Jujubes Make Me Happy

[roblack]

Hello all. Here are some recent pics of my 2 Indian jujube trees with fruits. Not too sweet unless they start to turn orangish, but they are so crisp and refreshing, with just enough sweetness. I like hi brix fruit, but also like to eat fruit that is not overpoweringly sugary. Going to add some shredded jujube to a green papaya salad, think it will be a hit.

[roblack]

Any advice on when to eat the shriveled orange/red ones? Don't want to eat a foul fruit, but heard they are good overripe and dried out.

[00christian00]

How cold hardy are these Indian Jujube?

[spaugh]

Nice, your garden looks really healthy and productive.

[roblack]

Nice, your garden looks really healthy and productive.

Much thanks! Love being out there watering and tending to our plants.

How cold hardy are these Indian Jujube?

I'm not sure how much cold they can take, but they easily withstood temps in the mid 40's for a few nights.

[achetadomestica]

Any advice on when to eat the shriveled orange/red ones? Don't want to eat a foul fruit, but heard they are good overripe and dried out.

I think the dried ones tasting good are referring to the Chinese jujubes. They are suppose to taste like dates.
 My two trees got demolished by Irma and I cut them back to nothing. They are doing great now but I sacrificed
the fruit when I pruned them. In the past mine got ripe in a very short time frame like 2 weeks.
Yours are nice and spread out with the dried ones next to the ripe ones now you must have been eating them for over a month?

How cold hardy are these Indian Jujube?

My low temps were 30F and neither tree had an issue.

[C24mccain]

How cold hardy are these Indian Jujube?

In January we had an 8 hour freeze with 4 of those hours at 28* and my Thai Giant Indian jujube had all the leaves fried. That night was a heavy frost as well. Then it gut kicked while it was down two weeks later with a 6.5 hour freeze and a low of 25*. Right now it looks toast but there is still green doing the bark scratch test. This was the trees first winter so it was young. We will see if it comes back.

[roblack]

(Quote)  I think the dried ones tasting good are referring to the Chinese jujubes. They are suppose to taste like dates.
 My two trees got demolished by Irma and I cut them back to nothing. They are doing great now but I sacrificed
the fruit when I pruned them. In the past mine got ripe in a very short time frame like 2 weeks.
Yours are nice and spread out with the dried ones next to the ripe ones now you must have been eating them for over a month?



Been eating them for a few weeks now, and they keep getting better. Some pretty big ones too, but lots are quite small when they ripen. Start off green, turn light greenish/yellow, and then start to get orange and red in them and soften some.  The longer they go, the sweeter. They get a nice funky taste as they over-ripen, but haven't tried any of the ones that are shriveling and drying yet. My tortoises tear them up though.

On another note, my daughter has been dealing with some growing pains for a few weeks. For the last few days she has been eating jujubes, and no growing pains.

[achetadomestica]

 They get a nice funky taste as they over-ripen, but haven't tried any of the ones that are shriveling and drying yet. My tortoises tear them up
[/quote]

Once they get that red color I can't eat them, funky is a very kind way to describe the red ones.
What kind of tortoises do you got?

[sunny]

The big green jujube we call Taiwan jujube...Indian one is small.

I like the chinese jujube the most, very nice sweet and crispy but not so juicy as the taiwan. Thai jujube is also not nice compared to china.

[roblack]

They get a nice funky taste as they over-ripen, but haven't tried any of the ones that are shriveling and drying yet. My tortoises tear them up

Once they get that red color I can't eat them, funky is a very kind way to describe the red ones.
What kind of tortoises do you got?
[/quote]

Redfoot and Yellow-foot tortoises

The big green jujube we call Taiwan jujube...Indian one is small.

I like the chinese jujube the most, very nice sweet and crispy but not so juicy as the taiwan. Thai jujube is also not nice compared to china.

I don't think most of the Chinese varieties do well here in SoFl. Tried a few different ones at Fruit and Spice Park and Fairchild, and none were as good as these.

TOP lists their jujube as Taiwan hybrid. Online pic shows dark red fruit. Mine haven't got red like that at all. When I asked a rep years ago if that was indeed a pic of their tree, never could get a definitive answer.

PIN lists theirs as ziziphus jujuba, and originating from China. The pic they list is just like the fruit we're harvesting.

[fyliu]

Z. jujuba is the red Chinese one, the Z. mauritiana is the green one.
Top Tropicals has the red one. PIN has the green one. I'm saying this based on the descriptions. I haven't ordered from either place to know for sure.

[00christian00]

Thanks for the info on cold hardiness!

[roblack]

Z. jujuba is the red Chinese one, the Z. mauritiana is the green one.
Top Tropicals has the red one. PIN has the green one. I'm saying this based on the descriptions. I haven't ordered from either place to know for sure.

The TOP variety does not turn red when ripe. If it ever turns red, must be after shriveling up. It does get some blush to it, but not much. Mostly light green. Pic on their site is of something else, not the tree I was sold. Fruits are tasty, and a bit bigger than the PIN variety.

PIN jujube is fruiting more prolifically for me, but has been in-ground for a year+ more than the TOP jujube. Some of the fruits get almost as big as the TOP, but there are lots that are quite small and turn light greenish/yellow/whitish when ripe. No blush. PIN and TOP jujubes taste the same to me.

[roblack]

Thanks for the info on cold hardiness!

There are other varieties (Chinese) that certainly can take colder temps. I read down to zone 6 or maybe 5.

[Kada]

Lovely looking fruit!  Do you prune and graft?

[roblack]

Lovely looking fruit!  Do you prune and graft?

Thank you.

Have pruned one of them a bit, as they both grow to the side and get droopy. Will cut back a lot when they are done fruiting. I believe both trees were grafted. I have not grafted on them myself. Not sure what would graft onto them. Don't know of any other varieties that do well in this area. Open to suggestions.

[roblack]

Picked these today.


Dehydrating jujubes. Tired of letting so many go to waste. Plus, since they are great for fighting growing pains, want to have some for the future.

[achetadomestica]

Dehydrating is a great idea!
Echo is planting this tree in 3rd world countries all over Africa.
It is drought tolerant and produces so much fruit. How many pounds
has your tree produced this year?

[roblack]

Dehydrating is a great idea!
Echo is planting this tree in 3rd world countries all over Africa.
It is drought tolerant and produces so much fruit. How many pounds
has your tree produced this year?

Thank you. Dried jujubes are a hit! Especially good with a little cinnamon.

You know, I have no idea how many pounds each tree have produced. If had to guess would say about 10 - 15 pounds plus each tree. But, a lot of fruit has fallen to the ground and there are still a lot of fruit still on one of the trees.

Ours are small trees. Grows pretty fast. Since they are droopers, have had to keep them in check in our yard. Growing in cramped quarters as well, with full sun only part of the day. A mature tree allowed to grow to potential would produce a lot of fruit.