How to Grow Black Jujube Seeds? Detailed Planting Methods and Tips

Soak black jujube seeds in warm water, sow them after they swell, then cover with a thin layer of soil and water. Once the seedlings emerge, thin them out. After that, carry out basic tasks such as topdressing, watering, pest and disease control, and weeding. They can be transplanted in the spring of the second year; just manage them well in the later stages.

I. Sowing

After the fruit ripens, pick the fruit from plants with a good trunk form and a well-shaped canopy, spread the fruit out in a cool, dry place to dry, then remove the seeds. After washing and drying them, store them in a clean cloth bag. In late March of the following year, soak the seeds in 40°C warm water for two days, and sow them after the seeds swell. The seedbed should be chosen in a sunny spot with good drainage. After sowing, cover with 0.5 cm of soil, press down lightly with your foot, and immediately water thoroughly once using the soaking irrigation method. Thirty days after the seedlings come up evenly, thin them out on a cloudy day, then apply nitrogen fertilizer. During the seedling stage, strengthen water and fertilizer management, pest and disease control, and basic tasks such as weeding and loosening the soil. They can be transplanted in the spring of the second year, and a second transplanting can be done in the third year, with a planting spacing of 4 m × 6 m.

II. Water and Fertilizer Management

After the orchard is established, every year after autumn and before the ground freezes, expand the ditches and improve the soil outside the planting ditches, expanding the ditches by 100 cm each year, and fill the bottom of the ditches with the surface soil mixed with organic fertilizer to create a good soil environment for root growth. Every year, in combination with the autumn ditching and soil improvement, apply 50 kg of organic pigpen manure and 2 kg of nitrophosphate compound fertilizer per 100 cm of ditch. At the same time, apply 20 kg of pig manure within the tree basin of each black jujube tree. After watering before spring bud break, loosen the soil once, then spray a herbicide once to clear the weeds in the orchard, spraying a total of 2 to 3 times throughout the year. After harvesting the fruit in autumn, combine with the autumn application of organic fertilizer to deep-plow the whole orchard.

III. Pruning

1. Pruning of young trees: Remove competing branches, upright vigorous branches and crowded branches; cut back thin, weak branches that have already fruited and downward-hanging branches; leave the central leader extension branch and the extension branches of the main branches at all levels unpruned to grow freely.

2. Pruning of trees in full fruit period: Black jujube trees grown at medium density enter the full fruit period in the fifth year. The pruning tasks at this stage are: remove overly dense large branches and large branch groups on the periphery and upper part, improve light penetration into the inner canopy, and promote the sprouting of new shoots from dormant buds in the inner canopy; remove thin, weak downward-hanging branches, cut back overly long fruiting branches, maintain tree vigor and stabilize yield. Seal wounds caused by pruning promptly with “callus anti-corrosion film” to prevent cracking and the invasion of pests and diseases.

IV. Pest and Disease Management

Common pests and diseases of black jujube include anthracnose, ring spot disease, Pseudocercospora angular leaf spot, and scale insects, slug moths, persimmon caterpillars, and others. Prevention and control work should be done according to the actual growth conditions, with timely prevention and treatment.

Growing black jujube seeds is relatively simple. They are widely planted as garden trees or street trees, and the fruit can be eaten after it ripens.