Jujube pruning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Jujube pruning

Wow, these are neat! I wish I knew chinese. But I see limbs being tied down, recommendations as to height, high density planting, scoring of limbs, a lot of the pruning looks like apple tree pruning..I'll watch again!

A lot of that is for commercial production, not for home use. The pesticide use is very extensive. They can have more than a double chemicals used on Jujube trees.

I figure with the high density planting, the trees would probably be replaced in about 10-15 years or so. Old wood is not productive...

Don't jujube fruit on new wood each year? Is it just that the oldest branches don't put out much new wood, thus not making much fruit?

I also noticed that some of the pruning left (and shortened) several shoots coming from close to the rootstock. Is this designed to create a shrub/bush, rather than a tree. I was wondering about this the other day, as my So is really just a bush, rather than a tree. I'm curious how hard it would be to do that with some other cultivars. So is supposed to be more dwarfing, so it could be easier than with others. I suppose one option would be to use a So interstem...

Tony,

Do you have good harvest for jujube in your zone 5 area?

Tom

Tom

I got about 90 fruits from my 5 yrs old LI last season. I should get some fruits from the Lang, Sugarcane, and Honey Jar this coming season. The Tigertooth, So, Shanxi Li, Shihong, and Winter Delights are newly grafted this past summer.

Tony

Looks like this commercial orchard plants @ 8' between trees, and keeps the trees 8-10 ft tall. They spray, and irrigate

Tony, how many years does it usually take before your jujubes start producing? My Li will be going into its 4th season and 3rd for my Sugar Cane. I get flowers, but no fruits. I did get a couple of pea sized fruits on my Li for the first time this year, but they dropped before getting any bigger.

Rob
I bought a large Li from EL 5 yrs ago. The tree came with 6 fruits that Spring. It continues to produce more fruits each of the following years. I have a seedling jujube right next to it for cross pollination.

Tony

My So from Just Fruits and Exotics produced 30-40 small fruits in year #3.

I got my wife to watch the videos and give me a somewhat-realtime translation. At one point they mention that the trees have their first big crop in year #5.

In terms of spacing, the 2nd video said 1.5-2 meters (5-6.5') between trees, with 2-3 meter (6.5-10') row spacing. They should get 2.5-3 meters tall and are cut back (to a weak side branch, per what I saw) in summer or early fall. The trees should have 3 layers of branches, each about 1/2 a meter apart, starting 30-50cm from the ground.

They mentioned several sprays, but she wasn't able to catch all. Some were evidently for fertilization, as she said they were spraying "P" (Phosphorous? Pee?).

In terms of picking the fruit, one of the videos showed them knocking them down with a stick, while the other video said that you should retain the small stem on it, so that it will keep better (near 0 degrees C).

The same video which showed the fruit being knocked onto the ground also trumpeted fertilizing only with "all natural" materials (manure?). I didn't like the idea of eating fruit picked up from the manure, but my wife pointed out that the fertilization is in the spring, so it is pretty old by then. It couldn't have bothered her, as she said the video made her hungry and got out a bag of dried jujubes...The video says that jujubes are 50% of the town's income, so it must work OK.

I thought that it was interesting that they are using something like tangle-foot on the trees, similar to what I do on apples. In order to get a nice smooth seal, they shave down the rough bark. There must be a lot more jujube-infesting bugs they need to fight off in China.

Bob,

Thanks for the translation. I am looking forward in the next few years when most of my jujubes will be making fruits. These trees will be replacing all my apple trees because I don't want to spray anymore.

Tony

The natural form of jujube is vertical axis. If you get can go to nurseries who carry them, you'll see that most trees come as long sticks. The trees will only send out main branches if headed, or reaching certain height.

The tree I bought a few years ago was such stick, about 7' tall, 1" trunk. No main branches (or cut off at nursery). I gave it to friend when we moved.

Some trees are considered in weeping form, since young trees bear heavily and the fruits just pull the branches down, creating the weeping form.