Jujubes- Our New Adventure

[k8tpayaso]

Short answer is osmocote plus.

[BobVance]

The bad news is it’s happened during jujube bloom time. I wonder how much this on-going rain will negatively affect fruit set.

It hasn’t been that sunny, but there are parts of each day which aren’t bad. I still have high hopes because of all the sun we got over the previous three weeks. Some of my jujubes have started to form tiny fruitlets.

Here’s Bok Jo, which has more than average right now.

Here’s one from 5/27 at a rental that I thought was pretty good.

[mamuang]

Bob,
Your area is about two weeks earlier than mine. Your jujube flowering timing is better than mine, too.

My jujubes started to be in full bloom when the first pouring rain started last Sat. Since then, it has rained every day. Period of sun on each day has been brief. Most days, it’s cloudy. We seem to have a down pour at least once a day everyday.

I have not seen many flying insects near my jujubes.

[Bhawkins]

I’ve found that when my jujus grow a lot they tend to set less fruit.

I planted a Xu Zhou 10 years ago or so; it grew 6’/year, straight up; I had 1 jujubee in 5 years. About 3 years ago I planted one at a different location; 6 ft tall now and its loaded

At my house I have about 10 mature jujubees; they were 10-12 feet tall after 4 years. I’m on a nice golf course & wanted everything to look tidy so I trimmed them all to 6-7ft last winter. Now they’re 12’ tall again but there’s not much fruit on the trees, though they’re still flowering so I have hopes

[BobVance]

We seem to have a down pour at least once a day everyday.

That’s good for the garden at least! A lot less hand watering.

I have not seen many flying insects near my jujubes.

I don’t think I’ve seen as many either, unlike in the past. But I have seen ants (some tiny, some large) crawling all over. I’m guessing that will help more with the multi-graft trees, as there isn’t any guarantee that an individual ant will make it from one tree to another. I’d estimate that over half my trees have additional varieties grafted on.

I’m not sure why there haven’t been as many fliers recently. The trees started putting out the strong grape soda smell a couple days before all this rain started. Which I thought was interesting, as I saw open flowers for a week+ before that, but didn’t notice the smell initially. I’m not sure if the smell from an individual flower is small and not noticeable until there are a lot, or if the first ones don’t have much smell to them.

Short answer is osmocote plus.

Would anything with a similar NPK (15-9-12, from what I found online) be roughly equivalent, or are you recommending it due to another feature? Maybe the micro-nutrients, or the plastic(?) coating which controls the slow release by temperature (per the Amazon description)?

[k8tpayaso]

The long answer is that I don’t always use Osmocote but that’s the one I put in my potting mix and I do really like it. I do like the micronutrients in it and do I know if they make a difference?—no I don’t. But it sounds good on the bottle. . I tried the expert Gardner brand from Walmart. I just think the osmocote is more uniform and better. I usually buy online and try to only buy it while it is discounted because I really hate paying full price for anything. BUT… I use other stuff too… one with a higher P-K like 6-10–10 if I have a stressed plant or something that I need to push the roots a bit. And I use liquid like Miracle Gro if I’m trying to feed some when they need repotting and the osmocote is definitely gone and I don’t want to add more because I’m about to pot them up which will already have a dose of osmocote in the mix.
And that’s just my potted seedlings and etc. In the orchard I usually just use 13-13-13 if I put any out. I can’t afford osmocote in the orchard!

I do like Osmocote and I think my plants do very well with it. If it’s their micronutrients and release system then maybe that’s why it does so well.

[7catcmom]

John Panzarella recommended Texas Turf 15-5-10 lawn fertilizer (not the Weed and Feed) for citrus. Super cheap at Walmart $13 per 30 lbs, but I have not tried it yet.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Honey Jar and Massandra are very heavy setter for me. My 4 yrs old Orange Beauty graft tree from @castanea is 13 feet tall and showing a few fruits set.

[k8tpayaso]

My 4 yrs old Orange Beauty graft tree from @castanea is 13 feet tall and showing a few fruits set.

That’s good to know…Mine is on its third year and no fruit yet.

[BobVance]

I’m not sure why there haven’t been as many fliers recently. The trees started putting out the strong grape soda smell a couple days before all this rain started.

Ok- I saw plenty today. Either I was looking at the wrong time of day, or it took them a few days to find the jujubes. I didn’t see anything other than ants on the small trees, but the big ones were swarmed with flying insects today.

And with 4 more hot, sunny days before the rain comes back, hopefully the jujubes will be happy.

[mamuang]

@BobVance,
I am not as optimistic. I’ve noticed many flowers turned brown on all trees particularly, Massandra and Sugar Cane. These do not look good.

[k8tpayaso]

You’ve still got unopened blooms though…

That can spark your optimism!!!

[mamuang]

Kathy,
You’re the best!!! 4 days for soaking rain followed by hot sunny days have not been good for flowering jujubes (even my figs wilted the first hot day after 4-5 cloudy/rainy days).

[k8tpayaso]

My later blooms were the most productive so hang in there…

[BobVance]

4 days for soaking rain followed by hot sunny days

I don’t think that is as bad as if you get the rain a bit later. As Kathy said, there are still blooms that can set. But if you have set, then too much clouds and rain, the fruit can drop off. I think that was what happened to me 2 years ago. I got all excited by how many little fruit appeared to set after there was only sunny days in the first half of July. Then most of them dropped off when we had what felt like a month of rain. I just checked and there were 12 days with significant rain (~9 inches) between the middle of July and the first 3 weeks of August that year.

I think last year had a different issue- too many crisped tips. I’ve been looking for them this year and seen only a few, so maybe I’m back onto the 2018 path to low production, rather than the 2019 one

But, maybe if the rain stays at reasonable levels, the fruit which appears to have set can actually ripen.

[Marvin72]

My honey jar planted in early spring of 2019 has grown very well. It is at least 8 ft tall now. It has a pretty good fruit set. Pollinators took awhile but once they found it they were all over it. I also had many flowers turn brown but still many others formed fruit. Also many flower buds still have yet to open. Japanese beatles have begun to chew on some leaves. Most fruit that has formed is close to marble sized. Got only one fruit last year . Pretty excited.

[BobVance]

Here’s Bok Jo, which has more than average right now.

Here’s the same spot on the Bok Jo, a week later.

Another graft on the same tree (Tae Sang Wang) also has quite a few fruit forming.

Both Bok Jo and Tae Sang Wang average about 3 fruit per stem and have up to 8-9. For comparison, the Surgar Cane on the same tree has up to 2 and probably averages 0.5 per stem.

The Shanxi Li has a few (and I remember clearly that it was one that dropped all it’s fruit 2 years ago after having a lot around now…).

Other than the Shanxi and the multi-graft Sugar Cane, the only other tree that I see fruit forming on is Xu Zhou, which is in year #3. That leaves about 30 jujubes with nothing but flowers. Hopefully there is still time for them to add fruit. Though we are back to a forecast with lots of rain ahead.

[Susu]

I’m starting to worry about my Jujube tree. I planted it April 2019. It didn’t grow that well. I thought Stress from transplantIng. But this year it’s kind of a slow grower again. Not sure if this is normal. It looks healthy apart from slight cupping on some leaves. The size of it hasn’t changed since last year when I received it.

Thoughts?

[mamuang]

Susu,
I am not that experienced but I’d say no worry. Your tree is probably establishing their roots.

My Massandra was 1.5 ft tall when I planted it in 2018. It barely grew last year. It has started to grow this year but still is about 3 ft tall. I am not concerned. It just hope the fruit taste good

I don’t let my young trees suffering our mini drought. I have watered them. The burnt leaves or burnt tips are so common for jujubes young leaves that emerge during high heat. You can see the burnt tips of my Massandra.

[PharmerDrewee]

I like that you are farming your front yard! I plant vegetables under my smaller trees to make the most of space.