I agree taste is subjective, I just tasted some Shan Xi Li recently, they were green, but they were crunchy, reasonably sweet, I didn’t have to wait for them to turn brown.
I’m already ordering a few other fruit that @castanea is recommending, like Daisui Li pear. Varieties that people can’t grow successfully but are bred in California like GA-866 is doing well here. I under estimated how many fruit I picked from GA-866, it’s reasonably productive here for a first year. But Shanxi Li is super productive.
I also asked Cliff about Wang Dae Chu, it’s the same as Empress Gee, he said Dae Chu is a word for jujube, but he said he has not tasted it yet.
Honey Jar ruled in Z 5 Omaha, Nebraska. Super crunchy, juicy, sweet even at the green stage and very productive. Bok Jo is larger fruit than Honey Jar, Very vigorous grower and my graft this May grew to 6 feet, the fruit has a dense crunch, sweet, but not as juicy as HJ according to Bob V, and it is more productive than HJ. So Bok Jo and HJ are top 2 for Us.
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Thank You @tonyOmahaz5, I will definitely add Bok Jo, I prefer jujubes that I can eat when it’s not turning brown yet, frankly I don’t think I can wait that long, unless I have a lot of fruit to pick.
I also want to try one winter jujube, just for kicks.
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Well, some degree of pruning will be needed to keep them in check at ~10 foot spacings (I’ve gotten rid of most of my 5’ spacings, but still have some). And I expect that some varieties just won’t produce well here, as Mamuang suggested.
I’ve planted a lot of trees, so I can be patient on the ones which aren’t producing. It’s possible that they just take a bit longer here. For example, I am getting some Chico for the first time this year. It could be that they are just old/mature enough, or it could be the especially hot/sunny summer. I suspect that it is a combination, but more related to the weather. Otherwise I wouldn’t suddenly get fruit on a graft from 2015 and a tree that was planted in 2019. Maybe I’ll never know which is the cause, if this summer becomes the new normal.
Bok Jo is very precocious and massively productive. That has a lot of value in places where jujubes can be stingy bearers. While I’ve got a lot of different kinds coming in this year (a very dry sunny summer), there was one year where it was cloudy and rained much of the summer and Bok Jo was the only jujube that had much fruit. Even Honey Jar and So didn’t have much that year. Granted, they were a lot younger. It will be interesting to see what happens if we get that kind of a summer again. So, even if I have a lot of other varieties being productive (Sugar Cane has been very productive the last 2 years), I’ll still want Bok Jo as a bit of an insurance policy for tougher years.
In terms of fruit quality, it is good, but I prefer Honey Jar and Black Sea. But it isn’t THAT far off- my wife thought I was crazy when I made that comparison- “What?? They are both great- like the expensive premium ones from China-town”.
And that reminds me that @Castanea doesn’t consider Honey Jar to be a particularly good jujube (not top-10 at least), which seems shocking to me. I’m not sure if it is that it didn’t grow as well for him, or because many jujubes are just as good as Honey Jar in CA conditions.
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In California, and in Missouri too, so far, Honey Jar is a small sweet jujube. In California it had a nasty habit of peaking for one day and then losing quality immediately. It doesn’t do that here, but it’s just not special. It didn’t make my top 10 in California and won’t make it here. Black Sea is sweeter, crisper, better flavor, holds on the tree better, and is infinitely better as a dried fruit.
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I usually make an attempt to mention location as a factor in fruit quality but I grew jujubes in California, and SoCalGardenNut grows jujubes in California, so I didn’t see a need to mention location.
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I understand. I speak for a large group. We have a lot of new members and many lurkers, who can benefit from your knowledge and experience.
I was a lurker for over two years before I mustered a courage to post my first question in Gardenweb.
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That is a very good point. I would caution that Bok Jo may not be that great for her. When Raf grew it in Vegas, he said it ripened during a hot period and the texture suffered badly. Also, I think he was the one who had the leaves badly damaged by leaf-cutter bees, something that didn’t impact his other jujubes. So, Bok Jo may be better suited to the more temperate areas.
Sweeter- I’ll try to test the brix at the same level of ripeness to compare. But, from what I recall, Honey jar gets pretty high brix levels here. I think fully ripe ones had low to mid-30’s.
Crisper-I’m not sure what testing equipment to use for this to get a quantitative reading, but when using my mouth, they seemed similar.
I haven’t noticed any issues with HJ softening. In fact, I’ve picked them overripe and thought they were still pretty good. The weather is a lot colder here though, as most are picked in late September and October…
Flavor- I do remember them being different, but which one is better seemed to vary based on the person. My family seemed pretty split. And I waffled back and forth, depending on the picking.
Dried- no idea on this one- the only time I’ve dried jujubes is by forgetting them and both Honey Jar and Black Sea get consumed quickly enough that none remain for drying
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I hope you get to try Black Sea and Orange Beauty as dried fruit. I have never been a fan of dried jujubes (though Sihong is not bad) even though I have tried some of the best in China, but BS and OB are amazing. I used to pick OB fruit when it was almost totally brown, bring it inside and leave it on a counter. In a week or two it was perfect for eating. I left a couple for a few months and they were still perfect.
It’s amazing how differently the various cultivars dry. Some don’t dry well at all and are basically inedible.
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Thanks- I’ll give it a try with some Black Sea this year. I think I have a few Orange Beauty on the tree (<5 fruit), but it has been a stingy bearer so far. I got a few fruit in 2020 and it skipped 2021. They were OK, but nothing special. I did get a pic of a couple in 2020:
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HJ doesn’t do that here, in fact I just picked the last one this Monday. So it actually has a long season. But right now this tree is in the shade, I will move it to a sunnier location this year, I think the fruit will be bigger if I do. I see very big size of Shanxi Li in full sun.
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I’m about 7 miles from the sea, so we will not be as hot as Sacramento or Las Vegas, but we share the same dry heat, so less bugs, no spraying for anything.
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Believe it or not, I read this whole thread from the beginning to the end, but it’s such a long thread, I really forgot what I read, lol.
Anyway this morning I sent Cliff an email ordering 5 scions, Orange Beauty, Dong Zao, Bok Jo, Black Sea, Massandra. He said Dong Zao might be dead, so I ordered 4 only. This will give me some practice at grafting. Plus I plant to graft HJ, GA-866, and Shanxi Li. I like all of these varieties.
When OGW opens up for ordering, I will get Empress Gee, Autumn Beauty, and maybe Winter Delight. Still debating on Winter Delight.
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It will be interesting to see how GA866 does for you. In Sacramento County it didn’t get enough heat, or maybe it was the occasional cool nights from Delta breezes that messed it up, but even in a good year at least 1/4 or 1/3 of the fruit never ripened properly. It needs a LOT of heat to mature the fruit properly and reach peak sugar levels. And without high sugar levels it’s a very mediocre jujube.
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This is my first year with GA-866, I did pick some brown ones early one, but lately even the green ones are pretty tasty, so I ate them too. Anyway I still have 3 small ones out there. This year I had maybe 15-24 fruit already. I need to know how to cut it back, it has a tall shoot, might topple the container if I don’t cut the top off.
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Mine was a very erect grower too.
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Now, there are at least a few other long jujube threads to brush up on…
738:
1498:
60:
1069:
94:
99:
59:
So, you are 2676 down and 6617 to go!
The last one is the smallest at 59, but I highly respect the guy who started it and made most of the posts in it, so I included it 
Uh-oh. I thought it just needed a lot of sun and heat to set, not to ripen. If she has trouble, I’m in an even worse situation. If it is a late variety, it could be 35-40F at night by the time it (kind of) ripens in late October. Well, I should find out soon.
At a rental, I noticed something was nibbling on a few Russia #2. You can see one in the upper left of the pic.
Wider pic of the same Russia #2:
The fruit have a bit of a blush. I don’t think they are ripe, but maybe soon. The 2 Russia #2 / Black Sea at my house don’t have the same blush, so I’m not sure what is causing it.
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Thanks Bob, more threads to read, yay!
Before I discovered Growing fruit, I almost bought Sherwood from Raintree nursery, now I’m glad I didn’t.
But I have a hard limit here, only 10 containers for jujube trees, and they have to be in containers otherwise they take over my yard. I’ve been told they pop up even further away from the original plant.
I have a couple Sherwood trees which have finally (planted 2016) become fruitful this year. This pic may not seem like a heavy fruitset, but I’m pretty happy with it compared to 1-2 fruit on the entire tree (last year) and none before that.
When I first realized that jujube could be good (not like the spongy 10 brix junk Chinatown was selling), I ordered some from Roger Meyers (it could have been from Shirley the year after he died). One of the boxes they sent me had a lot of Sherwood fruit in it. It wasn’t bad, but the dense crunch wasn’t as good as the Honey Jar I was getting off my own tree. But, it isn’t necessarily fair to compare fruit grown in a different climate and shipped across the country, so I am still looking forward to trying it again. Though not as much as I am looking forward to Sandia and Dong…
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I got some pics today which illustrate this.
Here’s a pic of 4 Russia #2 grafts. One was Large, while the other 3 were medium-thin to very-thin. The 3 smallest didn’t grow at all, while the “large” one added over 3 feet of vertical growth.
4 Russia #2 grafts:
On the same tree, there were 3 Black Sea grafts. 2 "Thin"s and a Medium-Large. The ML grew several feet and the 2 thin ones are still the same size.
3 Black Sea grafts:
This tree was my attempt to test to see if Black Sea and Russia #2 were actually the same cultivar. As professor Yao did a genetic test and found that they are identical, it eliminates the value of my test, so I can graft over part of this next spring if I need the space for something new.
This site is a bit interesting, as the backyard needed mowing after 9 days (of no rain), while the front almost looks like a desert with even weeds struggling to grow. I should have put a jujube in the front to compare. But, I guess I’ll need to content myself with comparing the impact on apricots (2 in front, 2 in back). If the apricots at this site are like the ones at my house, I’ll be able to replace them with jujubes in 2-3 years when they die one by one…I remember hearing from Alan that apricots seem fine at some sites and regularly die at others, so I planted some at a couple rentals last spring to see if I get lucky with either.
The 3 jujubes are in the better watered area:
They get good sun (early morning until late afternoon) for most of the year. The sun has started to get lower and they lost sun around 5pm today.
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