Bas
I have on my radar to get a couple of Jujube varieties this year.
Which of your varieties can survive and ripen fruit in zone 6? 
Do Jujube seedling produce edible fruit?
Thanks for your help.

jujube seedlings can produce in as little as 3 years, but the fruit quality is variable and doesn't come true to type. Many jujube seeds are hollow which means won't sprout. Jujube seedlings is definitely edible, but some are very tiny, and barely have any meat, many can be sour.
One of the best ones that produced for me are Li, Honey jar, sugar cane, among a few others that I'm still testing. Coco tastes great but small. 

Thanks Bass! 
So these are also cold hardy z6?

Figpig, if you go to this link and scroll down, it talks about Jujubs.  This man is growing them in Abbeville La. 
http://www.tandeecal.com/page3.htm

Yes they're hardy in zone 6. One other thing is also important is heat, and not just the cold hardiness. They like the heat to ripen properly. 

Shah8 i have loquat already. I was wondering which jujubes would grow here. Thanks,though. I love my loquat. Its old and a grate producer. Loojs like a jungle plant with its huge leaves

There's an old British idiom: "penny wise and pound foolish". I think starting fruit trees from seed when well-bred cultivars exist falls within the idiom - because the cost of a tree in a 5 to 15 gallon container is insignificant in comparison to the labor and resources expended over the life of the tree.

Spoken like a true salesman. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

I forget when I tried jujubes, but I remember being distinctly underwhelmed.

This past summer I was at Linnilea Farms and jujubes came up in conversation with the owner, a very venerable gentleman with a lot of botany under his belt. I forget his name.

Anyhow, when I said that I was totally unimpressed with jujubes, he replied that Li jujube was the best fruit he had ever tasted.

That picqued my interest!

There are definite advantages to modern varieties, figpig, so if you see a chance to grab a few scions to put on your loquat...

Count me as among those with very little interest in jujube.  Main advantage is that it gives a carefree apple flavor, but you really have to pick them at the right time.  Better for processing than out of hand, for the most part.

I'm thinking of regrafting my Lang after some thought.Now, honey jar, sugarcane are good for fresh eating, I'm curious about shanxi li and Li, are they good for fresh eating?

My first jujube tree was Li. I planted it without knowing if it will actually bear in zone 6 or if it's cold hardy. That was 13 years ago. 2 years later I grafted other varieties into it. I think I ended up with 8 varieties grafted into the Li.

• Li produced the most fruit as it was the largest part of the tree. It is definitely the favorite in my family. 
• Sihong was good, but late and not as juicy, but it tastes excellent dried (drying can't be done in the Northeast). 
• Tsao has an interesting shape, and tasty, but not much meat to it. 
• Abbeyville is very productive of small pear shaped fruit, with tangy flavor. 
• Silverhill Planted at my new location, not very sweet and I'll probably graft over it.
• Sugarcane, excellent flavor olive size.
• HoneyJar, excellent sweet flavor, with juiciness. It produces small fruit. Planted it at my dad's place and it produced different sizes of fruit. Some were as big as Li.
• Lang I never grafted it. It is usually a couple week later than Li, it's large but more commonly used for drying than fresh eating. I didn't like the flavor of the ones I've tried.
• Lebanese Annab, an olive size fruit from the native Lebanese varieties. It is highly regarded for it's sweet flavor. Still under evaluation.
• Coco, another very sweet flavor. Average size fruit, some thorns but tasty fruit. 

Does anyone have any jujube scion available? I'm still looking to regraft my small potted lang and am looking for just a few sticks of something good for fresh eating.

I have two jujube trees, they both came from friends, so the variety is not exactly known, one might be a sugarcane.  I never really care about jujube trees until this past September, when I picked some fruits fresh off the tree, and enjoy it right away, and let me tell you this, the jujube tree is definitely a must have in every garden, I found the fruit taste the best when it's still green but with some red spots on it.  The taste is like an apple but way better, it's crunch and super sweet, and apparently, it's highly medicinal too.  You can also dry the fruits and store it for months or years without any problems, the dry fruits can be used in basically any type of soups (it's like the natural sugar but with added medicinal value), or to put it in your tea or cereals.

snaglplus,

    Mr jacks farm in charlotte is having Li, Lang, GA-866 and Sherwood plants. Each is $50 and they really big trees. May be in 15g pots. I have seen honey jar in Raleigh farmers market. One guy is having the trees. He still have 2 plants. They are also big trees 7-8' tall but in 5g pots. They are $75.

I do have 35 varieties of jujubes. Most of them are small plants. I have 2 Li for last 4 years and they are big plants now. For me Li, lang Sherwood and GA-866 tastes same(may be I am concentrating more on eat than taste differentiating). They are all awesome. I sure say honey jar tastes better. I had 2 fruits on the plant and I have tasted only one fruit. Since last 2 years, I am moving so I kept them in pots.  This year, I will plant them in ground.

I will post pictures of my fruits and plants once I go home.

I have one extra plant of so variety.

FYI : Roger Meyer is no more. He passed away in Nov I think.

His jujube articles from a couple decades ago were reprinted in this month's CRFG issue in honor of him. 

It saddens me to hear that Roger passed away. He sent me 5 trees 2 years ago. We talked on the phone several times over the past 3 years. Last year his wife called and said Roger had medical issues and they were having trouble trying to fulfill all the request.


The one thing I'm proud of is Roger spent lots of his time educating me on Jujubes. I wish I had visited him but never made it. He had a unique voice that I will always remember. All the trees he sold me fruited last year. Some were so full, the tree was half way on the ground. All I did was fertilize and water and boom! Mr Meyer will be missed.

As for Mr Jack's Farm, I knew mr Jack personally. Yes, he has lots of Jujubes . I've visited his farm many times over the years. One year ago, he too passed away. His farm is truly a site to see. His daughter is taking over the farm. The farm was hit badly by the borer beetle. They lost a lot of trees last year. There's a separate farm f giant trees on the northwest side of Mr Jack's house. He wouldn't let you go over there, I was able to see it last Spring after his death. The trees there were 10+ years old. According to his daughter, those were special her father. She told me to pick out wherever I wanted but I didn't. It just didn't seem right.

Yes Roger will be missed, he was a legend and it will be impossible to replace all of his horticultural knowledge.  Dennis, most fruit tree nuts like us would have really "went to town" when offered such a temptation but you forever have my respect for your actions.    

If anyone wants Shanxi Li jujube New England Nursery have them. Act fast.

I'm sorry to hear the news about Roger Meyer. I bought some baby trees from him last winter. I guess, I'm one of the last few people who received trees from him.

Thank you Ed.   Bass is the only other person I know that's very knowledgeable about jujubes.  I need to plant mine in the ground this weekend but I hurt my back 2 weeks ago.  I fell down our icy front porch steps.  I landed on my lower back hitting all 6 steps on the way down.  Now, I have cracked vertebrae in my back and a huge contusion on my back!  Wife won't let me do much around the house until my back heals.

Took a long drive from Austin to San Francisco and heading back home. Sorry for not making many stops and meeting new friends. Perhaps next time.
So I managed to visit the late Roger Meyer's home and met his wife. She had three jujube trees for me which included the elusive Autumn Beauty which I've been looking for for the past couple of years. (I bought the last of her Autumn Beauties) . She still had a few varieties including Redlands #4, Jin, Sugar Cane and Honey Jar (one of my favorites and early ripening varieties). She had none of the Russian varieties. In total, she had about 30 pots left from the farm after it was sold. If anyone is interested and can pick them up, she charges $30 per tree and does not ship. These will be the last of her Jujube trees.