Hi All, I posted this in another forum but was asked to post it in the Fruit Trees section and found this thread.
I run a jujube farm in southern Cal. The farm was created by a man named Roger Meyer and his wife and he traveled the world collecting varieties. He passed away 2015-2016 and then I took it over. We have over 30 well known varieties with lots more that are less known.
In my opinion Jujubes are super easy to grow. They thrive on neglect, produce lots of fruit both fresh and dried (will fully cure dry on the tree if you don't pick them) that is highly tasty and medicinal. Look up their uses in Chinese medicine. The bark is medicinal as well. Used by select shampoo companies as an anti dandruff medicine.
If you can only plant a couple varieties I have appreciated Rogers strategy. He planted a large group of Li's, which are a well know variety. They fruit first. Then he planted a large group of Sherwoods which fruit later in the season. They are sweater and tastier then Li's and are very popular. Then he planted a large group of Langs which are best eaten dry. This gives you a full harvest of dry fruit. Doing this gives you a solid 3-4 month season. It works well here. If we get a hot spell in summer, an early heat could hurt the Li flowers but not the sherwood. A late heat will not hurt the Li but could hurt the sherwood. Langs seem pretty solid no matter what as they miss all the heat. It's very resilient.
One thing I discovered last summer was that you can make a simple solar dehydrator to dry fresh jujubes (table, 2x4 frame, old shower door) and they come out amazing in our hot summers. If you dry the fresh Li's the skin maintains a bit of the acid and it tastes sweet and tart like dried cherry. I made a few bags of those and last session and they are a favorite.
The Li's and sherwood are more well known but we have so many other varieties but they are in smaller quantities. The one I discovered last year that I fell in love with is a variety called the "Chico". It's small, squashed vertically like a pumpkin and has both a sweat and sour taste. After eating as many sweet jujubes as I can, having a variety with a bit of acid is amazing. You don't realize how much a bit of tart adds ti the flavor of the jujube.
Jujubes sucker with thorns so plan for that. The suckers are the root stock and the root stock is a small fruit, big seed tart very hardy variety. They themselves are edible though most people want the sweet jujube. You can cut them down or you can turn them into money. Since each sucker of our trees are the root stock, Roger built a nursery around his suckers and scion wood. We are now starting to sell root stock as well. If anyone is looking for root stock we will be offering them next session. We'll have scion wood as well.
Keep in mind that jujubes are highly prized in Asia. They are very well know and used for medicinal purposes. From my experience the Asian communities know and appreciate jujubes like no one else. If you decide to grow them as a money crop seek out your local Asian community and let them know what you have.
If you have any questions please let me know. I've only been at this for 5 years but am learning more and more each year.
