how tall is it, and does it already have sturdy laterals?
the vegas series is a veritable bunch of bastards. Paternity issues left and right, so hopefully you win the roulette 
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That is exactly right. It isn’t that far away at 10-15 minutes, but I don’t see myself growing a vegetable garden there. Anything growing needs to be able to fend for itself. At most I’ll see it every 2 weeks when mowing. Now, if a tenant (none yet, but it is a 3 unit) wanted to, I would be fine with it. I’d just need to mark it out far enough away from the jujube that they don’t damage the roots.
Any unique varieties that I care about get put at my house. Backups and extras go to the rentals. The exception is persimmons, as I’m putting all my Asian persimmons at rentals, since most of them are half a hardiness zone warmer than my house. At my house Asian persimmons are on the edge of massive die-back, or no issue, depending on the winter. I think 5 degrees could make a big difference.
When I spoke to them (probably a year ago at this point), they mentioned that they have a massive Tigertooth on its own roots which throws off suckers. But, that doesn’t mean that they haven’t grafted them as well. I should check my Tigertooth from them a few years ago and see if I can see a graft union. Most of my jujubes (including that one) haven’t made any suckers yet. I guess I get enough water that they don’t need to go looking for more…
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It’s about 2 foot tall and “bushy”. Probably about a foot wide or more with lots of laterals. It forks into two main branches and each branch is full. The sucker is about a foot tall with some laterals. I planted it out this fall so that may delay fruiting too. Several seedlings the same age have fruited but it has not bloomed yet.
Recent photo in ground and dormant
“We” win the roulette!
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that is so intriguing. If it is the silverhill tigertooth, then suckers would be considerably less thorny. I had silverhills on their own roots from Roger M 6 yrs ago, and they’ve behaved like most citrus airlayers-- productive but scant vegetative growth. Makes me think they may have been airlayers from branches higher up.
the big one seems like will be able to produce a few fruits on its next leaf. Give it full sun, and keep us posted!
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I posted dormant picture of the sihong seedling in above post…
that looks promising, with the sturdy, lignified stems.
and planted out in the open, which further increases your chances.
a few more months of sun-worship should coax it to flower and perhaps fruit
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Here’s an updated pic. I’ve been cleaning up the dead vegtables, raking a lot of the long grass out and generally getting it ready to seed a lawn (something tenants generally want) in the spring. The dark areas are where I’ve had to even out the soil, as there were high and low areas.
And today, I planted 4 jujube there (3 on right along fence and one on left) from GrowOrganic. Later this spring, there are another 5 jujubes and 2 more persimmons coming.
The tarps in the top-left of the pic are covering a large fig plant which has been there 30-35 years per the previous owner’s son.
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Looks like a fantastic area. You’ve done some nice work on it!!!
35 yr old fig in CT, that is precious!
i agree, it looks promising apart from unique. Jujus and figs in that part of the usa – when most folks typically associate the two being situated in warmer/sunnier regions.
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I cut it down to about 5’ to protect it. Inside the tarp is 11 bags of leaves (the thick paper ones people put out in the fall). I went around collecting them and put two SUV loads of them into that tarp (cardboard and plywood holding them up). One guy was pretty surprised when I pulled up as he was bringing his leaves to the curb and asked if I could have them…
It’s the persimmons which are really pushing things. I’ve met others who grow figs in the area and jujubes are easy to grow, if not fruit. So far, I’ve only gotten a few astringent persimmons at my house and the non-astringents keep dying back.
glad to hear that, considering the zone-pushing existence of figs and jujus there. Asian 'simmons will definitely make an out of zone triumvirate if you’d have more luck with it there. Do you like american persimmons? Perhaps more cold-hardy in your area
American persimmons are (AFAIK) completely hardy here. Those were the astringent ones I sampled for the first time this year (H-120). I wasn’t thrilled with the hints of astringency, even when they were jelly-like ripe. I had some astringent ones from a Chinese grocery store recently which were much better- not a hint of astringency. They were much larger, so they were likely an Asian astringent variety, so that could be the difference.
Aside from the one on this property, I’ve seen a few figs around, but am not sure if they are getting protected during the winter. A friend-from-work’s father brought some from Italy which he’s been protecting each winter. Maybe that is the key difference- it is easier to protect a bushy fig than it is to protect a big persimmon tree.
I’m between 6b and 7a, so jujube’s aren’t really pushing much from a hardiness perspective. They can likely take a full zone colder. Getting fruit on the other hand is a bit tougher.
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Nice problem!
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Those look great! When you first posted them, I should have started then. If not this year, I’ll be trying my hand at molding some next Winter!
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thanks! And yes, winter is the best time to cast cement. Cement tends to crack when high temps make it set rapidly during summer, especially in >100F. The slower cement sets, the less likely to crack.
of course, at the other extreme, it shouldn’t be setting below 33F, as water that freezes(before the slurry hardens) will expand and result in setting issues as well.
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It’s cold outside these days, so we’ve been taking advantage to heat up the kitchen with the oven. Herself made date nut bread one day, I did a pizza the next, and today made bread; tomorrow comes a pumpkin pie; Here’s a shot of the bread (100% whole grain wheat plus oatmeal):
and then my wife got a snap of this old geezer in our kitchen:
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Those breads would be great for peanut butter sandwiches.
Tony
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can you teleport that to vegas? Freshly baked bread hot off the oven is what i need on this cold rainy day… A bit of a shocker we’re getting hail here!
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