if your soil is not too rich and serious about keeping the seedlings potted to assure identity, and if any of the potted eedlings have bloomed but not produced fruit, you may take some seasoned budwood this winter then graft to established trees next spring. That may help speed up the process of fruit production. You just have to label the potted seedling and the budwood diligently, so can identify the source of the budwood should it produce good fruit after being grafted.
If you are having zero success airlayering jujubes in your locale(like the loser typing this), you could simply poach some root cuttings from the potted seedling/s(that you have positively identified to have good fruit) to produce clones on their own roots.
it is still feasible, at least from my experience, as long as you amend the soil well. Very productive jujus will quickly use up macro and micro elements. If strictly into organic fruit growing you will need a relatively big pot(>5 gallon size), and simply amend with manure, which will decompose. If the pot is tiny, you will have to use fertilizers in pellet form, or just do foliar fertilization.
btw, jujus are actually ok in acid to alkali soil. Actually the most tolerant of high pH’s among common fruit trees, it is just that when potted with little organic matter(source of acids) and irrigated with lake mead water(our water here which is rich in tums), the soil gets encrusted into a rock-hard brick as the deposition of carbonates gets to be a cumulative process due to evaporation with no outside source of acidifier. Water evaporates, and calcium carbonate gets left behind.
you could keep them productive for more than 6 years, at least from my experience. Will post a photo of a specimen when i go to a friend’s house next week. I gave him this li juju that has been potted for more than 4 years, and it is still behaving like a wanna-be tree with plenty upright growth on its 7th yr. It is well-fertilized with miracle gro mix though, hence my take on the subject
incidentally @k8tpayaso, are those contorted seedlings from contorted fruits i sent you? seems like you have the same percentage of contorted seedlings as i have that don’t present with contorted stems.
Yes they are. And yes they dont look all that contorted. However the one planted out was equivalent in “bendy trend” to many of the others and until it started growing this year did not seem to be very twisty. You cannot appreciate it in that picture but it is becoming a lovely contorted mess and I cannot wait to see it naked! Here are a few more pics…trace some of the limbs and you will see.
So…does it being restrained in growth limit the contortions? James picked that one from among the others and truthfully I didn’t think he picked the one with the most tendency to curve about. It is going to be fantastic though if it continues like it is. You just can’t see it for the leaves in the photos.
most folks wouldn’t want spines on their trees, but with contorted jujus, the spines seem to do justice by adding extra elements to the wicked aesthetics(followed by malevolent, maniacal laughter).
Here’s the link to the actual product. Good price and free shipping. The reviews are good but I can’t attest to how it will be or hold up since I just got it.
@jujubemulberry
If those jujube pits are still available im really reallly reallly interested.
I was going to offer up trades this coming fall/spring for seeds to use as rootstock and id be glad to trade if thats an option.
I traded fig cuttings for some pits and i have 3 seedlings growing now with the intent to graft once they are large enough.
After reading these post im really hoping i have the right species. From what i can tell it doesn’t resemble the Indian jujube but some pits looked round others more of a long and skinny shape with sharp points at the ends.
@k8tpayaso
My homebrew potting mix is stunting many of my seedlings too.
Making your own potting soil seems to be some sort of art that im terrible at.
I always think my mix is really good until i water it a few times then the pot just turns into basically swamp mud and suffocates whatever im growing.
@PaulinKansas6b and @ncdabbler , below are photos of priest, r4t3, and norris#1 from top to bottom. Priest is ovoid to cylindrical, while r4t3 is typically pointy, while norris is generally blunt-tipped.
r4t3 is also longer than norris, and i would say, the longest of the tubular jujus.
*here in vegas, xu zhou actually tastes better before they are fully-ripe. Apart from being less prone to fruit-split at immature stage. Already sweet even at the green stage, just like li, hj, and sihong
Wow that is very Nice pictures Raf!!!
I am very impressed!!!
I am happy to hear that Xu Zhou is tasty when green, that is one i am growing so glad to hear a good report!!
I really like Priest and R4T3 those are two I am moving up on my list big time!! As well as Orange Beauty it sounds great!!
The big question is what will produce in my KansasPrairie climate and how will it adapt! Testing is the only way to find out so I cant wait for my young trees as well as my seedling rootstock to grow out so i can do more grafting!!! Right now i have some new grafts like Coco on my Shanxi Li and Russian 5 on my Xu Zhou!
Thanks so much for the good pictorial!!!
jujus at the heart of america(Kansas) will surely add valuable info to this forum. Hope you keep us posted on your endeavors.
btw, important to note that Orange beauty was bred by one of the juju guru’s here— @castanea
@jujubemulberry
Raf Email us a list of the cultivars that you have on hand Please
We will have to do an inventory next month because we planted 25 new ones this past spring and we have about 30 more to plant this fall so I will add those as we plant them thou
I still would like to use your book for reference but It not in the library now and I fear that the wife may have file 13ed it thinking it was some kind of trade Pub
What is your price on a new one please and not the Amazon price
