That’s the part I don’t like. Not only I pay for expensive trees, then shipping. Well this year I will save money with dirt, I’m recycling my clay/dirt. Maybe it will help somewhat to ease the pain, lol.
But every year I want to buy something to support people in this business and they make it hard.
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My 2 jujube trees from Home Depot are doing much better than the same varieties I got from Rain tree nursery.
I also got 4x1 plums from Home Depot and they’re giving me fruit unlike 4x1 pluot from Raintree nursery.
So if they have it’s a great deal.
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Slim pickins haha. I think Wolf River (which I “need” anyway), McIntosh, Some Georgia peach (Scott said he didn’t prefer it vs another similar variety), and Santa Rosa? plum. I’d jump on a jujube at the current pricing if it was available.
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8 years and counting my wolf river on M111 has not bloomed…but I’ve made a Frankentree out of it, and one of those has had a couple fruits.
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Jujube trees are very pricey this year for some reason.
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Jujube trees have always been very expensive. Here’s a post from 6 years ago, where the vendors I compared charged $38 to $60. That’s actually adding shipping (4 tree hypothetical order, divided per tree). Without the shipping, it was more like $30-48 per tree, depending on vendor. And back then, most quality, good sized fruit trees were about $20-30 on the high end (Cummins, ACN, Grandpa’s…quality places) and less at places like Burnt Ridge.
Jujube at Just Fruits and Exotics:
2011- $40
2015- $46
2017- $46
2018- $65
2019- $60 grafted, $65-70 own roots
Now, the 3 gal tree (which is what all of the above were) is $100. They’ve introduced a 1gal version for $60.
But Jujubes are something you really want to start with a big one. Using a 5/8"-3/4" tree as a baseline, a 3/8" tree is about a year behind it. And a 3/16" tree (like the 1gal OGW trees) is at least 2 years behind. Could be more if you just plant it and let nature do it’s thing. I’m sure that in some parts of the country with more sun you would see a much shorter gap and they would size up quickly. It would also help if you keep it fertilized and watered (babied…) rather than just planting it and waiting which can take a LONG time. I have some of those 3/16" trees which are 7 years old and almost as big as my 2020 plantings. And that is with me starting to baby them more in the last few years. I have one which was in an inconvenient location (far from hose) and it was still 3’ tall this spring when I transplanted it. I don’t mind getting small peaches, as I’ve seen them get to 12’ by the end of the 2nd year. The only way that is happening with a jujube is if you start with a 3/4" caliper, lots of roots, and give it optimal conditions.
Right now, the two places I would consider for good sized 5/8"+ trees are Grow Organic and Trees of Antiquity “only” $57-$65.
Chinese Red Date is also worth considering, as they have a lot more varieties. They are generally a bit smaller (3/8"-1/2"), but are pretty good trees and not too pricey at $40, though there is an extra cost (worth it IMO) for the uncommon varieties.
Edit: Forgot to include link:
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Years ago, I did that with apples a few times. I don’t remember what happened to the grafts or the rootstocks, but I don’t think I kept track of either very well.
What I’ve done with jujube seedlings is graft them a couple feet up. That way, there are a few lower branches. If by some miracle, the tree happens to produce good fruit, I can either cut the graft off it, or graft it elsewhere (and add a tag to the seedling…).
Hasn’t happened yet (the few that have fruited have been small and not that tasty), but I may have one here. The fruit on the seedling are about the same as those on the graft. Hopefully I’ll know in 2-4 weeks…
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I looked and in April of 2012 i ordered 2 4-1 pluots from Raintree…with shipping to WI that cost $127.
That was pre covid times. After 2020 when everyone got into gardening edible things because people realized grocery stores could not be fully relied on nursery jacked up their pricing massively. Even now our stores are very scarce with supplies. In 2020 you could get a cherry tree from Raintree for 28 dollars. Thing was all nursery sold out in the 2020-2021 season so fast they realized they could jack up their prices massively. 2021 to 2022 had less shopping for fruit trees likely because of the price increase and there was supply into April or May during shipping times opposed to everything being sold out by January the previous year. Prices seem to be similar to last year so far. There seem to be far more trees and bushes being sold so far though. My guess is this year we will see a year like 2020-2021 where things sell out super quick and by January most of everything will be sold out and see another price increase next year’s sells.
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I paid $90 for GA-866 including shipping from Trees of Antiquity. Not sure I keep the receipt for Shanxi Li from Raintree.
But not just fruit trees, even peony prices have gone up too. This year Gilbert and Wild peony prices came down for some reason. But I will wait until they go on sale before I buy more. Last year I got a bunch of hostas for $2 each. My kind of prices.
I got a Wolf River from Lowe’s two years ago. It has a wonderful open and sturdy branch growing habit and some nice branch angles. I’m still waiting for my first apple which is said to be very large.
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Jujube grow like weeds here if watered and fertilized. But many people don’t water after the first year because they are drought tolerant. They hang on when unwatered but barely grow.
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It’s getting close ot the time to collect oak (red/white), locust (honey/black) and sugar maple seeds. I grew a bunch of those out this summer. The locust did very well (honey) and the maples grow like weeds.
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I’ve seen wolf river on display at the fair with a blue ribbon.
But my well-limbed wolf river tree planted in 2016 and grafted into a Frankentree…on M111 rootstock has not fruited (I left 3 or 4 of it’s limbs un-grafted). Had a couple Bakran red fleshed apples in 2020 but nothing else. It’s 10 feet now and trunk about the size of a Coke can.
Has 8 or 9 varieties…I may add at least one more next spring.
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True, though they also need a lot of sun to grow quickly or fruit.
They need water to ripen fruit as well, though how much you need to supply is complicated based on how old they are (how deep their roots). I had trees which had shriveling and dropping fruit this summer, even after ~2 weeks without water. We’ve only had 1 real rain (2-3" in a day) in the last 2.5 months, and maybe another 2 in the ~0.2" range. After I watered deeply, some that were only a bit shriveled recovered and the worst dropped off.
@fruitnut, did you ever get to try a crisp juicy jujube? I remember that you found them unappealing when you first tried them. Some can be, but the best of them are near the top of the fruit list for me (a well ripened firm sweet cherry is better though…).
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I’ve never had one that I thought was better than third tier fruit. But then I’m often amazed at what people find good. Maybe I’ve never had a really good one. But did grow Honey Jar and Sugar Cane. They were better than the local ones and mid way in size. But don’t come close to a well grown sweet cherry.
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Cherries are definitely the best. I eat so many of them, that it makes no sense to grow them.
Wolf River are mainly a cooking apple. Very large and sour.
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I hear unripe they are like a apple and ripe they are like a prune but are not better than either. Weird Explorer has tried them as well as many other people on YouTube. Their thoughts are there are better fruit to come back to as well. I used to think cherries were the best or one of the best fruit there was. I have since stepped back a lot on that stance. A good Comice or Warren pear will be more addicting than a cherry and be more filling with better storage capability and easier to grow. A good Fuji apple store bought comes around a cherry to me now and a home grown Fuji will be even better. I can eat more peaches than cherries because the tang of a peach. I had a jujube. Maybe I should try it again. I don’t know.
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Jujube taste like a marshmallow date. They are delicious when ripe in tea. They taste sort of like a green apple when harvested early. When im craving them nothing else will do but thats once or twice a year. Like a pawpaw or persimmon if im in the mood they are great. Like the sour jujube as well that are very small.
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