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hairmetal4ever

tell me about jujubes...

hairmetal4ever
10 years ago

I've heard about Jujubes supposedly being tasty and fairly easy to grow in climates where traditional tree fruits need a lot of spraying, etc to grow well (i.e., here...).

Can anyone tell me...what they taste like, are they actually easy to grow? Do they fruit well, etc? Any things to keep in mind?

I'm in zone 7, Maryland. Hot/humid summers with both a risk of drought and risk of soggy, warm, fungus-prone soils (seems to alternate between the two extremes) in summer.

Comments (27)

  • Scott F Smith
    10 years ago

    They taste like a cross between an apple and a date - crunchy like an apple, sweet and date-like in flavor. They have few problems. I get this tip wilt on them in humid weather, I think its some kind of fungus, but it doesn't significantly affect the trees. The main problem I have had is setting enough fruit, but thats probably due to how closely I planted the trees -- less than 3' apart, too close. Ants can be a problem on the fruits and they can crack which makes the ant problem a lot worse. Overall they seem to be an under-appreciated fruit. Make sure to get a fresh eating variety. My favorite is Honey Jar, its small but much more "juicy" than the other cultivars.

    Scott

  • fruitnut Z7 4500ft SW TX
    10 years ago

    I don't share Scott's appreciation. But he's a lot closer to you than me. Out here they yield great, are as sweet as anything but have flavor sort of like a cross between green apple and cardboard.

  • fabaceae_native
    10 years ago

    I like them dried much better than fresh, as fresh to me they are too similar to an apple. They are very easy to dry, just leave the fresh ones on a plate for a couple weeks. Dried they are much more reminiscent of the date side of the spectrum. Drying intensifies the sweetness, making the choice of cultivar less tricky

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Who sells them? I saw a couple on Raintree's website a while back, but not sure the cultivars. I'll check Raintree...but who else?

  • MrClint
    10 years ago

    My take is pretty close to fruitnut's. The texture is a bit like packing peanut styro and I have to chomp and roll it around in my mouth to pick up some moisture, and then eventually gulp it all down.

    I keep trying them every year at the local farmer's markets and just haven't hit upon one that appealed to me. There are too many excellent fruits out there that are easy to grow to plant something that I'm not excited about.

  • Tony
    10 years ago

    HM4,

    I agreed with Scott that Honey Jar and Sugarcane are the best fresh eating Jujube. Here is the link below you can buy from Roger M.

    Tony

    Here is a link that might be useful: Jujubesales

  • Scott F Smith
    10 years ago

    Mrclint, I agree that many jujubes chew like cardboard. But get a Honey Jar and you will see how much difference a variety can make. Most of the early jujubes brought into the US were drying varieties (or seeds from them) and they are no good for fresh eating. Shanxi Li is another one I have found to be very juicy, and Sugar Cane is also a reasonable one.

    Scott

  • maryhawkins99
    10 years ago

    I really like a half dozen types right off the tree; but the jujube's in markets usually don't appeal to me; Jujube's don't keep long once picked. I eat Contorted So jujube's all day when they're in season

  • bob_z6
    10 years ago

    Regrettably, it is too late in the season this year to get any trees from Roger Meyers. I called a few weeks ago and his trees were already all leafed out and only available for local pickup. As far as I know, he is the only place which offers Honey Jar and Shanxi Li.

  • maryhawkins99
    10 years ago

    I'll second Scott's recommendation for the sugar cane, available mail order from many nurseries

  • hairmetal4ever
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Do you need two cultivars or are they self pollinating?

  • maryhawkins99
    10 years ago

    There's a bit of confusion as to whether they're self pollinating or not. I believe almost all varieties are self pollinating, with a couple possible exceptions. In any event, if you can plant 2, that's safest; I'd get a Li, but hopefully someone lose to you will recommend something as geography makes a difference; or I'd order a Honey Jar next year.

    Btw, I got my Shanxi Li from Englands nursery in KY 2 years ago, they might be worth calling.

  • forestandfarm
    10 years ago

    I can't speak to all varieties but many are not self-fertile I have a variety that is self-fertile, Tigertooth. I planted a half dozen of these as bare root trees several years ago but none have fruited yet. I was getting concerned that maybe I was misinformed about Tigertooth being self-fertile.

    Last March, I took some rootcuttings to propagate them. These are grown on their own roots, not grafted which is why I could use root cuttings. My success rate was low, but I did get 4 trees out of about a dozen attempts.

    I started them in rootmaker cells and transplanted them to 1 gal rootbuilder II pots on my deck. I took the cuttings in March and didn't get any top growth until several months later. By September, two of these young trees produced fruit! I was shocked since none of the parent trees had fruited. After chatting with a university professor who specializes in Jujube, I was told that it was likely the air pruning pots that converted the trees from a vegetative state to a fruiting state early.

    Since I have no other cultivars, I can vouch for Tigertooth being self-fertile.

  • maryhawkins99
    10 years ago

    re being self fertile

    Here is a link that might be useful: are jujubes self fertile

  • Tony
    10 years ago

    Bhawkins,

    I left you an email.

    Tony

  • maryhawkins99
    10 years ago

    Hi Tony. Haven't received it yet. Address is bobhawkins995 @ gmail.com without the spaces

  • Tony
    10 years ago

    Jack,

    You may like the article below on Jujube for deer.

    Tony

    Here is a link that might be useful: Jujube for deer

  • forestandfarm
    10 years ago

    tony,

    That article appeared in Quality Whitetail magazine several years ago and was what got me interested in using Jujube for deer. I've had many email conversations with one of the authors, David Osborn who has been a huge help to me. He is also a co-author on another QW article that discusses converting native male trees to female for wildlife. This one got me started with persimmons.

  • loveoffoodforests
    10 years ago

    Has anyone tried the coco jujube?

  • SasW
    9 years ago

    A couple of years ago I planted a Lang, Li and a So. Last year I added a Tigertooth (also called SilverHill,YU)and a Sugar Cane. IâÂÂm very happy with my trees as they all produced last summer. I had about a couple of dozen fruits on each tree and was so excited that I ate the fruit before it was fully ripe.
    Jujube is among my favorite fruits up there along with Fig and Japanese persimmon (the astringent variety when fully ripe). If given the choice between an apple and a Jujube picked fresh off the tree, the jujube fruit will win almost every time (unless I'm at an apple orchard in the west).
    As with any other fruit trees there are many flavors and textures and cannot generalize and say that all jujubes are the same. If you manage to taste the right variety under favorable conditions, I guarantee that you will be hooked on that fruit. Some trees will perform better than others depending on location and weather conditions. Korean Jujubes I was told are excellent but are tropical, so I cannot experiment with them at my location.
    The only way to find out about jujubes is to plant a tree and then you will know. So if you plant the wrong variety you might be disappointed. The tree usually needs full sun and I read somewhere that it needs about gallon of water per day during the hot summer months, so I provided my trees with those minimum requirements and about a handful of Osmocote for fruits and vegetable and did not lose a single fruit. The sweetest and earliest among those trees was my Sugarcane last year. The latest was the Tigertooth.
    My favorite for fresh eating among the four was the Sugarcane, it was the crunchiest and sweetest.But with a fruit that has10 to 20 times more vitamin C than any citrus fruit, I'll have what is available.
    This year I added Honey Jar, Coco, Black sea, GA866 and Sherwood to my yard. It will be a while before I know how well these varieties will do.

    This post was edited by SasW on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 14:44

  • forestandfarm
    9 years ago

    Interesting. I've seen this before where some think Silverhill and Tigertooth are two names for a single variety. I looked into this when I was looking for a pollination partner for my Tigertooth (even though they are self-fertile). I asked one of the experts who in-turn consulted with another expert who assures that they are in fact distinct varieties although they are very similar.

    When I ordered my first set of Jujube scions this year, I chatted with Roger Meyer. He seems to have more practical Jujube knowledge than anyone I've talked with. His opinion was that they are two names for the same variety but said it would not surprise him if there are two similar varieties.

    If there are two distinct varieties, since the names are interchanged so frequently, I'm not sure if most of us really know which we really have.

    If they are the same variety, I wasted my time grafting a Silverhill to Tigertooth rootstock.

    Thanks,

    Jack

  • Tony
    9 years ago

    Jack,

    Look on the bright side, if the scion did not take then you still have the Tiger Tooth rootstock as the same as YU or SilverHill. Or else you can re-graft with the Sherwood on that Tigertooth rootstock.

    Tony

  • SasW
    9 years ago

    I'm sure that this is not the first duplication of a name of a variety. The use of a catchy name for marketing purposes is done all the time. With over 700 different jujube varieties in China, it's easy to end up with a similar fruit under different names. The discovery of this came from here:
    http://www.wildlifegrowers.com/QDMA_Jujube_article.pdf

    " Silverhill (Tigertooth, Yu) Medium Late to very late Sweet, very productive, almost thornless, morning bloom "

    Also from here:
    http://www.texasgardener.com/pastissues/janfeb08/Jujube.html

    "Then, there is the 'Yu' variety that was renamed 'Silverhill' and renamed again as 'Tigertooth,' the name that is currently in use. 'Tigertooth' can be grown in areas that have high humidity (most jujubes like dry weather)."

    This post was edited by SasW on Mon, Apr 7, 14 at 19:08

  • forestandfarm
    9 years ago

    Tony,

    My Silverhill grafted to the Tigertooth rootstock is doing great. It is the Redlands #4 grafted to the Tigertooth that might not make it.

    SasW,

    It was actually one of the authors of the first link you posted that I chatted with on this subject. He wasn't sure and went to one of his sources (I think it was a university professor but I would not swear to that) who assured him that Tigertooth and Silverhill were distinct varieties.

    However, even if it is true that they are distinct varieties, with the names being intermixed and the characteristics being so similar, it is probably hard to know if I've got two of the same tree or not.

    Either way, I guess there is some value in grafting a scion from a mature tree on to a young tree even it is the same variety.

  • SasW
    9 years ago

    Please let us know when you get some fruit, It would be interesting to be able to compare the two side by side.

  • forestandfarm
    9 years ago

    I don't have any fruit from the trees I bought under the name Tigertooth yet. However, two of the trees I started from root cuttings (not grafted on its own roots), produced fruit in their first year in 1 gal rootbuilder II pots.

    The root cuttings were taken in March 2013 and the picture was taken on 9/22/2013. Because this tree is so immature, I'm not sure if these fruits are representative or not.

    I'll post pics of any fruit the scion I got from Roger Meyer under the name Silverhill whenever it fruits.

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:69371}}

  • forestandfarm
    9 years ago

    Here is a wider view of the tree about 1 week earlier.

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:69372}}

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