Jujubes- Our New Adventure

I went ahead and ordered Chico and HJ from Burnt Ridge. They were the only nursery to have both HJ and Chico. One World showed Autumn Beauty as sold out through next spring. Rolling river, as usual, showed to be out of almost all of their JuJubes. JFE I don’t think has updated their site for fall yet. Thanks for the advice.

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I’ve gotten several of my trees from Burnt Ridge. I will use them again. Are they doing a fall delivery or did you order for spring?

I order for spring. It did not appear that they would send in fall. It should ship late Feb early March.

I didn’t think they shipped to our area in the fall. I hate that too because I would buy more from them.

Katy

Bob,
How far apart you plant your So and Massandra? We had the Golden Rain tree removed yesterday. They are spots that we could squeeze both in if I plant them close but I want to make sure I don’t plant them too close.

That’s a good question and I’m interested to hear what others say as well. I’ve planted a lot of jujubes at 5’ spacing, but eventually I think I’ll either need to remove some or do hard pruning on them to ensure they get enough light. But they grow slowly enough here that I wouldn’t want to leave massive space. I think something in the area of 8-10’ would be plenty, especially since both are reportedly on the small side.

I’ve noticed that my oldest So is spreading horizontally more than vertically (a good thing, I think), so I’m probably not planning on replacing the PF1 peach tree which was 8-9’ away from it on the North side. But, this is after 7+ years of growth and it’s not like they ever got closer than a few feet apart. I may put a seedling jujube in place of the peach to size up for a few years, given that they are so small,

Thank you, Bob. I will keep them 8’ apart. Don’t think I have enough room for 10’ apart. I don’t think I am good for potted plantts. Too much work of getting the right media, watering, fertilizing, etc. putting them in ground, much less hassle.

I completely agree. The only thing I keep in pots now are things which can’t live outside (mangos, lychee, etc), figs (which do much better in them), and a few things which are waiting to be planted.

Here’s a pic of my So. It’s started sizing up in the last year and is now 9-10’, both horizontally and vertically. I thinned out some growth earlier this summer and am planning to further open it by tying down some of the vertical growth on the North side, now that the PF1 won’t be in the way of me getting around it.

Here’s a closeup of some fruit. Normally, there is at least some ripening by now, but I’ve only gotten a few poor quality ones. This year is later than normal, with way too many rainy day, both most of the spring and for some time in Aug/September.

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multi-grafted trees have scions that are planted ‘too close’ to each other, and with jujus, this shouldn’t be an issue, as long as the desired scions are not competing for sunlight–grafted high up, above all the branches of the rootstock or interstems.
thus said, there shouldn’t be an issue with young plants either, as long as they are located in the sunniest part of the yard. Best to planted them in a north to south position( along the longitudinal axis of mother earth), with the taller or fast-growing cultivar being planted north, since the sun arcs south from east to west, from am to pm. Thus the taller one does not cast shadows on the shorter one.

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Thanks, Raf, for your input. I tend to forget about north, south, east, west thing as I have a limited space. That type of consideration often slips my mind. However, since I will have them side by side about 8 ft apart. The north- south orientation should work. Thanks for the advice,

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Bob,
I vote to remove PF1. Replace it with more jujubes!!!

Anyone know which is taller, So or Massandra?

By the way, two friends stop by today, one Asian, one American. I picked my first two Sugar Cane for them to try. Both loved it saying the fruit were sweet and crunchy. This was the first time they ate jujubes. Very well received.

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glad your sc is producing for you already @mamuang and that its fruits are well-received. And if remember it right, it is not even 4yrs of age is that correct?
8 ft apart is decent spacing for jujus. And at that distance, it shouldn’t matter much which would be taller, since jujus can take hard pruning and will still bear fruit on greenwood(flowering and fruiting is not limited to old wood/fruiting spurs). So you simply just trim the south-planted juju if it happens to grow much taller or faster. Additionally, lopping off the apical buds of upright stems would thicken and extend longevity of the the semi-deciduous laterals below the apical buds, which means it also extends the lifespan of fruiting spurs and thickens them too. The thicker the fruiting spurs, the more fruits per unit length of lateral, since older spurs will bear more of the herbaceous(deciduous) flowering stems per spur. Young laterals usually only bear two deciduous flowering stems per spur, especially on first year of growth.

It mostly removed itself. There were only a couple small branches of PF1 left, and an unknown graft (supposed to be Harrow Diamond, but not) which wasn’t bad, though most cracked and rotted this year. But not so healthy overall, so I’m better without it.

Jujube grow slow (here), so rather than pruning the tallest and thickest parts of the So, I’m going to try expanding it horizontally to just take more area.

If you don’t find a solid answer, maybe put So in the more visible position, as it has an edge in aesthetics.

Your doing well to get them ripe now. Mine still look about the same as the So in the above picture. I’m not sure if I have only a few Sugar Cane or several handfuls worth. The answer depends on if one of the low, but productive branches is coming from above or below the graft. Visually, it’s too close to call, so I’ll find out by taste. I tried picking one early (no brown except the ring around the stem) from the low branch and it wasn’t good, so I’m not too encouraged.

Bob,
Took the pics of Sugar Cane this evening after work.

Picked one to try. Sweet and cracking crunchy. Love it.

@tonyOmahaz5, I will have to dethrone Honey Jarbased on the fact that HJ is a lot smaller. This year, my SC is larger than the past two years, thank to lot of rain.

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I agreed Sugarcane fruits are bigger but I like the sweeter HJ. Both are keeper!!

Here is HJ

Here is Sugarcane

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I will wait to taste HJ, hopefully in a few weeks.

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I’ve never tasted a Jujube, and have never seen them in the markets. I have thought about planting some, but everyone just compares them to apples. Are they really worth growing if you grow apples? I would assume so since so many people here and elsewhere rave about them so. Where should I look to find some to taste before giving up real estate to something I may not care for.

TFN

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They remind people of apples but they don’t taste just like apples. They taste sweeter but more dense than juice, I think. They also have certain fragrance that I can’t describe. They are sold in Chinese supermarkets.

Someone like @jujubemulberry, @castanea, @k8tpayaso, @Bhawkins, @BobVance, @tonyOmahaz5 probably could describe the taste of jujubes better than me.

One of these people may be able to send you samples if you ask nicely :smile: We all want more people to know about jujubes.

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Not many Chinese supermarkets in my neck of the woods. I will look around more to try to find some. I would not want on impose on the great people here by asking for samples. I’ll find some somewhere…I hope…LOL

TFN

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Keep in mind, in some Indian grocery stores, they have Indian jujubes, not quite the same as Chinese jujubes.

If you go with Honey Jar and Sugar Cane, you are probably on the right track. You can graft other varieties on later. Burntridge Nursery have both varieties at a reasonable price comparing to other nurseries.

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