[gdaddybill]

This has been a bumper year for jujubes even with little or no rain for the past month. I do have an irrigation system and have been running it a few hours daily as the fruit is maturing. Haven't sprayed but stinkbugs and ants are aware of these goodies. They taste like a sweet, crisp apple.

There's a hard spindle-shaped seed in the middle so we just roll and chew until we get most of it off. We also like to cut off the fleshy part and toss it in a salad for a crisp, sweet munchies to go with the veggies. Most any salad dressing goes well with the flavor and crunch.

Wish the story were all positive but it's worth mentioning that they have thorns and the roots sprout all over the place-best to plant them in a turf location and mow the root sprouts off. They can be quite painful to discover in a flower bed that you're hand weeding.

So AKA Dragon's Claw is the jujube displayed on a plate and Honey Jar is the one on a tree branch.

As the trees mature you'll be picking lots from a ladder. Pruning early to encourage branching will help but too much pruning will reduce production.