Chinese jujube

MaryT says...
prepper1 we do have a member on this forum who specialise in growing Chinese jubube:

http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/my/5635/

Perhaps if you leave your email address she'll be able to contact you

Carl76 says...
John
Any favorites yet ?

JohnMc1 says...
I think Li would have to be my fav, probably because they may be the first to mature. They are very addictive when you start eating them. They look like small round apples, have a finer texture than apples and are crunchy if you can't leave them on the tree long enough to shrivel into a very sweet "red date". Ta-jan is absolutely loaded, a larger tree would produce many hundreds of kilo's of fruit.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1	Picture: 2

MaryT says...
They look so tempting, John Mc. Alas I have to get rid of a tree to take on another one - not that there are no candidates but it's a difficult decision and a big job.

Miranda says...
Thanks John.
I got the ta-jan and Li from WA in winter, now have one fruit on each. many young fruits dropped off.

JohnMc1 says...
I can't get enough of them, must have at least 8-10 varieties so far. Will probably get the remaining varieties available in Aus this winter, hopefully if Lucy is still selling them.
For what they are and the amount of fruit they produce, they are well worth the cost in my humble opinion. In past years Lucy sold them for $65ea + postage, usually $20 for several barerooted plants. I can't vouch for the costs of future orders, they have been that price for at least 4 years that I know of.
Here's the varieties that were available last winter:

Li: Large round fruit up 3 ounces in mid-Mar. May be picked at the yellow-green
stage. Best eaten fresh. Best single tree to have. Early fruiting
Suimen: Fruit is elongated and excellent fresh or dried.
Chico : Fruit is round but flattened to an unusual shape. Excellent, sweet
taste.Excellent either fresh or dried.
Tajan: Large, pear-shaped fruits which must be fully colored to be best eating.
Tree is upright and virtually spineless
Thornless: pear-shaped fruit similar to Tajan, It is virtually thornless.
Lang Large, pear-shaped fruit which must be fully colored to be best eating. This fruit is best to let dry on the tree. Tree is upright and virtually spineless.
Redlands Collected at an old homestead in Redlands, California. Very large, sweet, round fruit.
Sherwood The fruit is very dense and sweet. Tree is very narrow and upright with leaves that are weeping in habit.
Silverhill (Tigerstooth) An elongated fruit like a chili. Virtually spineless.
SIHONG: Excellent, large, round fruit mid-season.
SHANXI LI: Extremely large fruit with great flavor.

JohnMc1 says...
Two other new varieties I bought last winter:

GA-866
An outstandingly sweet selection out of the Chico Research program. Large, elongated fruit.

Admiral Wilkes
Collected on a South Seas expedition in the 1840's and planted on the Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. Elongated fruit which has been the very last to ripen, generally in mid to late April.

sternus1 says...
Glad they're doing well for you John. My foray into jujubes was pretty brief--They really, really don't like the humidity up here. There might be a more tropical type out there I can find one day, but until then, I'll be buying dried jubes. Good fruit. Honey pot is supposedly the best.

sternus1 says...
Daleys will have a very good range on sale soon.

audrey says...
Hi all, Can anyone describe the taste of Shanxi Li? Is it sweet, flavourful and large? I have limited space thus would like to choose the best variety in terms of sweetness, large size and good yield. Wondering if Redlands / Li Jujube taste better than Shanxi Li Jujube?

Markmelb says...
I have tasted 3 different jjs - Li - Chico and small Xanxi Li and found they all were very similar if i did a blind test - waiting for my honey jar & full size Xanxi Li to really see if theres a difference - I like Li best when its gone a bit brown - seems to be sweeter when dryer.

David says...
Hi Audrey,
If your kids want a fresh fruit to eat every day then Gala, Pink lady or even Golden delicious tastes a lot better than Jujube in my opinion. However, if you are looking for a different fresh or dried 'Jujube' taste or you've already accustomed to it then Li is the one and it is one of the best among Jujube varieties. Another example can you compare Pear with Apple, or even NA Persimmon with apple. No, as they are all good but they are very different in their own way, thus you need to try it by yourself to see whether you or your kids like it or not as Jujube has less flavour and less sweet when compare to apple. I bought the fresh/dried Jujube from the website below and now I have 4 Li and only grafted one bear fruits at the moment, which is about toe size, the other seedlings may take a year or two. Grow jujube is super easy and very fast . Hope this will help.

http://jujubeaustralia.com/buy-fresh-jujube/

audrey says...
Thanks Mark for your reply. Seems like Li is a favourite. From other reviews that I read Honey Jar and Sugar Cane is a standout winner for taste and sweetness. Let us know how your Honey Jar and Shanxi Li taste👍