I’m excited to start the 2019 planting season a bit earlier than usual. I got got my first trees of the year from Grow Organic. I ordered 5 jujubes from them (3 Honey Jar, 1 Li and 1 Lang).
Grow Organic is a bit different than many nurseries in that they will send the trees as soon as they have them ready, rather than holding them until the customer is ready. Near the end of their season last year, I ordered 3 jujubes (and 1 peach) from them (at a $10 per tree discount). Even at the end of their season, it was the start of mine, as they were the first trees I planted in 2018 on Feb 21st.
All 4 of the trees grew very well, even though the peach had already started to wake up a bit. Aside from the peach getting it’s flowers frosted, which is not a bad thing for a newly planted tree. In fact, the jujube were probably the strongest growers of all jujubes I planted last year (which includes trees from 4 other nurseries).
So, I’m pushing the envelope a bit more now. Rather than late Feb, I’ll be planting in early January. The temps are still OK, as the coldest it has gotten in the last 2 weeks is 28F. We have some colder weather coming up (21F on Sunday night), but the trees look fully dormant, so I think they will be fine. I’ll make sure to mulch well with woodchips to protect the roots.
The package was big: 14x16x56" and 20 lbs for just 5 trees.
This is the first time I remember seeing much branching on a jujube (I think maybe there was a single small branch on a tree from Bay Laurel last year). These trees are all in the 5/8-3/4" caliper range and close to 3’ tall above the graft union. They average about 2 branches each.
If they were growing in my yard they would be 3rd or 4th year plants, given how slowly jujube grow for me. They are bigger than some jujube I planted from OGW in fall 2015.
But, from what I understand, jujube grow pretty quick in sunny CA, so I think these are likely much younger. They could be freshly grafted last spring, as that is what LE Cooke (a CA nursery which has since closed) claimed on their FAQ page. The rootstock itself probably started growing the year before, so depending on how you measure, it can be called 2 year old.
I think that the BEST endorsement for a nursery is to send some trees to a member of this forum so that they will be opened and a picture posted. Perhaps I could convince one to send me some trees gratis for the opportunity of exposure to a community of “Oh, yeah…I need one of those!” people!!!
It all depends on how cold it has been. As long as the ground isn’t frozen, then it is fine. It is a bit of a hit or miss thing though, as I remember last January (on the 1st or 2nd I think) when I was out after midnight hanging Christmas lights on a persimmon because the temps were forecast to dip below zero (0F). The ground was definitely frozen then and I would have had to keep the trees for a few weeks before the next thaw.
A couple weeks ago, I pre-staged the planting spots with woodchips in the hope that I would insulate the ground a bit. Then, even if there was an inch or two of frozen ground (not near 0F, as that would be too much), the planting area would be OK, once I got the chips off it. Though I might need to smash the chips with a sledge hammer to get them to move.
I should mention that all the trees are from DWN. I’ll take a pic of the roots tomorrow when I unpack them, as I don’t think that GO prunes them as much as Bay Laurel. Even though they get them from the same place.
I would have planted them already if I knew they were coming yesterday. But the tracking said Saturday, so I didn’t take Friday afternoon off and only discovered them after dark when I got home.
I’m sure my wife might like a handbag, but I think she would object to me getting a supermodel. My feelings on the subject would be the reverse…
The middle tree above was a bit skimpy on the roots, but the other 4 all look great. As it turned out, I was planting 4 of them in a property which had been used for a garden, so it was pretty easy to dig nice big holes.
The 5th tree was going somewhere that it wouldn’t be as easy to dig a big hole (in a gap in hedges in the front yard of another location). So, I put the small-rooted Honey Jar there. After I did so, I thought more about it and regretted it a bit- by putting a Honey Jar near the sidewalk, people will discover how good jujubes are and invade the backyard (this property has another 6-7 in the back) to get more.
For comparison, here is a pic of last year’s Bay Laurel order.
Note that last year’s GO was from LE Cooke, while this year’s was from DWN. I think that the BL order was from a mix of LEC and DWN last year. So the difference is something which gets done to the tree as it is boxed up, not from the original grower.
I should put a note on my vendor comparison thread to update it with Grow Organic.
From the slight curve, you can tell that it was budded. After the bud took, the trunk above was cut away. I don’t know that I can tell if it was chip budded or T budded. My own attempts at budding are ugly enough that it is often discernible, though that may be in part due to the lack of healing associated with a failed bud.
I don’t even walk around my yard in Feb, never mind digging and planting at this time.
