From what I’ve read here, lots of people have on and off years for producing. Should I be touching flowers for pollination? Or what’s the consensus? Is it a maturity/size thing? I want to make corrections next year if I should be doing something different. On a side note, the blooms smelled great while flowering, so I would expect lack of pollinators not to be the problem. Both my hj and sugar cane had many flowers for weeks and I only ended up with one fruit.
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My HJ are not a thumb size. They are a bit smaller.
Aside from the fact the some varieties are shy bearers, there are two factors that seem to help in increase fruit production: sun exposure (the more sun, the better) and short distance between trees.
There were pics that members here posted showing increased yield from those two factors. There must be other factors but they have not been unanimously identified yet.
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I know it’s been a a while since you asked your question, but given the time of year, I’m guessing you still haven’t planted anything yet. I planted jujubes in my fairly small (at least by rural standards) front yard and I’m regretting it now because of all the super thorny suckers that come up very aggressively. The trees have very pretty foliage (but no fall color or ornamental flowers) and I definitely like the fruit, but I don’t especially like the form for a yard tree. The suckers are really getting to be a pain, though. Maybe in a more intensively managed yard they wouldn’t be so bad, but my front yard is more like a pasture. (I only mow it a few times a year, and I will occasionally graze smaller livestock in between things.) If I were mowing regularly and managing the beds in front of the house intensively, maybe I could cut them out and not worry about them. So I don’t know how applicable my thoughts are to you, but from now on I’d like to only plant jujubes where I can mow/bush hog something like a 30’ perimeter around them.
I would definitely recommend you try them. I’ve seen some very productive trees in zone 7 North Carolina, and my own trees seem to be getting better with age. Based on my experience so far, I’d be inclined to recommend Li over Sugar Cane. Even apart from Li’s much bigger fruit size, I think I like the tate of Li just as well if not better, and Li seems to be at least as productive as Sugar Cane, too. I think it’s the standard fresh eating variety for pretty good reason.
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I’ll register another decided vote for Lang for fresh eating (which is about all I’ve done with it so far.) Everyone in my family really likes it.
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Do you know the name of the variety?
Hmm…
Logee’s description of Li is that it’s self-fertile. That alone might be a good reason to get it. Even if you get a 2nd, Li should work if the other tree doesn’t flower or dies or something.
I was pretty much set on looking for Honey Jar and Sugar Cane IF I like the fruit (I just purchased a sampler box from Cliff England).
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Several jujubes are “self fertile”. They don’t seem to produce much on their own, from accounts of several growers and my own.
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we have gi-1183, and got it from Mr Meyer too, but fruits look totally different, apart from being a sparse producer, unlike the extremely productive specimen that you posted. Have no clue if ours is the ‘real deal’ or just another clerical error…
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Chico is one of my favorites. However, seems like at the start of the season they are not as good. Maybe I’m too anxious and don’t let them hang long enough but they always get really really good later on. I know @Bhawkins has it in Dallas.
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I have 3 of them, but agree it’s not talked about much. Has a unique flavor that I don’t care for, but my wife and all our friends rate it as one of the best.
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I have noticed the same thing about the early fruits. They are just not as good as the later fruits. It’s very consistent that way from year to year.
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Do you have a photo of the 1183 fruits?
Honey Jar and figs are filling up my fruits refrigerator freezer section quickly for year round usage.
Tony
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What do frozen figs taste like? I thought it would be mushy?
You HJ looked big in the pic. My HJ is very small. They make my Sugar Cane look big.
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Flavor and sweetness stayed the same but firm and not mushy when thawed but not crunchy like fresh.
Tony
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They don’t look like mine at all. Mine are skinnier.
