How Many Years Until a Jujube Tree Bears Fruit? The Latest Answer Is Here
Red jujube grows in mountainous areas, hills or plains below 1700 m in altitude. It is a warmth-loving fruit tree with strong drought tolerance and waterlogging tolerance, but it requires relatively high air humidity during the flowering period, otherwise pollination and fruit setting are unfavorable. It has strong light requirements and is relatively sensitive to light response, and it has strong adaptability to soil. It tolerates barren soil and salt-alkali conditions, but fears wind. Now let us take a look at how many years it takes for a jujube tree to bear fruit!
How many years after planting does a jujube tree bear fruit?
After jujube saplings are planted, they generally bear fruit in the second year. As the saying goes, “Peaches take three years, plums four, pears five; walnuts and persimmons six or seven; mulberries can feed silkworms in seven years; plant a jujube tree and you can sell it for money.” This refers to the short fruiting period of jujube trees.
How to protect jujube flowers and fruit
1. Inhibit vegetative growth, regulate the contradiction between growth and fruiting, and promote fruit setting. Such measures include root pruning, pinching, bud removal, branch thinning, girdling, ring cutting, scoring, and fertilizer and water management. Taking these measures can regulate the contradiction in nutrient distribution and transport between the tree's vegetative growth and flowering and fruiting, improve the tree's nutrient level, and allow more nutrients to be supplied to the needs of flowers and fruit.
2. Spray water during the flowering period to increase air humidity. During the flowering period, air humidity should not be lower than 60-70%, otherwise it will have an impact. Spraying water in the evening or morning has a good effect, generally combined with foliar fertilizer spraying of 0.3-0.5% urea.
3. Place bees in the jujube orchard to increase pollination agents. Some jujube varieties are self-pollinating and some are cross-pollinating. Pollination within a variety or between varieties can all achieve good fruit setting, and increasing pollination agents has a good effect.
4. Spray plant hormones and trace elements, mainly gibberellin, 2,4-D, paclobutrazol, chlormequat, B9, indolebutyric acid, indoleacetic acid, acetic acid, naphthaleneacetic acid, borax, boric acid, etc.
How can jujube trees bear more fruit
1. Three sprays during the flowering period: The flowering period of jujube trees is relatively long, divided into three stages: early flowering, full flowering and late flowering, and can last more than one month, that is, from late May to the end of June. Generally, it enters the full flowering period around June 8. Jujube trees prefer humidity and fear dryness during the flowering period, but at this time the weather is hot and dry, and there is a lot of dust, which easily causes the dense leaves around the stigma of jujube flowers to decrease, making the stigma adhere to a large amount of fine dust and seriously affecting normal pollination. At the same time, due to the harm of dry hot wind, the transpiration of jujube trees increases. If fertilizer and water are lacking at this time, the stigma is very likely to wither and fall off. Therefore, spraying pesticide, fertilizer and water during the flowering period can greatly increase the fruit setting rate of jujube trees.
2. Reasonable pruning: Pruning jujube trees can adjust tree vigor, make full use of nutrients, ensure ventilation and light transmission of the jujube tree, increase fruit-setting positions, reduce the number of rotten and fallen fruit, and thereby achieve the goal of increasing yield. Pruning jujube trees is mainly based on thinning, combined with heading and renewal. It should be done as follows: thin overly dense branches, remove crossing branches, cut off drooping branches, compress overly tall branches, lightly renew strong trees, heavily renew weak trees, appropriately remove old branches from old trees, and prune young trees around shaping. The pruning time should be carried out after the Beginning of Spring and before the jujube tree buds.
3. Girdling at the right time: Girdling is ring barking. Girdling can inhibit vegetative growth, prevent jujube witches' broom disease, improve the nutritional conditions of jujube flowers and young fruit, and enable flowers and fruit to fall less and set more. Therefore, there is a farming proverb that says, “Cut a few times when flowering, and the jujube tree bends at the waist.” Girdling jujube trees can generally increase yield by about 30%. Girdling should be carried out when one third of the jujube trees are flowering, at a position 30-40 cm from the ground, with an opening width of 0.5-0.7 cm, and the depth should reach the xylem, but the xylem cambium must not be damaged. The cut should be smooth, and no burrs should be left. After opening, apply an appropriate amount of pesticide to the girdling opening to prevent insect damage. Jujube trees less than 7 years old, with a trunk diameter within 10 cm, or not robust should not be girdled. The girdling position should be changed year by year.
4. Pinching new branches: Pinching new branches can control the uncoordinated growth of the jujube tree canopy, facilitate the formation of a reasonable canopy, make branches evenly spaced and good for ventilation and light transmission, control the excessive growth of branches that do not need to extend, save nutrients, and help improve fruit setting and fruit development and growth of jujube trees. Experiments have shown that after pinching, the longest jujube node on new branches can reach 45 cm, with a maximum of 12 fruits, and the fruit is large and plump, while the longest jujube node on branches without pinching is only 25 cm, with a maximum of 5 fruits. Pinching should be carried out in mid-to-late May during the sprouting stage of jujube branches, selecting newly grown branches 5-7 cm long in dense branch areas of the jujube tree.
5. Fertilizing and watering: Jujube trees need water and fertilizer during the early flowering and late flowering periods. Generally, each mature tree should be given 15 kg of cake fertilizer and 1 kg of ammonium bicarbonate or 50 kg of human manure during the early flowering period, and 1 kg of urea or 1 kg of compound fertilizer during the late flowering period, which can significantly increase yield. The application method is: dig a ring-shaped trench 40 cm deep and 40 cm wide 2 m from the trunk, spread the fertilizer in, fill with enough water, and after the water seeps away, fill the trench level.
6. Place bees during the flowering period: Jujube trees are typical insect-pollinated flowers and cannot pollinate themselves or rely on wind pollination, but their nectar is rich and the fragrance is strong, and bees are the best pollination agent. During the flowering period, place beehives evenly in the jujube orchard, with hive spacing not exceeding 300 m. Bees begin activity at 11°C and are most active at 16-29°C. Using bees to collect pollen and pollinate can greatly increase the fruit setting rate. However, during the period of placing bees in the jujube orchard, it is strictly forbidden to use carbaryl and pyrethroid pesticides that are highly toxic to bees.