Li Jujube

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?

I got to taste the fruit at the mostly green stage and thought it was very good, but imagine it would be better if allowed to turn color. We ate so many that honestly they began to taste the same…I wish I would have taken proper notes. Bok Jo I did get to taste when brown and it was very sweet, similar to Sugarcane. I’d heard lots of rave reviews about Honey jar but it was honestly subpar among some of the others.

The best jujube we ate that day was from a lone plant from the greenhouse hanging on to one fruit. It was Daibailing, which will soon be propagated through Shengrui Yao at New Mexico State. Perfectly crisp and sweet and it was fully green. But of course that was one fruit grown in a greenhouse, so I can’t say how it would perform if planted out. I want to follow up with Cliff and see how that performs for him since he’s up in zone 6 in Kentucky. I’m in the Piedmont area of North Carolina so I am hoping whatever did well for him works here for us.

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What part of the Piedmont? I’m about 35 miles west of Winston-Salem.

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Oh cool, I’m in the northwest part of Greenbsoro near the airport.

Have you seen the series of photos starting with this one of a Li tree in Greensboro?

If you’re ever headed out my way, you’re very welcome to make plans to visit, by the way. I always enjoy connecting with other fruit growers in person (and sharing whatever scions or layerings or whatever I have to share.)

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I have not seen those photos. Thanks for passing them along! That’s great to see the tree performing well.

Thank you for the offer, I would love to visit at some point. I’m fairly new to tree crops and fruit production, so trying to learn all I can. And same for you, you’re most welcome to visit as well. I don’t have much in production yet, but in the coming years I should have some scion to share. I am grafting the following jujubes on to Sugarcane and GA866 under stock this coming season: Dae Sol Jo, Bok Jo, Xu Zhou, and Honey Jar. Once they get going I’ll hopefully be able to report something good! If I have some scion remaining in May, I’d be happy to pass it on to you.

I got a Li Jujube from a friend. It was ~9 feet high when I got it.

I pruned it to ~ 6 feet high 2 months ago. Now I realized I might have pruned it too short. Will it still be able to grow higher?

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Could anyone point me to the right place to learn how to prune Jujube tree correctly? It seems they are different from those common stone fruit trees.

It will continue to grow. I rarely prune my jujubes but they are in areas that can grow tall. When I did I just shortened the uprights. I don’t know what direction this tree is facing but it needs lots of sunlight. It may grow tall again to reach sunlight and you may need to let it get above some of the shading plants. Looks like it has some good growth.

It is facing east. A lot of sunshine in the morning, but not the afternoon. Will this do?

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It needs a minimum of 6-8 hours a day. If not it won’t fruit. It will grow tall reaching for the sun.

It should get 6 hours, but not 8 hours I guess. I will see how it is doing before relocate it…

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paopao How did your prune work out? I plan on shortening my Li, Lang and GA 866 to 7-8’, and hope the grow more bushy. these girls get tall!

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