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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Jujube sources

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  • From: Richard Moyer <ramoyer@gmail.com>
  • To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Jujube sources
  • Date: Wed, 5 May 2010 13:56:57 -0400

Hidden Springs Nursery, Cookeville, TN (www.hiddenspringsnursery.com)
also sells jujubes adapted to the upper south.
AJ Bullard, in the coastal plain near Mt. Olive, NC, has been fruiting
them for years.
Richard Ashton, hear Houston? has experience with those that work near
him. He believes that pollen from the far southern or far western
adapted types is ill suited to upper south/eastern US conditions.

Here in the upper south (NE TN and SW VA), Li, Lang and Sherwood have
been a bust, giving only 0 to 20 fruit per tree per year. Others in
this region have noted similar sparse yields.
In contrast, an unnamed gift from the Norris Dam, TVA planting near
Knoxville, TN has been giving us thousands of fruit per tree, year
after year. Hidden Springs grafts and sells this selection that I am
calling Norris #1.
As noted in the posted NMSU article, a heavy rain during ripening will
cause them to split and rot. We pick them before those events, dry
them and they keep indefinitely at room temp. My kids were snacking
on 2008 ones for breakfast.

As Lee Reich notes in his chapter, jujubes are widely adapted over
much of China. Trick is finding one that matches your conditions
here. Lee, are you sure there aren't selections from NE China that
could work in your area of NY? Does the Davis? NCGR repository have
such germplasm? Before buying from nursery, ask what the fruit yield
averages per year, for that cultivar, in your area. Otherwise, you'll
end up with a beautiful ornamental alone. As Adam Turtle has said,
make sure you are dealing with someone who was a plantsman before they
became a merchant.

Richard Moyer
Getting more crotchety at 50
SW VA




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