My jujube tree always flowers (it is about 4 years old now, skinny tall, about 10ft), but it never produces fruit! I got it as a sucker from an acquaintance who said that they always got fruit off of their single tree. Are these self-pollinating?

Do you remember when in blooms? April? May?

There are many varieties of jujubes available in the USA, and some of the named cultivars seems to fruit better than older, un-named ones. Jujubes are self-fruitful, but (as with many other fruiting trees that are self-fruitful) you usually get a larger harvest if you have two trees. So, if you get a small harvest, you might need a second tree. However, if you get no harvest, there's something else wrong. I am not sure what it would be....but here's a few ideas.

---If the trees flower too early, the young fruit could be frozen off the tree before you even know that fruit has formed. Or, the flowers might freeze before fertilization and fruit set occurs. Compared to some other trees, like stone fruit, jujubes are considered late bloomers, but our weather is so erratic that you still might get a freeze after they'e bloomed.

---Are bees and other pollinators around at the time the fruit trees are blooming? This could be the whole issue in a nutshell. I've never had a lack of fertilization with my stone fruit trees, but they produce all their flowers over a brief period and the huge mass of flowers attracts tons of pollinators. Because jujubes flower for a longer period of time, it could be there are fewer flowers open at any given time and the pollinators may not find the trees on time. It is my understanding that the pollen of jujubes is only viable for a brief time frame. Also, I don't know that I've ever seen it specifically stated that they are known to be wind-pollinated, only that they may be. So, you might not need insects, but I bet that you do.

I know that jujubes won't set fruit and mature it well if they stay too dry during their fruiting period. They tolerate high temperatures just fine, but need some moisture especially in their early years.

Some jujubes set fruit the first or second year, so I know it is possible. Depending on the variety you have, you might have to wait longer. Do you know if your plant was a named cultivar like 'Lang' or 'Li'? Since yours started as a sucker, maybe it has been too small or maybe the last two years it has been too hot too early and too dry as well down here in our part of the state.

Some time back, "Texas Gardener" magazine had a really good article about Jujube trees. I'll find it and link it.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Jujube Tree Article from

My grandmothers tree produced fruit from when I was just a very young boy till about 15 years ago (I'm 58 now) . The tree is still living and has several sprouts coming up around it but no fruit. I dug three up and transplanted them here at my home about two days ago. I plan on going back and digging up a larger one later. I have no Idea about pollination but I would think they would be self-pollinating as hers was the only one in Newalla I knew of.
David

Check out this site tytyga.com go to fruit trees then jujube trees and the one called seedling is the size fruit I used to get from my grandmothers tree but the small trees as they are showing have lots of fruit and the ones growing round our old tree has not been fruiting.I really wish we could get the smaller ones to do this.

Can anybody tell me what jujube taste like? Or is there anyone who would be willing to send me one if I send you a self addressed, stamped envelope? I'm really tempted to plant one as it sounds like a winning fruit for Oklahoma since it handles heat well. But I was all gung ho to plant a persimmon too. After trying one (Fuyu?) from Sprouts, I decided I didn't like it.

Shelley,

Different jujubes can taste slightly different. There are jujubes from China, which are grown in non-tropical areas, and their flavor is close to that of an apple, though not exactly the same. With jujube, variety is everything. There are some varieties that are better for drying than fresh eating, and some that are better for making jujube butter (you make it the same way you make apple butter, peach butter or any other fruit butter--a fruit butter is a spread sort of like a jam) and some are very good for fresh eating. If I was growing jujube for fresh eating, I'd look for a variety like "Sugar Cane" or "Sherwood". If I wanted it for drying or making fruit butter, I'd buy "Li" or "Lang". There's a different kind of tropical jujube from India grown in tropical parts of states like Florida. I've never tasted one of the fruit from those, but I understand that with at least some of them, you're better off eating it before it is fully ripe. The drawback to growing "Sugar Cane" is that you'll need another jujube of another variety in order to get better fruit set. If I was going to plant jujube (and one of these days I might get around to planting a couple if it seems like rainfall ever is going to return to normal), I'd probably plant "Sugar Cane" and "Sherwood". To find the named varieties, you may have to order from someone online like Raintree Nursery, One Green World, Ison's or Stark Bros. I wouldn't order from any online nursery that was new to me other than the ones I listed without going to a watchdog site and reading their reviews. There are lots of great nurseries you can order online from, but there's a few that are not so good. The only jujube varieties I've ever seen in nurseries or stores here are 'Li' and 'Lang' and I am not especially interested in growing those. Most online sellers have at least 3 to 5 or 6 different varieties you can choose from. If you find a California nursery online that has good watchdog reviews (google the name of the nursery along with the words watchdog and garden or go to GW's Rate and Review Vendors forum here), you may find many more varieties because they are grown commercially there. I've never looked at the website of a west coast nursery like Dave Wilson nursery to see what jujubes they have, if any. Both Raintree and One Green World are up in the Pacific Northwest, but both ship trees.

Persimmon is an acquired taste, coming in both astringent and non-astringent varieties. 'Fuyu' is one of the non-astringent varieties so if you didn't like it, take my word for it that you won't like the non-astringent varieties at all. We have two separate groves of native, astringent persimmons on our property and they are completely inedible until frost has hit them a couple of times. Once they've frosted, they can be used in pudding, cakes, etc. but aren't much good for fresh eating (or at least that's how we feel about them at our house). I generally don't use the astringent ones much. Mostly I let the fruit fall to the ground and the coyotes eat every single one of them. In fact, coyotes must not have taste buds like ours because they'll eat the persimmons green and sour. That's why we have so many persimmon trees here, and more pop up every year. The coyotes spread their seed around everywhere. We generally control them by mowing them down when they pop up in the pastures. Persimmons are beautiful trees with fantastic fall color, but if I had limited space, it isn't a fruit I'd choose to plant. Having said all of that, most fruit from any grocery store is not nearly as good as the very same variety of fruit eaten fresh off a tree. There again, though, unless you have a lot of space, you don't want to take a chance on growing any fruit if you aren't sure you'll love it. I'd hate to give space to a tree, buy it, plant it and tend to it only to discover that I didn't like to eat the fruit! That's why I grow mostly stone fruit. I'd love to grow apples, but with our property being surrounded on all side by cedar trees, I'd never planted an apple tree because I don't want to deal with cedar apple rust. One day I may surprise myself by planting an apple tree or two, but that will mean I've decided to buy Immunox to treat the trees. I am not a very attentive fruit tree grower. I tend to just plant them, prune them, mulch and water them, and do not spray for pests or diseases. I am really good about harvesting the fruit though. This fits in with my organic philosophy. If I had to be a good, obedient gardener and follow a very regimented spray program, I'd likely skip growing fruit.

Dawn

Thanks, Dawn, for the very informative response! I'm interested in both fresh eating and drying - is there a good all-purpose one? :) Is Sugar Cane or Sherwood any good for drying? I like the idea of being able to dry fruit for the rest of the year, and I love dates and raisins and other dried fruit. Hmmm... maybe I need two?

Any ideas where I might find one to taste? Maybe Whole Foods?

Shelley,

You're welcome.

Sugar Cane or Sherwood should work equally well for fresh eating or drying. If you go to the website of one of the online retailers, they usually say in the variety description if that variety is better for fresh eating or preserving.

You might find them at Whole Foods. I think that Central Market would be a better bet, but the nearest Central Market that I know of is in Southlake, TX, so unless you're traveling, you won't be near one. Also, sometimes you can find the more unusual fruits at Asian markets, so if you live near one, you might check there.

Have you thought about growing figs? They grow great here, and even if they freeze back to the ground, they regrow quickly and produce fruit the same year. Figs are my favorite fruit of all the fruit I grow.

Dawn

Sorry for the slow response. The guy will flower (very small flowers) well after frosts are over, and will actually flower in the summer as well. I have seen ants and flying insects on the flowers, but sometimes I think that the flowers are so small that most insects do no bother.

Glorydaze, those seedlings you dug up will not produce good fruits. They were coming from the rootstock which was wild jujube. The mother plant seemed too old to produce fruits I guess.