Jujubes- Our New Adventure

General Fruit Growing
2424

There are a lot of things that can be eaten, but aren’t all that pleasant to do so. I haven’t had a large sample of Lang, but the few I’ve eaten didn’t have a crisp crunchy texture. Not even a mid-level.

Crisp/Crunchy:
Honey Jar, Sugar Cane, Back Sea, Russia #2- most crisp & crunchy

Massandra, Maya, Fuicuimi, Churchpoint, Coco- close, but a bit less crisp

So, Bok Jo, Shanxi Li (Earlier Shanxi Li were 1-2 categories lower)- Still very good

Autumn Beauty, Li, Dae Sol Jo, Redlands, Xu Zhou - Still good to eat, but pretty middle of the road from a texture perspective.

Some rootstock fruit, Sherwood, Russia #4- tiny bit of juice in it but pretty dry, sometimes firm/hard with a bit of crunch, but definitely not crisp. I still like them (and ate quite a few as the rootstocks and Russia #4 were productive), but, most wouldn’t. I’ve only had a few Sherwood- hopefully later harvests will move up the list by at least 1 category.

Lang, Tigertooth, and Ant Admire- dry, spongy, not all that good to eat. If I’m hungry and there are no better options, I could eat it. Small sample for Lang and Ant Admire. Tigertooth wasn’t a big harvest, but it’s been like that for a few years.

Huping- what the heck did I just put in my mouth Spit. This might require 1-2 days of no food to be palatable.

I had entire trees for Lang and Tigertooth. Both still have a few of their original branches, but have mostly been grafted over.

And some of this could be small sample size. And some could improve with age (like Shanxi Li). But others have been in their category for 5-8 years (like Honey Jar). It wouldn’t surprise me if I end up bumping anything in the 4th (other than Xu Zhou, which seem pretty solid in that category) up to the 3rd.

Huping has been in it’s category for a number of years as well. I grafted it back in 2015 and first had it a year or two later. Then, I tried it again last year. Yup, just as bad. Luckily it was just a single branch. Though I likely have more of it now, as I lost the tag and grafted some of both it and the graft next to it (Mei Mi) last spring, as I wasn’t sure which was which. I have them noted with my best guess, but should be able to confirm once they have fruit. Mei Mi is in one of the top 2 categories (and with good flavor, high brix). But it hasn’t been very productive, so I’ve only gotten a couple fruit in the 6 years I’ve had it grafted. Hopefully one of the new grafts will be more productive.

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2425

Most people find Lang to be forgettable when eaten fresh. It is however better than Globe, which Cliff also likes. There must be something about Cliff’s climate and his soil that brings out the best of those two otherwise forgettable cultivars.

I’ve eaten fruit from more than 70 jujube cultivars and Lang is in the bottom five, whether fresh or dried. So when you get tired of eating Lang, you can graft it to almost anything and have better fruit.

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2426

Oh boy, I bought 2 Lang and 2 Li, not recently. But I wish I knew that.

2427

Lang makes good rootstock. So does Li.

2428

I’m new when it comes to growing fruit, so I won’t try to graft anything.

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2429

Because Li and Lang are the most common varieties, I think. People who are new to jujubes often see them sold together.

Then, they also tell you that you need to two varieties to cross pollinate. Li and Lang are it!!

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2430

Maybe that’s the reason, I bought 2 online and then went to Home Depot and they had them for $29.99 a tree, much cheaper than online and they were not bare root.

2431

That was a very good price. Lang would be a nice tree to graft over to other varieties.

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2432

I’m very disappointed with my jujube tree. I think I bought it 3 years ago. A good size tree. In fact I don’t think it grew much since. Maybe because I’m watching it all the time. It gets covered in flowers every spring but never a fruit. It’s Li. And I have a puny graft of HJ on it. I believe I grafted couple of years ago but it is on a lower branch and doesn’t grow much. But it does have flowers. No fruit. I also have a small sugar cane that I started from a pit, 3 years ago I believe. It flowered this year for the first time but no fruit. Wasn’t expecting it to fruit when my big Li isn’t fruiting. Just saying that it has enough varieties to pollinate. Still no fruit. Not sure what’s happening…

2433

I grew Sherwood for 10 years before it fruited.
They will fruit when they’re ready to fruit.

2434

From what you described, only this year that there were flowers from Sugar Cane seedling for your Li. Maybe, pollinators were not ready for them. Also, hopefully your Li and SC seedling are pollen compatible.

2435

Yes this is the first year sugar cane is flowering. And even that I pruned off after a week or so, to promote tree growth and not waste energy on flowers.

2436

And the HJ wood I got from you. 3 years ago I think. I know I didn’t graft anything this year and last year so it must’ve been 2020.

2437

I believe @tonyOmahaz5 and has fertilized my jujubes with fertilizer high in nitrogen in the spring to push growth in the spring. It has worked out well.

My HJ scion wood is true to label. HJ flowered and fruit in year twofor me.

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2438

My Honey Jar has suckers, and they have tiny fruitlets, but they don’t look like they going to be big anyway. Are they good for the tree, should I remove them.

2439

If suckers are next to the mother tree and I could not separate them to make new plants, I remove them. Those that show up further away and I could dig them up with roots, I dig them up to be future rootstocks.

My trees are grafted so those suckers are from rootstocks which produce poor quality fruit in taste and size.

There are some jujubes that are grown from their own roots. Those are harder to find.

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2440

Thanks @mamuang, I bought mine from Raintree Nursery, not sure what kind of rootstock they have.

2441

Grafting sounds difficult but it is not. It is a good idea to practice grafting apples and pears first (or even plums). Once you get a hang of it, you can graft jujubes. Jujube wood is a bit harder.

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2442

I might do that, I have some Honey Crisp apple trees that have not been fruiting for 5-6 years, I think I don’t have the right chill hours here. But they are too hard to remove them, I rather leave them alone. So I will use them for practice.

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2443

If it isn’t putting on any growth, I think that is the problem. I had trees I planted at 1 rental and they never grew much (4 growing to 4.5’ in 4 years). The soil there is a bit dry, with grass browning during the summer. I added fertilizer and top-dressed with mulch (year 4) and it still didn’t do too much. The only tree producing a few fruit was the one I planted a year later and worked a couple buckets of composted leaves into the soil (increasing water-holding capacity).

Now, contrast that with a rental which always seems to have plenty of water (runs off the end of a long street and it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some other source), At that one, trees were up to 10-12 feet at the end of year #2 and had big crops in year #3.

This year, I’ve been watering (heavily and at least weekly) the trees at the dry location. They are putting on growth and several of them have quite a few fruit as well. I’m sure the 3+ weeks of hot sunny weather has helped as well. But, if I wasn’t watering, I think only a few sites would have had enough moisture in the soil to properly take advantage of it.

So, if your tree isn’t growing, it probably won’t be producing either. Growth doesn’t guarantee production, but if it isn’t growing that is probably the first thing to fix. If you have good growth 3-4’+ per year and still no production, then it is time to check to see if it is getting enough sun, certain nutrients (Borax?) and pollination. I’m also exploring cutting back the vertical growth to re-direct it into the fruit. But to be able to have any impact, there has to be some growth to re-direct…

So, my suggestion would be to add organic matter when planting, fertilize and water the trees heavily (but not daily- maybe weekly).

Seedlings take forever for me. Even when I put it in ground and baby it. The biggest are maybe 4’ after 4-5 years.

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