My best producing variety is So. It is a contorted jujube, so it has winter interest as well.
There are also varieites like R4T3 and Tigertooth with elongated fruit
Lastly there are drying varities like Lang.
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I’ve also put in sugar cane, I’m beginning to think only certain varieties will survive hot dry summer/bitter cold winter here. I know there are Russian varieties that I might should try. how is the Russian 2?
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…I can’t say…new to jujubes… planted Sugar Cane and Russian #2 on the recommendation of Bob Vance…he should know…hopefully, next year, I’ll know also…Ron
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I think Honey Jar is considered the best one to have by most people these days (myself included) so that might be a good one to add. It is very tasty and bears early and well. The only downside is small size.
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When I saw what you planted I was going to say “well done”, then saw who suggested it…And realized I was just congratulating myself on excellent advice 
I agree. There are reasons to favor other jujubes, but I don’t find them compelling:
1.) If you want bigger fruit there are many options. Li/Redlands/Da Bai Ling all produce very large fruit of OK quality (not as crisp as Honey Jar)
2,) If you want more pounds produced, Xu Zhou and Bok Jo will both likely out-produce Honey Jar in weight. Honey Jar is very productive, but the smaller fruit doesn’t add up as quickly. I strongly prefer Honey Jar fruit to the others- Bok Jo is OK and Xu Zhou is below average (still better than Lang).
There are a few other jujubes I put on the same level as Honey Jar in terms of fruit quality. Bing Tang, Early Golden Crispy, and Mei Mi, and Fuicuimi. But I need to grow them for a bit more for a bigger sample size (more sites, more years, etc). Pinggua/Apple and Sihong are both high quality without being quite as crisp as the others. Dong/Sandia is the another one to consider adding, as the quality is very high and it does extend the season (into early November for me).
And I’m still adding more, so hopefully the list of winners will expand over time…
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…OK guys…Honey Jar it is… will be my third and final jujube…funny thing…just got an e-mail from an outfit called Planting Justice that the table grape Seneca was back in stock…(Ca. outfit / quite expensive / but with some good stuff… has anyone here dealt with them?)…was looking for this grape for a long time as it is a most outstanding table grape in zone 6 or 7 if one can control powdery mildew…use to grow it in Jersey with OUTSTANDING results in years when powdery mildew was controlled…vigorous growth grape with outstanding flavor…in my opinion, one of the very best…OK back to jujubes…browsed thru the site and found they offer 18 varieties of jujubes…including Honey Jar…so I call them and have not gotten thru multiple times…will report back when I get to talk to them but would not place an order before…I suppose anything shipped now would have to be pot grown…also the two jujubes (Sugar Cane and Russian#2 from Raintree Nursery arrived a while back)…Russian #2… a painfully small potted plant and the Sugar Cane… a good sized bare root plant…both growing …Russian #2 slowly while Sugar Cane is taking off…so, off to a running start with jujubes…hopefully next year, I’ll taste my first one …ever…looking forward to it…Ron
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A long time ago, Planting Justice used to be Rolling River Nursery. They used to send out only potted plants and had a ton of different varieties, especially of currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwi, etc.
I think I got a few jujubes from them, but wasn’t super impressed. None were large (tall, but 4" x 4" pots, I think) and one of them (Ant Admire) never leafed out. I wrote to them as told them about it and that I didn’t even need a replacement, just scionwood. They said sure, just write to us next winter to remind us. When I did that, they said they barely had enough for their own purposes and couldn’t send any. I should have said “fine- send me a replacement instead”, but I just went and found Ant Admire scionwood from a different source. But, I think this was all just before they transitioned ownership, so things may be different now.
…I tried three different days to call them with no answer and can’t leave a message…so I’ll wait until next year for a bare root Honey Jar from elsewhere…any way, I suspect their potted plants may be as small as the potted Russian #2 I got from Raintree…so probably will not lose any time waiting until next year…but, I just have to get the Seneca grape (it is that good) as I really believe it is the only nursery in the country that still offers it…I think I checked everywhere else and had given up hope until I got an email from them out of the blue that it is back in stock…Ron
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There are a couple good options for Honeyjar:
JFaE sends potted trees and they have a 2-3 gal HJ in stock now. They are a bit pricey though. They are also selling So/Contorted, an ornamental variety with zig-zag branches (good quality fruit, but generally not as good as Honey Jar).
Grow Organic sells bareroot, so you would need to wait until next year. I think they get them from DWN, so they tend to ship pretty early. I’ve planted from them in January before. Very nice trees, though they sometimes run out of varieties quickly, so you’d want to keep an eye on it next fall/winter for when they first go up.
JFaE will probably be the smaller tree and for more money, but you would get started now, not next winter.
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Bob,
Do you have Baby Red jujube tree in your orchard. If yes, how good is it?
Also I just grafted a R4T3, I have heard it is the biggest of the tuber shape jujube. Is it crunchy and sweet?
Tony
No tree, but I did graft it last spring. I even got a few fruit from it, but I think I must have picked them at the wrong stage, as they weren’t really ripe. I’m RG colorblind, but have no trouble picking normal jujubes at the right point, but Baby Red could be a bit more challenging. Eventually I’ll figure it out and from what I’ve read it sounds good.
If nothing else, the foliage is pretty.
I grafted R4T3 and R1T4 a while ago. I don’t think I got much from either last year, but got some the year before. I don’t remember being particularly happy with either. I just looked back at my Jujube 2022 post and R4T3 was the better fruit (though just OK), while R1T4 made lots of fairly poor fruit. I put a bunch of grafts on R4T3 (it’s in a premium location) this spring, but there are still a few branches left.
I also grafted R7T2 this spring. It wasn’t one I was originally looking for, but Cliff suggested it and added it to the other scions.
One of the new ones that I have high hopes for is Te Da Su Cui Zao (I found the image on Facebook):
That description looks pretty over the top. But, it would be nice to find a large variety that was nice and crisp.
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Great description. Hopefully with your jujube magic connection, you will have this variety soon. I got the Panzao and the improved larger Honey Jar fruit jujube grafts to push buds but the Icy Sugar aka Bing Tang just sits there. I am keeping my fingers crossed. @BobVance
Tony
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…thanks much…ordered one Honey Jar from JF&E…expensive, but got money to burn…time?..not so much…Ron
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I appear to have at least a few grafts take of it. Same for Pan and a bunch of others, though I haven’t completed a full census yet. I’m still making a few grafts, but am mostly done for the spring.
I’m glad you have a take of LHJ, as that is one I haven’t tried. I can always send IS/BT.
Makes sense to me. There are also more unknowns with waiting. It’s always possible it doesn’t come in to inventory, or maybe January gets some throwback weather and the ground is actually frozen, etc.
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…yep…no time to lose…I put my buddy on to jujubes and think he will take the bait next year…If I get fruit the second year in the ground, I’d bet on him following suit…I introduced him to paw paws a few years back and we rode down to Jersey to buy grafted trees from Dr. West who is a retired Rutgers Professor of Agriculture of some sorts… great guy…must be near 80 but still going strong…he offers a lot of good stuff and you can pick it up …may be of interest to some here…Ron
…highlights from site reproduced below
Pawpaw trees-- Sold Out for 2024
IN 2024 THE FOLLOWING GRAFTED PAWPAW CULTIVARS WERE AVAILABLE–BUT NOW NO LONGER AVAILABLE THIS YEAR----SOLD OUT FOR THIS YEAR.
Shenandoah™(Peterson cultivar)
Susquehanna® (Peterson cultivar)
Potomac® (Peterson cultivar)
Wabash® (Peterson cultivar)
Allegheny® (Peterson cultivar)
Rappahannock® (Peterson cultivar)
Tallahatchie® (LATEST RELEASE From Neal Peterson, advanced selection 10-35)
KSU-Atwood™ (Kentucky State University cultivar)
KSU-Benson ™ (Kentucky State University cultivar)
KSU-Chappell™(LATEST RELEASE from Kentucky State Univ.; advanced selection HI 4-1)
Mango
Sunflower
Rebecca’s Gold
Overleese
NC-1
Maria’s Joy
Prima
Nyomi’s Delicious
Lehman’s Delight (275-48)
Jerry’s Big Girl (250-39)
Kentucky Champion
Taytwo
Also available only as a special order, placed no later than Feb. 1st, are: Lynn’s Favorite, Sweet Alice, Sue, Prolific, Al Horn, Wells, Taylor, Tollgate, PAG-1, PAG-2, PAG-3, PAG-4, Green River Belle
All grafted trees are growing in 14” tall tree trainer pots.
Regular size trees are approximately 2’-3.’ in height , price $100
Premium size, 3.5’-5’, price $135 (a limited number of premiums will be available)
I accept cash, or check, sorry no CC’s
Please make all checks payable to ‘CHARLES WEST’.
PAWPAW Scion Wood. A limited amount will be available in late winter/early spring. Inquire and place your order no later than Mar.1, Most of the above pawpaw cultivars are available,–very limited am’t for some.
I also have Scion Wood for several varieties of Apple, Pear, Asian Pear, Peach, Shipova, Mulberry (several varieties), and Figs (several varieties). Inquire.
Other plants usually available are: American Persimmon (several grafted varieties-$95 ea.), Seedless Che (grafted) -$95 , Mulberry (several varieties-$40 and up ), Figs (several varieties $30 and up), Kentucky Coffee Tree, Comfrey (Bocking 14, Dwarf, and Blue Hidecote), Horseradish, Osage Orange seedlings (Hedge Apple), Hazel nut seedlings.
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OK…of the three that I have, what would be the ordering of ripening and when approximately during the year?..I’m in 6A Dutchess County NY just outside of Poughkeepsie about 4.5 miles from the Hudson…I’m getting psyched already…Ron
Honey Jar
Sugar Cane
Russian #2
I tried to note down the order in 2022 and included it in my year-end wrap-up:
Sugar Cane- earliest
Black Sea- end of early season (though it sounds like it could be a few years for your small one- I also got a small Black Sea and it took several years to size up)
Honey Jar- mid season
But, those timings are not exact. In 2023, I had a bunch of violations of my expectations in terms of timing. For example, some Honey Jar were very early, a few Sugar Cane later, etc. 2023 was a rainier year than 2022, so maybe that factored into it. Some of it could come down location- mostly sun & moisture level. And some of it could have to do with the date when I summer pruned a particular tree, thus re-directing the tree into fruiting. But there is definitely some wiggle room in the “season”.
…thanks…sounds good…another question…do deer browse on Jujube?..do the spines offer sufficient protection?..the reason I ask is that I have about an acre behind the house that has up to now been the private domain of the deer…I can’t imagine wanting more jujubes but who knows…seems like quite a few people here get really hooked on them…but the three I got are certainly in the best warmest / sunniest location and out of reach of the deer…Ron
My deer in North Georgia are quite fond of jujube. The spines do offer some protection – the jujube trees are not completely stripped bare in a night like unprotected mulberry trees would be – but an unprotected tree that is not above browse height will eventually be destroyed. The deer seem to prefer jujube over pear and persimmon trees, but they like mulberry and chestnut more.
Rabbits are also a threat, and will girdle young jujube trees here by stripping the smooth young bark from the trunk. They don’t seem to bother the trees once the bark has lignified after a few years.
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Deer definitely like jujubes. I had a couple other houses (which turned into flips) where I planted 5-6 jujubes. These houses were single-family slightly further out of town (hence why they became flips instead of rentals) with more deer pressure. None of the jujube trees survived the first year. The deer would eat the new growth, the tree would wait a bit then start to leaf out again, at which point they would get eaten again. Maybe if you managed to get one well established it could survive, but it wouldn’t be easy without some sort of deterrent/fence.
I’ve been battling rabbits in my garden and have lost some small jujube to them as well. They only go after the small suckers, not established trees with thicker bark. Most frustratingly, they seem fondest of suckers which have been grafted. The grafts leaf out with nice tender new leaves and then get eaten. Any seedlings I plant in the ground need a fence, while the ones in pots have been safe so far.
At most of my locations, deer never appear. At my own house, they are in the area, but evidently, I’ve made my yard more trouble than it is worth to get into- fence for most of it, with a massive overgrown kiwi plugging the one gap, other than a 4-8’ retaining wall. I’ve seen them (or evidence of them) in the yard maybe 4-5 times in 14 years. The last time was a few years ago, when I chased after them with a shovel.
I think they came by one rental once as well. All the seedling mulberries in the yard were eaten (no loss- I had transplanted a bunch away the year before, but missed some), No jujubes were eaten.
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