Chance Lunceford

Chance Lunceford wrote:This is my entire collection, right now.

I'll be adding all winter.

But, I think I'll start sharing what I've got in each category over the next while, and explain my goals with each species.

Should be a fun little project to share.

Next up, watermelon.

Goals:

1) Direct seed
2) Diverse sizes, for personal and family use
3) Ample but not excessive seed
4) Improved drought/heat and pest/disease tolerance/resistance
5) Deliciousness
6) More stuff, but the above goals will take some work to achieve in my population and are my primary foci

As you can see, I've focused on diversity and icebox or smaller sizes. There are some larger sizes in there, and I'll save seed if they're successful, but my main focus is 20lbs or under.

I will, of course, plant the seed.

Here's the recommended steps (from reading):

1) Dry for a couple days
2) Split endocarp and extract seed(s) (apparently there can be multiples)
3) Lightly mechanically scarify
4) Cold stratify for 6-12 weeks
5) Short-term warm stratification
6) Soak for 24-48 hours
7) Plant and wait 2-8 weeks

Anybody have experience germinating jujube seeds who wants to validate, improve or contradict any of this?

So, I checked on my one and only jujube fruit this morning... and I found an earwig eating its way inside. Little bastard.

Anyway, I was waiting for the frost to come soften it a bit, but it was ripe already and it wasn't going to improve after being bug-bit, so I picked it.

Cut off the bug-munched area, ate the rest. My first jujube. It was sweet, with apple/pear overtones and honey/date settled in after the top notes. No bitterness and only the faintest hint of astringency which was pleasant rather than biting.

I can see why people like turning them into dates. They'd be considerably chewier and sweeter in that form.

The texture is unique, somehow both crisp and cottony, with some chew even without aging or frost-bletting.

This was off my contorted jujube. Looking forward to trying the other two varieties and the contorted in greater numbers next year.

The seed has a unique, double pointed structure and is around the same mass as a nanking cherry pit.

We might've gotten carried away on the tulips...

Pulled over to harvest some seed from a couple wildling blanket flowers that I've noticed over the summer and finally had some time to stop and do some collecting.

Another Prunus Andersonii has popped.

Chance Lunceford wrote:This is exciting for me.

If you've been reading this thread, you know I found a wild plum growing in the city of Springdale, just outside of Zion Canyon.

The fruit were a little smaller than a golfball, vivid yellow -skin and flesh- and tasted like grapefruit.

So, I kept the seeds from the handful I grabbed (wish I would have grabbed more), and stratified 'em.

I posted a picture earlier of the radicle from the first seed to germinate.

The picture below is of the seedling's first inch above ground.

Here's the latest photo of the first seedling:

That's a Four O'clock against the wall, but beneath it you'll notice a small patch of mint.

That's a diverse population that's grown from a breeder's mix I secured in 2024. I grew the mint in a pot for a year, as wasp control beneath a hummingbird feeder, then I transplanted it this spring when I decided to give my wife more ornamental enjoyment in the pot.

As you can see, there are a number of different growth habits that emerged this year, and the flavors and intensities vary significantly. I've got some selected varieties from my local greenhouse elsewhere, and I've been harvesting seed from some of that already. I'll harvest this seed too, when it's ready, and plant out a bunch of mixed seed in a developmental area in the yarden.

This is my first (and for this year, only) jujube.

I've never eaten one before, and this one's not quite ready, so I'm waiting until after a couple frosts hit and soften it a bit.

Pretty exciting.

Should have significantly more fruit next year on my three trees. ZigZag, GA-866 and Shanxi Li. I'll be propagating from seed next year (assuming I do get fruit next year) and I'll try my hand on the only seed available to me this year. Heh.

This is my entire collection, right now.

I'll be adding all winter.

But, I think I'll start sharing what I've got in each category over the next while, and explain my goals with each species.

Should be a fun little project to share.