Perhaps it is primarily a drying jujube. The name might imply that.

I have had several varieties that were nearly inedible, probably drying ones. I noticed some places selling that one pulled it, maybe they came to a similar conclusion.

My jujubes this year again did not set very well. I'm not sure what the problem is but its proving to be the biggest problem with them.

Scott

I'm hoping it's just an off year. We're having a record draught, only half the normal 32"/year. My Contorted So's, which are normally great, are only fair; & my Li's, which are normally good, are poor. Only my Honey Jars taste great, though its too early to tell about the Sugar Canes yet. I've tried to increase watering but I'm only able to do that once a week. The Winter Delights are the largest jujube's I've ever seen, & lots of flesh to them.

I had terrible fruit set in 08-09, but 2010-11 have been banner years.

This year they're pretty good! Bigger than Li's. Maybe not quite as tasty as Sugar Canes, but still very good.

I hadn't expected jujube's to change flavor year to year. I know other fruits do, but I'd thought jujube's would be constant.

My Li's last year (1st crop) tasted like sweet cardboard. I'm sure hoping they improve.

Hello BHawkins. Thanks for the year to year updates on your jujube varieties. Very helpful.

So, the fruit quality was poor for young Winter Delight Jujube.

Thanks Matt!

Yes Hillrock, 1st year winter delight was cardboard. Ever since it's been my favorite. It's the only jujube I've had like that, kinda like some figs which get better as the trees get older

My Li jujube has two crops very year. The majority of the first crops were dry and tasteless. Now the second crops are ripen. They are very sweet and crispy. Maybe due to the low temperature during night?

I think gonebananas has the right idea, a name like "Winter Delight" definitely suggests it is intended to be dried. I'm definitely in the camp that prefers jujubes dried, and I have yet to taste a fresh one that even came anywhere close to the flavor of a dried one.

Interesting. My li's only produce 1 crop per year. Maybe we can swap wood

Hi, bhawkins:
I have lots of Li jujube wood.
Lets do it during the winter time.

I have a sherwood that I would like to graft another variety onto so that one plant can pollinate itself. I would be willing to trade scions if anyone is interested.

My Li jujube is very productive. The tree was planted in 2011.
Here is the picture of July 2014

Wow! Beautiful trees. Very productive. Your doing a much better job of pruning than I am. My Li's stopped producing 2-3 weeks ago.

Your Li Jujube tree is beautiful indeed.
Can you kindly send me some seeds please.
There is no way I can get them in my part of the world.
Thanks.

I still have fruit ripen to pick everyday until Nov. The quality is very good. I try to control the height of all fruit trees in my backyard, so I can pick fruit anytime without ladder.

To durai:
Jujube needs chill hour to pass its dormancy and maybe not suitable to plant in your country, as you cannot find it around your area.

Hi HillRock,

Per your earlier post:

"My Li jujube has two crops very year. The majority of the first crops were dry and tasteless. Now the second crops are ripen. They are very sweet and crispy. Maybe due to the low temperature during night?"

I live in Dallas, TX Area, and I have a 5 yrs old LI jujube tree at my backyard. It appears like my tree is acting like yours where the fruits taste very good for 2nd crop (November time frame), and poorly for the 1st crop. Unfortunately there are not that many (2nd round crop) to enjoy. I have been searching for a solution to address this but so far unsuccessful. I am very interesting to hear your comments on how to go about fixing the 1st crop problem.

JIMMY

Hi, JIMMY_SAYAVONG:
I read some suggestions to improve the jujube fruit quality:
Less or no Nitrogen fertilize (but more potassium) after fruit set and summer prune can also improve quality. It also needs regular watering during the hot summer.

HillRock, your forest looks nice. Are they spaced about 5' apart?

I think jujube can grow to 15-20' easily. I've seen a large jujube in DFW area at about 40' large. It covers the entire backyard of a residence.

I spaced my jujube trees about 20'. I believe Scott Smith spaced his at about 5-6' apart and he regreted.

Anyhow, jujube can be fast grower if given the right condition. To get the best fruits, they need all the sun they can get, but not over-watered.

I remember asking Scott about that in another thread. He originally spaced them 1-2' and had some problems. He said 3-4' could work with pruning and 8' would be pretty easy. I have a few at 8' (fine so far) and am planning some more next spring. Some may go into 5' spacing, what I've used for a lot of other trees (apples, peaches, etc).

Hi HillRock,

Thanks for the information.
Could you please recommend the type of fertilizer (high potassium) you would use? As they are too many out there.

Thanks again.

Jimmy

HillRock's trees are planted in 2011. They already form a hedge now. What happens in 5 years?

It looks like his trees are near the fence. So the trees do not receive full sun, but they receive regular irrigation (near the house). So the vegetative growth is very good. With the hot climate, the trees should have near optimal vegetative growth.

I posted a picture before about a jujube tree in Dallas area. It covers the entire backyard of a house. I used to pick jujube fruits in that yard. The owner said they planted, probably in 1970s.

{{gwi:125845}}

I believe there is a 40' large jujube tree in Fort Worth Botanic Garden. I've not seen it.

I think native jujube grows wild in China. With the root suckering and the spread of the seeds, they spread by themselves. They grow about 20' in the wild, mostly on hills.

Cultivated trees grow larger. If planted near residence, they grow even larger.

All my fruit trees are spaced at least 15' in row and 18 to 20' between rows. They are mostly semi-dwarf. I tried to space them 20x20, but it was just hard to do that way.

If the trees are truly dwarf (apple in particular), then of course they can be spaced very closely. I've seen my local U-Pick orchard does that with their apple trees. But the peach trees are all standalone, about 20-25' large.

I'd love to have enough space to plant things at 15' or 20', but if I did that, I wouldn't have much variety. It is better to have a lot of little trees, than lots of production from any one. I suppose Jujube are one thing that it wouldn't be bad to get a lot of. My wife likes them dried, so I could probably make good use of a large tree's worth...

That sure is a big tree. As Scott stressed in the other thread, lots of pruning is needed to keep Jujube at 4' spacing. I haven't needed to do much jujube pruning at all in 4 years at 8' spacing. But that is because the oldest I have is a So, which is supposed to be naturally dwarfing. I had the others in pots until this past year, so they haven't grown much yet.

As long as the spacing can accommodate the size of the tree, then everything is fine. Fruit trees need more sun and more air circulation to set fruits well than regular trees.

I think we are mostly "fruitnuts" and want to squeeze in as many fruit trees as we could. But I was still surprised to see that we space jujube like 5' apart. If three year trees already form a hedge, then they already outgrow the space. There won't be enough air circulation and the fruits won't dry properly on the trees.

Sorry to hear about your winter Delight Bob.
So far my productive varieties namely Li, Lang, Sugar Cane, So and Tigertooth all tasted great for the second summer in a row.
I have my trees in full sun spaced about 10 to 12 feet apart and have them on drip irrigation of one gallon per hour and irrigate daily for one hour during the hot season. So each tree gets about one gallon per day in addition to once a week lawn irrigation. I would skip if it rains. If the trees do not get stressed then the fruit quality should be at its best.
The So tastes so good that it could compete with the sugar cane. My rule of thumb with jujubes is that the larger the fruit the dryer it would be.

It's interesting your Jujubes get water every day during the summer and all do well. I originally thought they thrived in draughts but each year I've increased the water and they've done better. Tigertooth is my most productive tree albeit bland; it'd be great if more water made them tastier.

In this Youtube video, Roger Meyers describes how a lack of water impacts jujubes (he starts touching on it around minute 24). Basically, he says that without enough water, they survive well, but won't fruit. If the lack of water hits late in the growing season, they steal the water from the fruit and it gets all mushy.

I mulch well, but after seeing the video, I'll be sure to give them some extra water during the dry part of the summer.

nice jujube thread this one! Is anyone here selling winter delight bud wood?
as for jujubes which bear no-good fruit on first year, then drastically better-tasting ones on second year, the variety sihong is another that did the same for me, at least in nevada conditions.

Tatami, email me at bobhawkins995@gmail.com

Regarding Li - I have had the same experience in the DFW area. The first crop is plentiful but the quality is not good but the second crop is very good. And as mentioned the second crop has far fewer fruit. I had observed this for a couple of years and last year I beat the tree so the most of the immature first crop fruit fell to the ground. My thinking was for it to conserve energy for the second crop. I had a decent second crop but it was still smaller than the first.

My guess is that the first crop ripens when it is very hot here which causes them to ripen quickly and perhaps not allowing them enough time to accumulate sugars. The second crop ripens much more slowly giving them a chance to develop more sugars over a longer period of time.

I also have Redlands 4 which is very good. Pumpkin shaped fruit that seem to bear only a single crop. It is somewhat early, large and sweet.