Growing Jujube Trees in Texas Clay Soil

As Houston continued to burn in record heat, my garden looked really sad during this time of the year. All winter squash vines got roasted. Many tomato plants either have shown signs of blights or were already gone. Even the grass has turned brown. The jujube trees, on the other hand, were growing better than weeds. Both the Li and Shanxi Li jujube trees have flushed out flowers for the second time and still maintained their beautiful glossy, green leaves.

Jujube tree flowered the second time.

Plant Profile

Jujube is a deciduous tree that grows in zone 5 through 10 and requires little chill hours. From my experience, it does well in clay soil and has no problem with heat, drought or pests. The Shanxi Li jujube is self-fertile, but the Li only produces a few fruits by itself without cross pollination. The cons about growing jujubes are the tree has sharp thorns and its roots can be invasive. I heard the jujube roots can run and grow suckers over 20 feet from the tree. Since my backyard has hard clay soil, I usually saw the suckers, grown around 2 to 3 feet near the trunks. Both jujube trees have suckered a lot. This summer, I have been pruning the suckers almost every other week. So, it is best not to plant a jujube tree next to your house.

Shanxi Li jujube branch with sharp thorns

Jujube sucker with flowers & thorns

Taste and Uses of Jujube Fruits

At home, my family tends to use the jujubes when they are dried. Dried jujubes are not the same as dates. The exterior might look similar, but they do not taste like dates. Jujubes are nutty and less sweet; the texture is dry and spongy. As the fruits turned partially brown on the tree, we would harvest the ripe jujubes and sun dry them. We then use the dried fruits to make soup, dessert and tea. When cooked, the jujubes would soak up the liquid and taste sweeter.

Ripe jujubes, Shanxi Li, on the tree

Cross section of a dried jujube, Shanxi Li

Comments

Why Did My Persimmon Trees Die?

Finally, I succeeded growing a persimmon tree after failing three times in a row. Below is a Giant Fuyu persimmon tree that I recently planted in the winter. I bought it as a bare-root stick from a mail order nursery. Now, it is one of the fasting growing fruit trees in my backyard. Although too young to have fruits, persimmon glossy large leaves make it beautiful to look at and quite ornamental. Before this, I have planted one potted and two bare-root persimmon trees which died after a few months in the ground. Here are the three mistakes that I made. Giant Fuyu persimmon tree after 5 months in the ground Planted It Too Low My backyard has dark rich clay soil that can be hard as rock during drought or turns into a long-standing puddle when it rains. No fruit tree likes constant wet feet. When I pulled the dead persimmon tree out of the ground, there were barely any roots. To help with drainage this time around, I planted the Giant Fuyu tree on a mound with grass cutting and dried leav...

Growing Sungold Cherry Tomatoes in the South

I am growing about half a dozen of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes in my garden this year, but Sungold deserves its own post. From my experience, Sungold is one of the best tomatoes to plant in the South. In areas with mild summer, tomatoes grow like weeds. We struggle to grow tomatoes here and Sungold makes it really easy. Sungold cherry tomatoes on the vine Plant Profile Sungold is an indeterminate hybrid cherry tomato. It is a fast growing plant and early producer. Although I started the seeds after other tomato varieties, Sungold was one of the first that I harvested. It can tolerate the heat and humidity very well. Below is a Sungold tomato plant in my garden during the peak of the summer. After a month long heatwave in Houston, it is the only tomato variety that still flowers and sets fruits. The other tomato plants just look stunted. The Sungold plant in the image is a 4-foot wide bush, growing next to an apple tree. I purposely wanted to give it partial shade. As you ca...

Stop Thinking and Start Growing Sweet Cherries

I have always wanted to grow sweet cherry trees in my backyard orchard, but hesitated because they normally require at least 800 chill hours. In Houston, we have an average of 450 chill hours per year. The last time I was at my local Home Depot, they only stocked Barbados cherry shrubs, labeled as sweet cherry. Against local recommendation, I decided to plant three bare-root cherry trees this year. Three Varieties That I Planted From a mail order nursery, I bought two low chill varieties, Compact Stella and Royal Rainier. The third was a relatively new variety, Vandalay. Many nurseries listed Compact Stella as a similar and smaller version of Stella. Actually, Compact Stella requires 500 to 800 chill hours while Stella requires only 400. If I could go back, Stella would be a better choice for my area. So Far, So Good After two months in the ground, the cherry trees are doing better than I expected. They are thriving. The Vandalay grew the most, but it initially...

Search This Blog