I admit over-analyzing, by applying my analogy to nutrient availability in humans(with regards to why i think jujus do well where am at, apart from plenty sunny days). Will do this by bringing up blood sugar: at any given point, theres a fixed amount of blood sugar running through our veins. If we rapidly infuse 2 liters of sugarless IV fluid into a patient. The total amount of blood sugar running in patients veins will still be the same, BUT the concentration will be lower which affects availability to patientās brain, and may then cause confusion, fainting, or even death. Jujus, like cacti, are native to dry conditions. Perpetually wet soils automatically result in decreased nutrient concentrations(in xerophyte terms), and the only way availability may be increased is by evaporation of water.
And taking it to an extreme scenario, you cant possibly get cacti to bear flowers or to bear fruit if you plant it close to a river(despite getting full sun and good aeration of its roots), simply because the medium it is growing on is too dilute, if not barren (again in xerophyte terms) Only way of āgiving it a chanceā to achieve optimal concentration is to let the soil dry up, and just water again when soil gets too dry.
Also notable that in vegas summers, when i water trees, the moisture is limited to the finite amount i have released(which quickly evaporates in 110F weather)as the wet rootball is enveloped by a swathe of dry earth.
If you add a pound of NPK fertilizer to that rootball, that amount is pretty much contained within that volume of earth that is wet. But if you take that pound of NPK fert to use as amendment for that hypothetical cactus planted near a river, it is a literal ādrop in the bucketā since as soon as it is dissolved it will be fertilizing the entire volume of earth that is contiguously wet. Reaching far and wide.
Sihong, sherwood, chico, priest are others that have no off flavors. Li has no grassy flavor when ripened in autumn here in vegas.
We have been growing new cultivars from seed and we have at least two with fruits that do not get affected by hot weather.
The cultivar lang is quite undesirable if you grow it here, and even in cooler weather, i have to wait until it is fully ripe, and close to wrinkly, before it attains a delectable level. Hence considered a drying type
I have Chico, Autumn Beauty, Black Sea and Sugarcane as well. Sugarcane definitely has a bitter aftertaste here. Alas, I was too late to reserve Sihong from Chinesereddate for this winter. When is best time to contact them to order for the next year?
Iāve sometimes thought that watering here in the summer might be improving the crop yields in China since the water can just disappear through the cracks in the ground
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 āsadā. 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 āweedsā 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, iād 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 wouldnāt be suited for much else that I would want since I donāt 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 itās headed that way since I donāt water. I didnāt 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 aliveā¦
btw, saw you are in nebraska, i presume youāre already acquainted with @tonyOmahaz5, especially re: his HJās 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 itās 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 itās 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. Iām 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.
Hereās the Sherwood at the rental. Iāve 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 5ā iron digging barā¦) and was pretty scared of all the stinging insects which were buzzing around the flowers. Iām 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 Iām guessing that they should be ready around the same time again. Maybe a bit earlier, as this summer seems slightly hotter/sunnier.
Iām 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 Iām 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 10ās 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 donāt 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.
