Honey Jar and Sugar Cane Jujubes just became available!

I was planning on going in the fall to get one of Cliff Englands Shi Hongs however I may have to look at getting either a Sugar Cane, SO or Shan Xi Li. Here is what he says about the “Shi Hong Jujube” - “Produces a large fruit and ripens late. This is the Jujube that requires long hot summers low humidity drier conditions. A light producer in our area but does very well in the hot south west.” I am worried about the “low humidity, drier and light producer in our area” comment.

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there might be other factors involved as climate/soil conditions, but sihong in vegas can be very early. If you’ve noticed on that batch of jujus sent you, the sihong’s were in a more advanced stage of ripeness compared to the li’s. Li’s often outpace sihongs, but not every year. Our sihongs even outpaced sc, ant admire, and contorteds this year

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That’s very interesting Raf. The ones you sent really were amazing!

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Raf,
I think I mentioned this concern about Sihong as @zazlev stated here. I am in a short summer, high humidity area. My best hope will be a report of Sihong from @BobVance. If it does well and ripen well for him, I am in.

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you betcha! @BobVance may well be this forum’s reference when it comes to northeast jujus

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I’ll definitely make one, but you shouldn’t wait for me. Given how long it can take jujubes to become productive here (at least for me), it could be 4 years before I know. And then another 4 years for you. Do you really want to wait that long for such an interesting variant of an already tasty fruit? :wink:

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My best approach could be to find the scion wood and graft it. If it worked well in my area, I could convert Shanxi li to Sihong. If it does not work out, I only have one graft of it.

I also do not have anymore sunny space. I started growing jujube trees in pots this year. Not sure it is a way to go!!

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Zack,
For Kentucky/Tennessee:
Lang
Sugar cane
So/ AKA Contorted
Li
Honey Jar
Tigers Tooth
Taso /Tsao
Redlands # 4
Xu Zhou
Dae So Jo

These are the best for our humid climate and even thou we are at 1800 feet in elevation in Zone 6a they still perform very well
We have over 100 cultivars but many in 10 year have either fruit some or very little the ones above are the best to pick from.
Cliff

Message above was from Cliff.
I am still determined to try Sihong and will attempt to possibly graft it in the spring to a seedling. Englands nursery is a much higher elevation than I am. His nursery sits at 1800 feet above sea level versus my 350 feet. That could make a difference I suppose. We both have dreadful humidity so that could definitely hurt me with the Sihong. Cliff does say his Sihongs at least fruit some, versus many he mentioned which do not.

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East Texas has a lot of humidity. Bob Hawkins reports his SiHong very productive.

Katy

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Super interesting and good info Kate. I didn’t know you all had quite the humidity as this area (KY/TN. In fact your chart shows slightly higher humidity levels. Maybe its the higher elevation or some other environmental factor for the minimal output for Sihong at Englands tree farms.

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It could be but east Texas is well known for high humidity. I think you should try it. With a lower elevation you will get warmer temps too. If you have the space go for it…

Katy

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When I asked Cliff which one ripen earliest, he said “Redlands and Dae Sol Jo Dae Chu”.

This spring, I grafted Dae Sol Jo Dae Chu (which I assume is the same as “Dae So Jo”) from wood he sent me. I was checking out the grafts earlier today and was surpsised to see how large they grew. Most of my grafts have only grown 3-6". One of the Dae Sol Jo grew about 3’ (on top of my GA866) and one on a So sucker is 1.5-2’. I had to lookup where the 3rd graft went (on a 3 year old Chico), so I’ll check that out tomorrow.

I had a few grafts (Bok Jo and Tae Sang Wang) which grew well last year, but they were all on the same tree, so it is likely more related to the tree than the varieties or wood. And those varieties on other trees didn’t do much. But in this instance, it is the same variety on different trees which has grown gangbusters. I wonder if the variety is particularly vigorous, or if the wood is just very good (maybe from the top of a fast growing tree…).

Good idea. And it wouldn’t hurt from a pollination standpoint either. I would send you wood, but my newly planted Sihongs have grown only 2-3". For me, most of the jujubes limp through the first year. Grow a bit in the 2nd year and explode in year #3. Not that many have gotten to year #4, but I suspect that is where fruit becomes more likely. I look forward to someday when I have trouble staying on top of the harvest. Of course, it will probably come just as I’m getting ready to move… :roll_eyes:

I gave up on growing fruit in pots. While I have small seedling jujubes in pots, the only things I keep potted are figs, which seem to bear pretty well that way. And I can bring them in if they haven’t quite ripened when the frost comes. I also have a bunch of tropicals (Mango, Longon, Orange, etc) in pots, but they are more ornamentals, at least in my hands. I’m starting to think that in-ground figs are ornamentals as well. Or rather, good ways to propagate fig trees, rather than grow figs.

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fwiw, my wifes drying operation. When we pick them the fruits are maybe 50% brown, 50% green. She leaves outside in the sun during the day until all brown. Then she uses a dehumidifier. Soft, chewy, great!

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Those look so good, mouthwatering now.

Not sure If you are aware, but I planted a small orchard on City Park property with the idea that people at the park could pick a few pieces of fruit to enjoy and/or give their kids while at the park. It worked perfectly for almost 2 years. Then just as you said, people started showing up with boxes and cleaning the peaches and other fruit out. It is infuriating. I too plan to put up some kind of signs. You’d think people would have enough common sense and self respect to know we didn’t plant trees just so someone we don’t know could come by and pick them clean. THat seems so selfish to me! I feel your pain.

BTW…what is that giant white cylindrical thing? I’m guessing water tower but it’s awfully fancy for a water tower if that is what it is! Down here we just leaved the tower scaffolding exposed- that way looks a lot better!!!

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Yup. City of Allen water tower. & They just changed the zoning & are building 2 more next to me.

:slight_smile: Hope they wrap them like that. No one likes to live next to one, but trust me, that one looks 1000 times better than ours do…we are so cheap just stick them on top of the scaffold towers. In the really nice neighborhoods we paint them…in other areas we don’t even do that!!! (really). So it could be worse.

I did a detailed examination of my oldest So this past weekend. Some of the labels had faded, so I had to identify them based on descriptions such as “4’, SSW, 30 degree tilt NW” and sometimes a relative location like under xxx or just South of yyy. I successfully (at the time) grafted 20 varieties onto it in 2015. After 3 years, only half the varieties that I had initial takes on are still alive. And two of them haven’t shown an inch of growth since grafting (the same scionwood still has leave and in 1 case fruit).

In order of productiveness:

Honey Jar- 3’, 30+ fruit

Huping- 3’, 12 fruit

Winter Delight- 3+’, 12 fruit

GI 762- 3.5’, 5-8 fruit (many small ones)

Lang (not positive on ID, but likely)- 2-3’, 6 fruit

Shanxi Li- 3’, 5 fruit

Tae Sol Jo- no growth (in 3 years!), 2 fruit

Zang Huang Da- 3’, 1 fruit (a bit weird shaped)

Mei Mi Zao- 2’, 0 fruit

R1T4- no growth, no fruit

If I had to put the host tree (So) on the list, it would be 2nd, just behind Honey Jar. The HJ looks a bit more packed than So, while there are So branches nearby most of the grafts with far more fruit that the grafts have.

An interesting question is if this is a good test in terms of productiveness or if, by virtue of being grafts, the other varieties are at some sort of disadvantage. Some sort of disadvantage would explain the poor survival rate (50% lost in 3 years, most in the first winter).

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Well better late than never but I actually saw two very small fruitlets forming on my 2nd summer HJ. It seems awful late in year to finally have fruit set. How long from moments you see small fruitlets forming till harvest? @jujubemulberry @k8tpayaso
Anyone?
I’m certainly happy to at least see some! Next year I am hoping for much bigger things out of my Jujubes.
BTW I am pretty excited to go see our good buddy Kevin @thecityman Friday after work. We only live 50 miles apart. :+1::heavy_check_mark::100:

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@tonyOmahaz5 I now have HJ Seedling fruitlets.

I also have SiHong fruitlets…I know I am pushing luck here because they are so small but there is quite a few of them, a lot of insect activity, and a wonderful smell being offered up by the tree so I’m thinking this might be a meaningful experience for all involved.

And my little Xu Thou tree just keeps pumping them out. I haven’t tasted any yet. It seems they take a while to ripen. It has been blooming all summer—and is still blooming.

Katy

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