Honey Jar and Sugar Cane Jujubes just became available!

I have 100s of blooms on my 2nd year HJ. None looking like they are setting fruit though. Most are yellow. Is it still too early for setting fruit?

This is one of my newly potted jujube. It is Blooming should I fertilize the plant? If answer is yes, what kind would you recommend? Also, it looks like its growing habit needs to be adjusted, multiple branches grew from one place, and each is about 6" long, should I prune them to single branch now or wait till fall, or do nothing at all??
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Do nothing. These are the branches with the blooms, right? Jujus have a different branching system. Those six inch long branches that have the flowers will all fall off at dormancy. They are just there to bear fruit. :grin:

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Mine usually go through a bloom flush twice so it may set fruit later if it doesn’t this time. Sometimes it’s not really evident that it sets fruit until blooming over or almost over.

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Ok! Thank you Kate!!

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Kate,thanks. Yes, they all have flowers on, but if they fall off , the tree`s size goed back to square one?

Usually at some point the tree will put on upright, or primary, growth. You’ll notice the difference. The growth is usually upright and vigorous and if your cultivar has thorns you’ll see them on this growth. Off this will branch lateral, or secondary branches that will also bear thorns. The fruiting branchlets form on this lateral growth. The upright growth will be permanent and most of the laterals will stay.

A young tree sometimes will put out the fruiting branches first and if so usually an upright branch will spring up out of the middle of them. You may have an upright started that you haven’t noticed yet. They are thicker and a bit darker in color. As a rule these grow really fast. I think the structure of the jujube is just fascinating. I don’t prune mine at all as of yet. You can shape them as you like but your young tree should be allowed to just grow.

As a rule jujus don’t require a lot of fertilizer. I did fertilize my inground trees last year and I got a lot of vigorous growth but I’m not sure it didn’t cost me fruit production. I’m getting some information on commercial growers regimen but for a young plant I don’t know the good answer to that at present. I am experimenting on mine. If there is fertilizer in your potting soil that would probably be enough. In a pot if I added any it would be a slow release like osmocote. I’m not sure just how it effects fruit production. Maybe some of the others will answer. I know @tonyOmahaz5, @jujubemulberry, and @castanea grow a lot in pots for fruit production.

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Kate,thanks a lot for the explanation,I got it now.

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i kept newly acquired jujus in pots just to be able to move them around the property so will get as much direct sunlight and minimize fruit drop. This way would help assure i get some fruits this year, instead of waiting for another year, or the year after next, lol!

jujus are sun-worshippers. Something they need to do since they leaf out very late.
incidentally @k8tpayaso, you are at least as reliable a reference now, since you have potted jujus by the hundreds, and some of them already fruiting(or at least trying to) on the second year.
while have had potted jujus by the hundreds myself, the vast majority of those were given away to family and friends before could make fair assessments. Lots of baby-snatchers where am at :grin:

and yes, my humble suggestion for @IL847 at zone 5 would be to keep jujus potted so could move them around(placed in sunniest parts of the yard during summer, then sheltered in a barn or garage during winter, as zone 5 winters might be too cold for certain cultivars, especially those with thin calipers.). As potted plants, you’d also have full-control of the fertility and moisture of the soil. Good luck and keep us posted!

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agree with Katy, but if so happens that next year, the tree ‘decides’ to continue holding off on developing upright growth for whatever reason, the caliper and length of the previous year’s nodes(which will continue to bear the deciduous flowering branches)would have increased from previous year’s photosynthesis, so you could expect to get longer and thicker flowering branches with denser and more complex-branching batches of inflorescence, which translates to higher chances of fruits developing . So the tree is essentially not “back to square one”.

while nodes from current year’s growth are capable of bearing deciduous branches which flower and fruit on same year, the flowers borne on such juvenile growth will be few compared to the deciduous flowering branches that will be borne the following year, assuming that the tree is getting plenty of sunshine.

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Maybe I missed this but when did you do the air layer? Thanks!

I am not sure exactly, but I believe the jujube air-layers were all done around June. I don’t think it really matters much, just as long as they have at least three months before the tree starts dropping leaves. I’ve only done four air-layer so far (I may do some more soon), a ‘Li’ and three ‘Sihong’.
Your profile statement is awesome: “Hi I’m Michael and I’m a hortiholic. I’m completely powerless over my hortiholism.”

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Lol. Thanks. It’s a true statement. I’ve definitely got to try some air layers on these now.

Can someone point me to some references to distinguish between Z. jujuba and other species? Just want to make sure the hundreds of seedlings I’ve got are jujuba.

Google has not been my friend on this one.

If you got them from England’s they are jujuba. I asked them and the seeds are all collected from their orchard. :grin:

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I’m no expert, but this is what I found online from pictures and descriptions: to distinguish between Z. mauritiana and Z. jujuba, check the undersides of the leaves. Is the underside white and a little fuzzy? Then you have Z. mauritiana. If it’s smooth and hairless on the underside, then it’s Z. jujuba.

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One of the easier ways to know what you’ve got may be to tell us where you got your seeds.

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They’re from England’s. It’s just with the confusion further up the thread I just wanted to be double sure :slight_smile:

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Just noticed two suckers from the Sihong air-layer planted in the yard, but I have not figured out what would the best way of raising them for later distribution: In pots their roots grow in strangulation circles, and in the ground, they are so labor intensive to dig up…I planted the Sihong far from my other jujubes, so as to not mistake their suckers for Sihong suckers. My ‘Li’ air-layer is on its third year but it has never suckered.

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OMG!!! O.M.G.!!! Yes!!!