Both. The fruiting stems will fall off. And sometimes the laterals will shed but if you have good sized laterals they will green up too.
Here is pics of a couple of my new ones. Mine will be way ahead of yours—-I’m far south of you. But you can see how they will look.
Ok! Good pic! I’ll be on the lookout. I guess I’ve got some time still. I assume high 70’s or higher to get to that point. Thanks for the input. I can’t wait to get some fruit. The sugar cane I ordered from edible landscaping has flower buds, so I hope I can at least get something from that one if all else fails. Apples, peaches and cherries are in the middle of flowering here. And just starting to leaf. I guess I’ll just have to sit on my hands!
As @mamuang said the new ones will take longer to break bud. My older trees are fully leafed out. Tbese were bare roots that i planted in feb/mar.
What do dormant flower buds look like on jujube?
I probably don’t use correct terms. To me, there are no visible dormant flower buds on dormant jujube trees.
Once jujubes break dormancy, new young branches are sprouting. Along those new branches, leaves emerge first. Flower buds sit at the bases of those leaves. That’s when you see them.
I found some photos of dormant nodes and some that are greening. As @mamuang said they don’t put out flower buds. All growth comes from these nodes. There are three types of growth on jujubes. Primary (or upright growth), lateral (secondary growth), and deciduous fruiting branchlets. So when the nodes sprout they grow either the fruiting stems or upright growth or both. The lateral branches grow off the uprights. Fruiting branches also grow off the laterals.
Dormant node (actually not completely dormant. Light colored areas beginning to awaken)
Greening beginning
Fruiting branchlets from node with tiny bloom buds developing along stem.
Node growing fruiting stem and beginning of upright. (Thicker, darker green, speckled)
Multiple uprights growing…dark green thick stems.
Fruiting stems with flower buds and blooms
Fruiting stems are shed in dormancy.
I have a reputation for pictures…I wouldn’t want to ruin it… 
You did a great job explaining and the pics are very clear. Thanks a bunch.
Those dark green thick stems, are they going to be the laterals? I see in Katy’s picture that the plant has lateral about 2-3 inches long. Do they need to be pruned that short? Is it possible to prune Jujubes to a vase shape?
I have to do some research on jujube pruning. If anybody knows a good video, pls let me know.
The dark green thick stems are the uprights and laterals form on these. The only tree I have pruned is my Lang and I just shortened it because it was growing so tall. Different jujubes grow different shaped trees. My Honey Jar, Li, and Lang make nice canopied trees. My Chico has a scraggly droopy look to it.
I like the tree shape with a nice canopy. Hate a yucky mess of a tree, whatever tree it is.
I like both but I really like the unusual looking ones. It’s kinda like art. Different things for different people. The contorteds are really interesting because their branches are twists and turns.
My oldest trees are only on their 4th leaf. They are about 7 ft tall. I will top them off at 8th ft. My HJ, SC and Shanxi Li have a good upright tree form.
I do not think jujubes are meant to be
shaped into a vase shape or open center.
@Susu were the pictures with the short laterals in the first set of photos? Those were on new bareroot trees that I planted this spring. Those were trimmed by the nursery for shipping.
Thank you for the explanations and pictures. I’ll have to compare to my tree.
I have a single Honeyjar going into 2nd leaf. Last year I planted it kind of late from bare root, and there were no fine roots at all. I only got 1 or 2 inches of growth, and jujube leafs out so late I thought it likely dead, or at least died back quite a bit.
Now its leafing out, so I’m curious about them. They definitely grow differently than any other temperate fruits I’m used to.
Yes they do. I am actually intrigued by them being so different in structure and growth. Kinda alien-like…primitive…
Thanks for the pics. Makes it very easy what to look for. I was looking for dormant buds too, that’s why I thought mine might have crapped out.
Jason,
You are half a zone warmer than me. My Sucar Cane, planted in the spring of 2016 is at this stage of growth. Granted we have unusual cool weather and jujubes like heat.
Massandra is the youngest one, planted last year. Looklike this.
