other fruit varieties with less work and frustration. Just make sure they get the sunny spots!

My profile has everything thatā€™s still alive. Lost two pomegranates (no clue why), a fig (borer), a cherry (no clue), and the peaches and plums were ravaged by fungus.

My growing area is here:

Full sun and lots of space. One day there will be a house there, but we figured it would be neat to have the orchard started by the time we build.

The layout has spots for 18 trees total, and we like the idea of variety, so either one or two jujubes to start probably. Iā€™ve never actually seen or eaten a jujube, and to be honest I didnā€™t know they existed until finding this thread today!

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Poms are really marginal here, itā€™s too cold. Cherry trees die if you look at them too hard. Peaches and plums are doable, but you have to have a spray program, they were too hard for me and I took them out. Ditto apples, possible but you have to work at it.

Pears have been good to me, except the last 2 years Iā€™ve had a lot of pear rust problems. Persimmons and figs are bullet proof, especially if you can give the figs some protection from north winds.

Jujubees are the easiest of all here; plant, water a little, eat. As Katie says, they need sun.

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Thatā€™s fantastic! Is there a type of jujube I should pick as the main tree to graft on to? Of itā€™s going to be a large tree then I might just want to start with one, but two is completely doable.

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