My sherwood jujube tree is about 7 years old, 10 feet tall and has not bloomed. How quickly should it bloom?

What a fantastic haul, congrats! I think my potted Li jujube tree is dead :-(

Charlie,

Is yours in the pot or planted in the ground? Fruit trees that are in the ground generally grow faster and stronger for fruit bearing. I don't know the cold hardiness of each variety. Mine seems to take our Winter here pretty well. I notice mine has a lot of thorns and the branches just want to grow to a wide lateral span that they're all blocking all the neighboring plants and also the walk way. So, after fruiting last year, I severed all its limbs, leaving only a 4 ft trunk. I really didn't know if it would survive my severe trim back, but it surprised me this year, it's growing even more and bearing lots of fruit.

So, as to your question how quickly it should bloom, I can only share with you my experience. I planted it like 4 years back and for the first 2 years, the blooms just dropped off without forming any fruit. Then, on its 3rd attempt, it bore quite a lot of fruit. After the severe trimming, it came back up and bore more fruit. Funny to watch this strange behavior. I wish that all plants can be treated the same way. If I were you, try a little trimming after each growing season and see what happens?

Here's a picture of my Thai jujube taken today:

Eloise, sorry to hear your potted Li jujube is dead. You can see if it's really dead by cutting off some of its branches. If it feels moist and shows signs of some green outer layers, it means the plant is still alive. Or, you can also scrap the stem lightly to see if the underneath surface has some green to it. If the branches or stem look dried up, try cutting a couple of inches each time to where it shows live, then you can stop there. Try not to give it too much water or leave it completely without water. Just give a little watering and keep it protected from direct sun and watch how it does after.

Here's a picture I got from the internet to show what to look for. I hope it's ok to use this picture ... I'm not good with all the fine lines about copy right etc.

Thanks for your advice bananafan2. I will scrape off some of the bark, and cut to see if it's still alive.

Banafan. Next time you trim your thai jujube can you save me some cuttings? I have a Jujube that I planted in the ground. I think it's name is Tso or something like that. It has bloomed for 2 years but no fruits. Last year it gave 1 fruit and the birds got it. I can't wait to get some fruits. I want to graft some other ones onto mine to get different kinds because i am running out of space to put in more plants. I will pay the shipping costs of course.

Thanks

i had 3 in containers that for 3 years never grew. i put 1 in ground last year and it took off, growing 5ft in a year!.

Then it died without notice. I think it was planted in a low spot, and we had a couple of rain events that lasted days and kept the ground saturated.

i did love the fruit so much i had to buy and trade for a few more... LOL.

Now i have 4 in my backyard and 1 in the front (Sherwood, Li, Coco, + un-named)

and an Indian Jujube from seed thats about 30 inches tall.

bananafan2

Is the Thai the same as Indian (Ziziphus mauritiana) ?

How does the fruit compare to a Z. Jujuba cultivar like Li ?

i am wondering if i should let my Indian go, or graft my Sherwood to it ?

i also have like 3 seedlings an inch tall. not sure yet if they are Indian or regular, as i planted both type seeds.

Greenman, I'm not familiar with the varieties you have there. This
Thai Jujube is my first jujube I bought at a plant festival. It came as a 3-4 ft juvenile. For the first two years, the
blooms did not bring forth fruit ... It was only since last year, it
began to bear fruit. I've learned from my experimenting with it that
they like being trimmed down a lot in order to trigger them into a
stronger growth. I chopped off mine almost half way down because their
growth habit was way out of hand and also by the time the fruit was
harvested, the leaves all turned sooty. When, I chopped off the old
branches, the new ones bring forth all the nice healthy leaves which is
good for fruit production I guess ...

Poetie, sorry I don't do shipping. Try buying some at your local nurseries or plant sale, or even online. I've got some nice plant deals that way.

Thx, unfortunately where I live the nurseries do not carry these plants and plant sales are non existing unless you want tomato or pepper plants in the summer.

bunti

yeah, that is what i kinda gathered doing some reasrch. that Indian and Thai must be closely related, still Z. mauritiana, but still different between Indian and Thia varieties.

i agree, there isnt a LOT of difference in taste, but, there can be a little. the reason for me growing different trees is time of ripening... this way, i can enjoy them for much longer. Once they get a speck of brown on them i have to grab them, or birds and squirrels will get them when they turn brown.

i like the taste best when they are yellow with a bit of brown in them. ... crisp, yet sweet... all brown and starting to shrivel are also good. i certainly wouldnt turn them away. i love this fruit, and its very healthy.

Where do you live? And what plant festival did you attend? We have 3 jujube trees- all of the Chinese variety. I've had Thai jujube and prefer the Thai variety of the more commonly Chinese ones. Do you have any suggestion as to where I can get a tree?

What do jujubes taste like? I don't think I've ever tasted one.

In my opinion, the Chinese ones taste like apples, but not as juicy. The Thai ones taste different and I find them more juicy.

Thanks Susz I will be on the lookout for some. Our local farmer's market has longan, sapote, rambutan, jackfruit etc when they are in season. Maybe I will find the jujubes someday now that I know what to look for.

L, my Li (before it croaked) produced very sweet, apple-like textured fruit but just a bit dryer than apple flesh. I'm hoping to replace my Li in a couple of months at one of our gatherings where we can buy Dave Wilson's trees. I've tasted all that you listed at my CRFG's group, but have never seen them at our farmer's markets (lucky you!), although some Asian markets do carry them.

My Thai jujube fruit tastes like a cross between an apple and an asian pear. They have a kind of sweetness, but not too sweet which I prefer.

Unfortunately, this year, the crop has been very scanty--probably due to me not feeding it as often as I should. The leaves by the end of the season look very beaten up with black sooty mold. I just cut off all the branches with the bad leaves and let them grow fresh leaves again.

Does any of you here have some good crop this year? Would you care to share some pictures? I'll try to take some pictures soon.

bananafan2

have you gotten a hard freeze ?

i have(had) 2 Indian Juju between 2 and 4ft tall.

the 2ft i had put in ground, the 4ft was in a container i had put on my porch , so it would be protected from frost.

it got down to 21F (coldest night in New Orleans in at least 50 years)

i dont think either will make it, but, its still early... They may come back from the roots.

My Mamey and my Black Sapote came back from the roots last year when it hit 27F.

But, i didnt see the growth until June... i almost tossed them both to re-use the containers.

I guess i will stick to the Chinese ones and not worry about frost.

Greenman62,

Yes we've got a couple of hard freeze here--fortunately for a brief period of time. Still many of my tropical trees were rather shaken. Hardest hit were the mangoes with possibly a couple of them dying and have already died. Next were the longans--they don't seem to be doing very well at this point in time and I'm afraid that a couple of them might just not make it. That was a real surprise to me as I thought they were more hardy than the lychees. All of my lychees surprisingly all did very well with only some tip burns. I was surprised that my bananas all made it. I did cover them though so that must have helped.

Coming back to my Thai jujube trees. I have a couple in the ground--a mature one which likes to grow huge and straggly and the other just planted last year and is now about 4-5 tall. I was surprised that both weren't affected at all by the freeze and I didn't even protect them at all. I thought Thai jujubes were supposed to be more cold sensitive? Go figure ... lol.

I protected my Black Sapote, which by the way is a very slow grower in my yard. It must have been in the ground for at least 7-8 years, but it only reached about 6-8 with a very thin and lanky frame. Even with protection, it died back to 3-4 ft now. My Sapote prolific (Brown sugar sapote) surprising wasn't killed even though it's known to be an rather cold sensitive. I must say though only 3 ft of it is now alive as opposed to its last grown height of 10 ft.

My Strawberry and Pineapple Guavas weren't the least affected at all. One other plant that withstood the test of cold was my Keiffer Lime. I was told so many times that it was cold sensitive, but I took it to a challenge and planted one in the ground last year. It has now reached at least 10 ft in height and wasn't even a little bit bothered by all the hullabaloo going around in the yard!

So, where are you located, Greenman, I forgot. I'm glad you still have your Mamey and Black Sapote. Plants have a way to surprise us sometimes.

I've seen this fruit and the trees sold so many times at my farmers market. They've never really peaked my interest until now. My grandfather loves the taste of apples so I'm thinking he'd probably love these.