I have a Jujube tree in my yard. Mine is the smaller Chinese "Chicken heart" variety. (That's because the seed is so tiny!) Because of its size, there's not much fruit to eat; however, the larger variety fruits are meatier and crunchy like apples. I harvest my jujubes in late October when fruits turn brownish, and I sun dry them for about 2 weeks. They're sweet in soups, high in antioxidant, and excellent medicinal value.

Thanks. What zone are you in. Wondering if they do well in zone 8.

I'm in California, zone 9. If you can grow apples in your zone, the jujube will do fine.

I planted a couple Jujubes in the easement in back of my next door neighbor's house about 20 years ago. They were root sprouts from a named variety (maybe 'Li') given to me by a friend. They don't produce fruit every year and when they do the critters, possums, birds, etc., often get to it before I do. They had lots of blooms this year, but I haven't checked to see if they have fruit. When we do get fruit I just eat it out of hand. They taste like dry apples. There are no seeds to speak of.

They make pretty trees that grow straight up with dark bark and glossy leaves, but we don't get enough fruit from them to make it worth having cut back all the root sprouts. They didn't start sprouting (up 10 or more feet from the mother tree) for the first 10 years or so. I had read that do that and thought I was going to get by without having that problem, but the sprouts are easy to mow down except when they come up in flower beds. Then they have to be manually cut back. Also, they have thorns.

But realize the ones I have are planted in poor caliche type soil and are not watered. The trees do amazingly well under those conditions, but you may get more fruit in better soil. Also there may be better varieties availble now.

I have pictures I will post if I can find them.

Couldn't find the old pictures so took some just now. They probably aren't going to help you much, but here's one of the trees which is making a liar out of me ... ;-) because it does not appear to be growing straight up. It's leaning out to get light, plus the rough bark doesn't appear to be dark with the morning sun reflecting off. Oh well ... LOL There's a crape myrtle growing on the right.

Close up of the shiny green leaves ...

Thanks roselee. Did you see the other jujube post with pictures. This is a actually a duplicate post that I tried to delete. That tree near where I live is loaded with fruit.

No, just saw the comments here. I guess you didn't need to see pictures after all, but at least it got me out there to check for fruit of which there was none. And at least you know they'll grow and bloom where you are. Just keep in mind the root sprouting part. That's the only drawback I can think of.

I bought a Jujube Tree at a nursery in San Antonio. I asked them if it could be planted in a part of my hill country property, mostly caliche & limestone, very limited watering and still produce some fruit. They said that would work. That was a lie! It never produced fruit and eventually during the extreme drought the upper part died back. Only growing from the lowest part now (root stock, I believe, since all of them sold in nurseries are grafted). It's a lost cause, probably they need real soil and regular watering in central Texas. Root sucker plants wouldn't be a good idea...that's not the named variety that might produce better.

Thanks Linda for your experience with Jujubes in caliche and limestone and also the tip about sprouts from grafted trees. You're right; if the plant was grafted the sprouts will be from the graft. That is certainly something to keep in mind.

It's possible, but I'm not sure that mine are not a named variety. It was given to me by my friendly veterinarian whose hobby was fruit trees. Back 35 or 40 years ago when he got his Jujubes it's possible that they were not grafted. He would have known that root sprouts from a grafted plant would not be the fruiting variety that was on top of the graft. He did grafting himself. Unfortunately he has passed away so I can't ask him. Anyway, I guess it makes no difference because in my rocky caliche ground with no irrigation the Jujubes he passed along have only fruited every four or five years. I'm curious to know why with all the flowers this year they had no fruit.

Also seeds from a fruit tree will not come true if it's a hybrid. I found that out when someone gave me a seedling Pomegranite. The tree grew large and beautiful, plus it produces pretty flowers and fruit, but the fruits never ripen. Oh well ...

Bgp, what nice trees and they are fruiting so nicely. Thanks for the photos. It's a darn shame they sucker so badly.

Incidentally, after seeing your trees I went snooping around mine today and found ONE nice size jujube fruit on ONE tree. One ... only one -- not fair! The critters will probably get it before I do. Sure glad I don't have to live off these trees.