I don’t know that either way is wrong- just a matter of how to best communicate information. Note that I didn’t say years old- I said “in year #7”. I try to count how many growing seasons a plant has had, under the assumption that a tree planted in October isn’t really that far ahead of a tree planted in March of the next year. So, if a tree was planted in March 2016, it is in year #7 now, while October 2016 would be in year #6. Right now, the March one would be 6 years old and the October one would be only 5 years old. But, come October, both would be 6 years old, even though one has had a lot more growing (a full summer’s worth). Humans tend to grow a lot more uniformly, (though I sometimes want to hibernate during the winter 
) so this factor doesn’t exist when counting birthdays.
Almost all of my trees were planted in the spring. By your method, these trees would be year # 1 trees, right?
Would these year #1 trees also be called first leaf ? And the following year would be year #2 or 2nd leaf trees?
@BobVance @tonyOmahaz5 How do you order from the chinese red date orchard? I sent in an email two days ago requesting a honey jar for spring 2023, but haven’t heard back yet. I wasn’t sure if I should wait a few more days, or if that is indicative that they won’t have any available for me?
What email address did you use?
Per my correspondence with them, info@chinesereddate.com isn’t active anymore.
I used xuebingye@yahoo.com and got a response anywhere from same day to 7 days.
Yes
Yes, some times I have referred to year #2 as “2nd leaf”
Thanks! I sent the email to both info@chinesereddate.com and xuebingye@yahoo.com. But I will wait a few days to follow up, if it sometimes takes 7 days for a response.
I had inquired about a honey jar, since that is the one most people are familiar with, but after reading through this thread I am wondering whether I should ask about Russia #2 (Black Sea) instead, since that seems to be one that both you and @castanea agree is excellent. Any thoughts on one versus the other for a mid-atlantic zone 7A garden? Also, taking into consideration that I won’t have a pollinator yet (I’ll probably try to graft a pollinator branch after the first year).
I would still tilt toward Honey Jar, as it seems a bit more precocious and that is something you probably want early on. Black Sea isn’t a bad choice though, so I wouldn’t regret either. I’m not sure what the pollination implications are, as I generally have a lot more varieties in close proximity, so it isn’t a factor that I really test. Why not get both and a KFC or a Maya to keep them company?
One of the big benefits in ordering from CRD is the availability of the other interesting choices like KFC, Maya, Dong, Da Bai Ling, Redwoods, etc.
I wish I could! I have limited space, though, and probably only have space for one tree (for now!)
One location has a very productive Sugar Cane graft on a productive multi-graft tree (with So, Sihong, Fuicuimi, etc). This one had only 1 small crack that I could see, in the upper right of the pic. Not bad.
It’s not crack-related, but the Bok Jo graft at this site is pretty loaded.
Even the Li has a decent amount of fruit. And the Honey Jar in the background has even more (other side of the Honey Jar is the above Bok Jo). The only part of that tree not loaded is Dong, which has a more moderate set.
I also stopped by a shady site where the trees don’t have a heavy set (not enough sun and a bit young). I expected to see some cracking in the Sugar Cane, but only saw a bit. I wonder if it is because the SC isn’t as close to ripe at the shaded site (maybe half sun).
Back home, I noticed another tree with some cracked fruit. An Autumn Beauty. The strange thing here is that none of the other Autumn Beauty are ripe and most of the fruit looks different. I would think it is a different cultivar, except I do see one large green fruit which looks similar to what the other AB have.
A few ripening on my (Shanxi Li) now… which best i remember some of you think it may actually be a Lang (pear shaped).
There are more ripening in the top… have to get my ladder this eve to harvest those.
I eat no carbs until dinner… so taste test will happen then.
Add later…
Lang or Shanxi Li ???
The tree was ordered as Shanxi Li from OGW… arrived with a Shanxi Li label…
But is it a lang by the fruit ?
And if you have experience with ripening Lang fruit… do you like them best when partially brown like these… or when fully brown ? Or later on when brown and shrivvled up some ?
Thanks
I got an email response from CRD! Bingye wrote:
Honeyjar is still available, but Honeyjar itself can’t produce fruit, it needs another variety as pollenizer. I suggest you buy another one such as Li or Shanxi Li.
You can also select Alcalde#1.
Here is the variety description:
For Fresh Eating | New Mexico State University - BE BOLD. Shape the Future.
I’m assuming that he made these suggestions because these varieties are self-fruitful?
I’ve read a lot about Li and Shanxi Li in this forum, but I have not heard of Alcalde#1. Has anyone heard of this one or grown it? The website description states that Alcate#1 has “good” fruit quality, versus honey jar which has “excellent fresh eating quality.” Is this meaningful, or just semantics?
Also, my primary purpose for the jujube is to have something that my kids will love, and that will be easy for me to care for. Everything I’ve read is that the honeyjar is the most kid-friendly-jujube (i.e. sweetest and juiciest, not spongy). My original plan was to get a honey jar this year, and then graft another variety onto it for pollenization later (which, BTW, any tips for best grafting method/timing/callus temps for jujube would be much appreciated!) But do you think it would just be easier/better to get one of the varieties that Bingye recommended instead, and leave it at that? Does anyone have any thoughts on the kid-friendliness of those varieties versus the honey jar?
I’d stick with Honey Jar and graft something on. You could even do that the first year.
Alcalde #1 (aka Autumn Beauty), Shanxi Li and Li haven’t been that productive for me early on, though they are getting better with time. They also have larger fruit size. I knew Li was reputed to be self-fertile, but am not sure of the others, but he is Prof Yao’s husband, so I assume he would know. But if you are planting for the kids, they will be grown by the time you start getting good harvests
Maybe not off at college, but 4-6 years is a long time. Even if it takes you a year to get a graft to work, the graft will likely flower that same year (may or may not set fruit, depending on how established the host tree is). That would likely be enough to pollinate the Honey Jar.
I graft with good success anytime in April. I suspect that your weather isn’t all that far off.
You can check post #2554 in this thread for a lot more info about grafting.
It is a Lang. You can harvest it at this stage. Shaanxi Li is round. It doesn’t give much credit to OGW if they can mix them up.
Thanks so much!
Haha, my youngest is 4, so he’ll still be here, but having something that bears earlier is definitely better.
I’ll go ahead and order the honey jar. Thanks, again, for all your advice!
(PS, and unrelated, but also thank you for the fig cuttings you sent me… I got 4 to leaf out! I have 3 reservoir and one black bethlehem right now in 1 gallon pots looking nice and bushy. One of the reservoirs even has figlets!)
@Harbin … my daughter just tried a couple…one that was about 1/3 brown…and another that was almost all brown.
They were both good… but the one that was almost fully brown had more flavor…a deeper more rich flavor.
In the same order with OGW… i bought a illinois everbearing mulberry… that turned out to be somekind of white mulberry.
Harbin,
My Shanxi Li is not round, maybe, oblong. I think @BobVance Shanxi Li looks the same as mine.
They look like Lang to me. Here are pics of both:
Lang:
Shanxi Li:
More round than Lang, but not round like a ball, as some jujubes are. Oblong seems a reasonable description. A bit like an elongated apple.
Depends on where you are growing your fruit. Alcalde #1 appears to be the same as Autumn Beauty. This is Autumn Beauty grown in California -
For me, Autumn Beauty was infinitely better than Honey Jar. The AB fruit was crispy and delicious, always one of my top 3 jujubes and I grew around 50 different cultivars. Honey Jar has never been in my top 10 and I’m quite sure it never will be. But in many areas of the US, people do love Honey Jar. Below is a typical photo of Honey Jar fruit. It’s the tiny fruit in the middle. The other fruits are Sherwood, Porterville, HJ, Mu and an unnamed seedling. All had bigger fruit and better flavor than Honey Jar.
Which email did they reply from? is there a list of what and prices available?
Per TreeGuy, the list was as follows (as of 12 days ago):
Li, Shanxi Li, Honeyjar, Sihong, GA866, Sugarcane, Russia#2 ($40 per tree), Alcalde#1, Fucuimi, Maya, Dabailing, Kongfucui ($50 per tree),Dongzao(冬枣) ($60 per tree)
While that hasn’t been my experience, I’m hopeful and encouraged by that description.
This is the first year that I have a significant set on Autumn Beauty, aside from the Mango Dong, which I think is a AB, based on the fruit matching the few AB that I got, as well as pics.
I should also mention that if you are planning on one tree and making a multi-graft, Alcalde #1/ Autumn Beauty may not be an ideal tree. While this summer of sun has elicited good fruit set on most of my AB, there is one which is part of a multi-graft. Even though being a large portion of a very large tree (and a graft made 5 years ago), there are only 2-3 fruit on a 8+ foot tall section of the tree which is AB. It had a lot earlier in the season, but they dropped off and Sugar Cane and Russia #4 held their fruit on the tree. I suspect (nowhere near conclusive), that AB is susceptible to having it’s water/energy taken by more productive cultivars on the tree.
Honey Jar is generally small, but in the pic it is shriveled. The only time I remember such wrinkled Honey Jar is if one stayed on the counter too long and started to dry.
How is the fruit quality for Mu? I saw a post on FB from Cliff that he has set this year, but never had it in the past outside of the greenhouse.
I had my first Chico from my tree today. It was a bit damaged and missing the stone from the pit (probably why it ripened early), but was very good. I’m actually looking forward to sampling more of the Chico as much as I am some of the highly touted varieties (Dong, Sandia, etc).
In my experience Chico is like Li—it does not produce seeds at all.
Chico often doesn’t have optimum taste on first fruits—it seems to get better as it matures more fruits. Also it is one that is better solid brown. I really like Chico!