if growing in soils that tend to get dry quickly, watering would be good, mandatory in fact, but only just prior to the foliage getting “sad”. At least that is what have been doing here, hence the rationales pointed out, especially the potted specimens that sometimes forget to manually water
i am not too sure about regions with milder summers, especially where weeds/grass survive even when not watered,as this indicates high moisture content of the soil. Weeds will die first-- way before jujubes start getting droopy. Here in vegas, native ‘weeds’ seem to be less tolerant of a dry spell than jujubes. It is very rare for even cacti to survive being planted anywhere here(without being watered periodically) during the first few summers
i really feel that if one is in an area where weeds/grass tend to grow on their own without having to be watered, i’d think that when growing jujus, amending the soil with lots of compost, or even chemical fertilizers(if one is not a stickler to organic farming), is the way to go, then irrigate periodically-- but never too much of a soaking, since the soil is quite moist.
from my experience, the variety of rootstock also plays a part as to how the budwood will perform. This is after having grown jujus from seed and noticing differences in vigor and precocity despite similar conditions, or if a seedling under disadvantaged conditions(small pot and under part shade) outperforms another seedling(of the same age or older)that has more favorable conditions(much larger pot/richer soil, etc.)
The spot where I have the jujube growing is hot and dry. Probably wouldn’t be suited for much else that I would want since I don’t like watering. Hopefully they can survive the winters. The grass is mostly native buffalograss (which is tough stuff and can survive with very little rain), or at least it’s headed that way since I don’t water. I didn’t amend the holes when planting, but I mulched a bit to help conserve moisture since the soil will go rock hard. I have watered them occasionally to get them going and gave a bit of nitrogen earlier this summer. These are on wild seedling rootstocks. What is interesting to me is that the honey jar in this spot appear to be more productive in terms of trying to fruit than the rootstock (at least so far).
well your hj, despite being the new kid on that block-- it staked its claim on that piece of land like a boss.
i am a lazy/minimalist gardener too, (perhaps the laziest or extreme minimalist in this forum, lol), but unfortunately have to water here, and simply guesstimate the borderline minimum irrigation amount, just enough to keep the jujus alive…
btw, saw you are in nebraska, i presume you’re already acquainted with @tonyOmahaz5, especially re: his HJ’s which seem to be just as productive in omaha as they are here.
quite possible that the rootstock was grown from seed, so still a juvenile and not ready to bear.
HJ as a cultivar(here in usa) is~2 decades old, so any clone obtained would have mature characteristics.
Yes, the seedlings were doing well in this spot, and I thought HJ might be something good to graft since they were doing well for Tony and people seem to really like them. I hope to graft a few more of something next spring.
I wonder what the avg annual precip is where jujube are native? I think we are dry here, but it’s rainforest compare to you!
among metropolitan cities in usa, vegas probably has the driest climate, soil-wise and air-wise. Phoenix may have higher temps during summer, but humidity seems to be higher there.
here, you get dehydrated pretty quickly just by breathing! That-- coupled with high temps make transpiration a heat sink for plants, which worsens loss of soil moisture.
Here it’s low humidy days (not quite vegas dry), coupled with high south winds and temps that dry things out fairly fast.
My hope is that jujube handle that a little better than some plants. I’m guessing they put their roots down deep?
jujus will handle just about anything better than most plants. The only thing worried about it is being so young a graft, that it may not handle an intense arctic spell this winter. It is that one scenario that apples do better than jujus, but for all other scenarios, jujus come out on top vs apples.
Here’s the Sherwood at the rental. I’ve been pruning it back to keep it from getting too long and droopy, though at least one of the long branches is a graft (most of my trees are multi-graft).
I was putting support posts on today (a good workout using the 5’ iron digging bar…) and was pretty scared of all the stinging insects which were buzzing around the flowers. I’m actually a bit surprised that none got me. I felt a bit bad for the plants to be wasting so much energy on flowers when it is too late in the season to ripen one. But I do like the grape-soda smell.
I got a decent amount (~3 quarts, I think) in September last year, so I’m guessing that they should be ready around the same time again. Maybe a bit earlier, as this summer seems slightly hotter/sunnier.
I’m so excited to be part of the jujube family with my potted trees that I just discovered the first fruits have develop.
I have Li, Sugar Cane and recently added Honey Jar. But I feel that these are just the beginning of many more to come
I do have one question on mind that I keep asking myself but do not know the answer and I’m hoping that I could get an answer from someone. Do I have to bring the potted juju trees in doors through out winter? Or can they stay outside?
Winter temperatures will go down the 10’s occasionally and we get some snow storms! Not as many and not too much snow but the blizzards can be really bad.
That is fantastic Ruben! I remember when you were looking for the trees!
Mine stay outside in zone 8a with lows supposedly down to 10 but rarely. We often have high teens and I have left small pots of dormant trees with very little loss. If you have sheltered areas it would be good but they really need to go through dormancy so don’t bring them into heated indoor areas.
Yes Katy, I finally got my first trees but I already started to think about other varieties based on your all posts, I still would like to try to start some from seeds as well.
Thank you for the advice on keeping them outside!
That would save my back a little bit with so many other pots I have to shuffle back and forth
Sugar Cane and Honey Jar fruits will have viable seeds. Li fruits do not produce seeds. HJ seeds have high likelihood to germinate. SC are only about 50-50. Let them get mature but the fruit does not have to be brown all over.
That should be completely fine for jujube. The two situations where I’ve had trouble with die-back are:
1- when I fall planted an active growing potted tree (from Florida) and the temperatures went below freezing very quickly and the low for that winter it was close to -10 F (not sure which part did it). Both trees came back from the roots the next year.
2- new grafts that didn’t put on much growth in the first year sometimes die
