Li Jujube

Here are a couple pics of my Li jujube tree. It is in its fourth growing season. It has flowered each year, but this is the first where it will likely produce fruit. There are 12 -15 fruit on the tree. I also have a Sugar Cane jujube about 12 feet away. It has one fruit on it.

Looks like I may actually get fruit this year. Was afraid I may be waiting 10 years or more!

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What month do you think these will ripen?

will probably reach maturity in a month or so.
li, btw, does not taste sour when immature, and is edible(to me, at least) when they reach a large-enough size.
incidentally, the fruits in the pics appear different from the li’s i have. Perhaps it is due to regional differences?where am at, li’s fruits are generally roundish in shape, and not elongated.

Derby, this is my first crop, but I think they should ripen around September.

jujubemulberry, I didn’t really pay much attention to the shape, but I think you’re right. These look more like Lang than Li. If so, that’s disappointing.

it could still be a li. Shape could have been influenced by local conditions, and may still assume a roundish shape when mature. And if it is not a li, seriously doubt if it is a lang either , as lang’s generally assume pear-shapes.
really hard to say right now since fruits are still developing in size. If you could post pictures of them a month from now i might be able to tell what it is not(but to identify exactly what it is, i might not be able to)
the shape of some in the pictures reminds me of either ant admire, ga866, or gi1183, All of which are considered far superior to lang’s.

I have a Li Jujube coming in soon. I’m trying to decide on a spot for it. One location I have get part shade but has good drainage. The other spot has good sun but poor drainage. I could plant in a raised bed but still about 10 feet away from it collects water for about a day after a heavy rain. Which spot would you choose?
Also are jujube trees sensitive to transplanting like pears or persimmons?

I’d go for sun; part shade won’t produce very well. My jujube’s have transplanted much better than my persimmons

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Susu,
I vote for the full sun and near a pool of water area.

My first 3 jujubes were planted on raised beds next to our driveway where a big dip is. When it rains, there is a pool of water there, 5 ft from the trunks of jujubes. My raised beds are about 1- 1.5 ft above the ground.

Jujubes may be able to tolerate a drought. However, I think they don’t mind being near water. At least mine don’t. They have grown well going into their 4th year.

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Thank you both. Sun and poor drainage it is!

Raise bed. The higher, the better

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The year I posted this was the best crop I ever got from that tree. It’s produced almost nothing since then. The Sugar Cane produces lots of fruit every year.

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Thats a common problem with jujubes, they lure you into thinking they will be productive then they pull the rug out a few years later. All of my older ones played that trick on me. Right now I am still waiting for my newer plants in sunnier spots to get big enough to fruit.

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Are there any varieties that produce consistently?

When I visited Cliff England last year the ones that were producing quite well were Sugarcane, Shanxi Li, Redlands, Dae Sol Jo, Bok Jo, and Xu Zhou…and I believe Honey Jar as well. That particular year, Dae Sol Jo was absolutely loaded with some massive fruit! Several others were doing well but I remember those stood out.

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Also, I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what type of growth/branching I am seeing on this potted Sugarcane. Where will major laterals or scaffolds emerge from? It’s leafed out early because I was storing it in the garage because we need to clear out some space for it. Should I wait til all risk of frost is gone before planting it?15525710810172783515474412307818|690x920

Oops here is the image!

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“When I visited Cliff England last year the ones that were producing quite well were Sugarcane, Shanxi Li, Redlands, Dae Sol Jo, Bok Jo, and Xu Zhou…and I believe Honey Jar as well.”

I have HJ, Sugar Cane and Shanxi Li. All have produced fruited for 3 years. Shaxi Li is not productive at all in my yard. I think @BobVance has the same experience.

HJ and SC have produced well. It seems to me the two factors contributing to productivity is being in full sun and planting in close proximity for cross pollination. I do not know how much fertilization plays a role in jujubes being productive. @tonyOmahaz5 has good success with jujube production when he fertilizes them, in addition to having the two factors I mentioned.

I have started fertilizing my jujubes last year, 2018. Coincidentally, the production went noticeably up from 2017.

Interesting that those two were mentioned. Bok Jo produced well from a 2nd year graft and Dae Sol Jo produced a single fruit on a new graft.

I’m planning to give this a try this spring. I had a lot of fruit appear to set during the hot weather in July, but most of it dropped off later. This was especially true on a Shanxi Li, which ended up with either 0 or 1 ripe fruit, after having 20+ small ones.

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I had several Shanxi Li that did not have seeds inside. It’s like they were not cross pollinated. I should have taken some pics. Those of them did not grow as big as the pollinated ones. Some dried out and dropped, others grew and hung on.

When I bit into them, where the seeds should have been was hollow.

Did you also get to taste the fruit? Or can anyone else here give a taste report on Dae Sol Jo?