How to Plant Winter Jujube Trees: A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Cultivation Techniques

Winter jujube is an excellent late-maturing fresh-eating variety of the spineless jujube tree, also known as Miaoshangfu, Yanlaihong, apple jujube, etc. In recent years, market demand has exceeded supply, and it has extremely high economic value. Vigorously developing winter jujube production can yield relatively high economic, ecological and social benefits. Let us take a look at winter jujube cultivation techniques below!

Morphological Characteristics of the Winter Jujube Tree

1. Branches: A deciduous small tree, rarely a shrub, up to more than 10 m tall, bark brown or grayish brown, with long branches; short branches and budless small branchlets are smoother than long branches, purplish red or grayish brown, zigzagged, with 2 stipular spines, the long spine up to 3 cm, thick and straight, the short spine curved downward, 4-6 mm long; short branches are short and thick, block-like, arising from old branches; current-year branchlets are green, drooping, solitary or 2-7 clustered on short branches.

2. Leaves: Papery, ovate, ovate-elliptic, or ovate-oblong, 3-7 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, apex blunt or rounded, rarely acute, with a small mucro, base slightly asymmetric, nearly rounded, margin with rounded teeth-like serrations, dark green above, hairless, light green below, hairless or more or less sparsely pubescent only along the veins, basal three-veined, petiole 1-6 mm long, or up to 1 cm on long branches, hairless or sparsely pubescent, stipular spines slender, often falling off later.

3. Flowers: Yellowish green, bisexual, 5-merous, hairless, with short peduncles, solitary or 2-8 densely aggregated into axillary cymes, pedicels 2-3 mm long, sepals ovate-triangular, petals obovate-rounded, clawed at the base, equal in length to the stamens, disk thick, fleshy, rounded, 5-lobed, lower part of the ovary hidden in the disk, connate with the disk, 2-locular, each locule with 1 ovule, style 2-partite.

4. Drupe: Drupe oblong or long ovoid, 2-3.5 cm long, 1.5-2 cm in diameter, red when mature, later turning red-purple, mesocarp fleshy, thick, sweet, stone sharply pointed at the apex, sharply pointed or blunt at the base, 2-locular, with 1 or 2 seeds, fruit stalk 2-5 mm long, seeds flat-elliptic, about 1 cm long, 8 mm wide. Flowering period May-July, fruiting period August-September.

Cultivation Techniques for Winter Jujube Trees

1. Site selection and orchard establishment: When establishing an orchard, choose high-quality virus-free seedlings that are robust, have well-developed root systems and are free from pest and disease damage. The orchard site should preferably be one with fresh air, pure water, unpolluted soil, flat terrain, open topography, sufficient sunlight, fertile soil, good drainage and irrigation conditions, soil free of harmful and toxic substances, soil minerals within normal ranges, and no pesticide residues or contamination.

2. Timely planting: Winter jujube has strong adaptability, tolerates drought and poor soil, and is not strict about fertilizer and water requirements. Orchard establishment should adopt close-planting and dwarfing cultivation, generally 2-3 × 3-4 m, with 56-111 plants per mu, which has an obvious effect on increasing the early yield of young trees. Winter jujube has relatively high light requirements, and the row direction should preferably be north-south.

3. Fertilizer and water management: Winter jujube has a relatively high demand for phosphate fertilizer. When planting, apply 0.5 kg of superphosphate and 25 kg of organic fertilizer per plant. Apply chemical fertilizer once each in late May, late June to early July, and early August every year. In autumn, apply organic fertilizer in trenches, with 50-70 kg of farmyard manure and 0.5-1 kg of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer per plant, or the same amount of three-element compound fertilizer. Irrigate thoroughly once each before jujube trees sprout, before flowering, during the young fruit swelling stage and before overwintering; at other times, irrigate appropriately according to drought conditions, drain promptly in the rainy season, and cultivate and weed promptly after rain. Plow and turn the tree plate in autumn.

4. Flower and fruit management: First, pinch the tops of jujube heads at the early full-bloom stage, retaining 3-5 secondary branches for pinching according to growth vigor. Second, spray clear water, spraying clear water once every 1-3 days from the early flowering stage to the full-bloom stage, 3-5 times in total. Third, hormone treatment, spraying 10-15 mg/L gibberellin 1-2 times at the early full-bloom stage. Fourth, girdling and ringing: for young vigorous trees, perform trunk ringing at the full-bloom stage; when the trunk diameter reaches more than 5 cm, perform girdling, with a girdling width of 0.5-1 cm. Large trees in the fruiting stage can be girdled on the trunk, while young trees beginning to fruit are generally girdled on the main branches, so as to achieve both fruiting and tree maintenance. The cut is best healed in about 20 days, so as to retain nutrients on the tree and protect the fruit.

5. Training and pruning: The tree shape of winter jujube depends on planting density. For 55-100 plants per mu, a small canopy and open-layered shape is suitable, maintaining ventilation and light penetration. Set the trunk height at 70-80 cm when planting, and gradually develop 5-6 main branches year by year. During winter and summer pruning, promptly thin out water sprouts, cut back extension branches, and thin and cut dense and weak branches, so as to maintain tree vigor balance, keep the canopy ventilated and light-transmitting, and promptly retract excessively long fruiting branches, so as to renew and rejuvenate local branches.

6. Disease and pest control: The main diseases and pests of jujube trees include spider mites, peach fruit moth, jujube looper, jujube rust, jujube fruit shrink disease, jujube witches' broom, etc. During the bud break and leaf expansion stage, spray 40% omethoate EC at 1000 times 1-2 times to control jujube looper; from late May to early June during the occurrence period of spider mites, spray 15% saomanjing EC at 2500 times 1-2 times; from mid-July to mid-August, spray pyrethroid pesticides 2-3 times to control peach fruit moth and jujube looper. In July, August and September, spray fungicide once every 15-20 days; choose 200-times Bordeaux mixture alternated with 800-times carbendazim solution or 1000-times thiophanate-methyl wettable powder to control jujube rust and fruit shrink disease. If jujube witches' broom is found, prune diseased branches for mild cases and remove them promptly for severe cases.

7. Harvest and storage: Winter jujube is a fresh-eating variety and is mostly picked by hand. The maturity period of winter jujube on the same tree differs, so it can be harvested in 2-3 batches according to conditions. Harvesting in stages can not only increase yield but also improve quality. After harvest, it is generally stored fresh in cold storage; low-temperature conditions can inhibit ethylene production in winter jujube. The best cold storage temperature is about 1°C, and the relative humidity should be maintained at about 98%, to supply the market around New Year's Day and the Spring Festival.

Stage-Based Management of Winter Jujube Trees

1. Dormant period (November to March of the following year)

① After leaf fall, remove grass bundles, scrape bark, prune diseased, dead and damaged branches, sweep up fallen leaves and branches in the jujube orchard, burn them in a centralized manner, and eliminate overwintering diseases and pests.

② After scraping off old bark, whitewash the trunk (whitewash formula: 0.5 part vegetable oil, 3-5 parts lime-sulfur mixture stock solution, 0.1 part salt, 10 parts quicklime, 30 parts water), and together with whitewashing, brush off overwintering ceroplastes scale and San Jose scale on the trunk.

③ Before the soil freezes, deeply plow the tree plate, pick up cocoons and pupae, eliminate pests overwintering in the soil such as jujube geometrid, green plant bug, peach fruit moth, jujube gall midge and peach hawk moth, and water once with freezing water.

④ In late November and early March, spray the whole tree once each with 5°Be lime-sulfur mixture to eliminate overwintering spider mites, scale insects and stem rot, etc.

⑤ In mid-to-late March, wrap a 6-10 cm wide plastic band around the lower part of the tree, with the upper part turned back, to prevent jujube geometrid from climbing the tree; at the same time, tie a 1000-times fenvalerate pesticide ring, replacing it once every half month, to poison and kill jujube geometrid and jujube bud weevil.

⑥ Before sprouting, apply nitrogen fertilizer together with watering. For 3-year-old trees, apply 150-250 g of urea or diammonium phosphate per plant; for fruiting trees, apply 500-1000 g of urea per plant. For jujube orchards with little-leaf disease or yellow-leaf disease, apply 500-1000 g of zinc sulfate or ferrous sulfate per plant by ring-shaped multi-point hole application. For saline-alkali land, spray 20-30 mL of Hekang saline-alkali eliminating agent on the ground per plant before watering. Cover young trees with plastic film after watering.

2. Sprouting period (April)

① Before sprouting, carry out training and pruning, cultivate and adjust the framework structure, make the layout reasonable, and ensure ventilation and light penetration. Young trees 1-4 years old generally do not have branches thinned; for trees 5 years and older, handle dense branches and water sprouts; renew fruiting branch groups of 7-8-year-old trees promptly; and pull branches to open angles for trees whose branches have not been pulled.

② At the early sprouting stage, spray 0.3-0.5°Be lime-sulfur mixture to control red spiders and scale insects.

③ Use black light lamps to trap and kill adult jujube leaf roller moths.

④ After sprouting, promptly remove misplaced or excess jujube heads.

⑤ In mid-to-late April, spray 5% flufenoxuron EC at 1000 times or 10% imidacloprid at 4000-6000 times or chlorpyrifos at 1500 times + diflubenzuron No. 3 at 2000 times to control jujube geometrid, red spider, jujube leaf roller, jujube bud weevil, green plant bug, jujube gall midge, etc.

⑥ In late April, scatter phoxim granules within the tree plate within 1 m of the trunk and shallow hoe to kill emerged jujube gall midge, jujube bud weevil, etc.

3. Branch extension and leaf expansion period (early and mid-May)

① In early May, spray diflubenzuron No. 3 at 2000 times + 99.1% Caltex dithion EC at 200-300 times (or + guochongdi at 1000 times) to control jujube gall midge, red spider, gypsy moth, green plant bug, jujube geometrid, etc., spraying 2 times consecutively at 10-day intervals.

② In mid-May, in dry years irrigate the jujube orchard once with pre-flowering water, and apply diammonium phosphate per plant at 150-300 g for young trees and 500-1000 g for fruiting trees. For upright-growing jujube heads, pull branches to open the angle, improve tree ventilation and light conditions, moderate growth vigor, and promote fruit set.

4. Early flowering period (late May)

① In late May, pinch the tops of jujube heads; pinch secondary branches from the end of May to early June. Pinch jujube hanging shoots in mid-to-late June. The earlier the pinching, the better the effect of protecting flowers and fruits.

② Before flowering, spray 10% liuyangmycin at 1000 times + 10% nicotine EC + thiophanate-methyl at 800 times or manzeb at 2000 times + thiophanate-methyl at 800 times to control jujube rust mite, jujube leaf roller, red spider, jujube black spot disease, etc.

③ From late May to early June, preferably after rain, scatter phoxim granules within the tree plate within 1 m of the trunk to kill peach fruit moth and other pests.

5. Flowering period (June)

① When each jujube hanging shoot has 3-8 flowers open, carry out girdling or ringing. Generally the girdling width is 1/10 of the trunk diameter, and the widest should not exceed 1 cm; healing in 25-30 days is best. Large and vigorous trees can be girdled somewhat wider, while small and weak trees should be girdled narrower. Trees too thin or too weak for girdling can be ringed 2-3 cuts on the trunk or main branches at 3-5 cm intervals, and after 1 week ringed 1 more cut. Ten days after girdling, apply guochongbike at 1000 times to prevent collar borer. Generally a jujube tree can only be girdled once a year; individual overly vigorous trees can be girdled twice.

② In early-to-mid June, when jujube hanging shoots have 5-8 flowers open, spray 15 mg/kg gibberellin once, and at the same time add 0.2-0.3% borax and 0.5% glucose to increase fruit set rate.

③ When about 50% of flowers are open, spray clear water 2-3 times consecutively in the evening at 2-day intervals, or add 0.3% urea or 600-times zaotefeng, to help protect flowers and fruits.

④ In late June, manually capture pests such as scarab beetles, yellow-spotted stink bugs and jujube bud weevils.

③ From late June to early July, spray manxiaoqing at 2000 times + baoer at 2000 times + iprodione at 600 times + zaotefeng at 800 times to control jujube leaf roller, peach fruit moth, cotton bollworm, beet armyworm, red spider, ceroplastes scale, yellow-spotted stink bug, ring rot disease, rust disease, jujube leaf spot disease, etc.

⑥ From late June to early July, apply diammonium phosphate at 150-250 g and potassium sulfate at 500 g per young tree, double the amount for fruiting trees, and irrigate once with fruit-promoting water together with fertilization. After watering, spread 20-25 cm thick wheat straw or weeds in the jujube orchard, and cover with soil on top and press firmly to prevent wind blowing.

6. Young fruit period (July)

① In early July, spray Bordeaux mixture at double strength once to prevent jujube rust. Use black light lamps to trap and kill adult leopard moth, and spray BT emulsion at 500 times to control peach fruit moth and also control ceroplastes scale nymphs.

② In early-to-mid July, thin fruits: for strong vigorous trees, leave 1 fruit per jujube hanging shoot; for medium trees, leave 1 fruit per 2 jujube hanging shoots; for weak trees, leave 1 fruit per 3 jujube hanging shoots, so as to increase single fruit weight and reduce fruit drop.

③ In mid-July, spray jingjunte at 600 times + 100-140 international units agricultural streptomycin + zaotefeng at 600 times to control beet armyworm, cotton bollworm, jujube rust, jujube leaf spot disease, ring rot disease, fruit shrink disease, etc.

④ In late July, spray lüdebao at 400 times + baiweite at 1500 times to control jujube rust, jujube leaf spot disease, ring rot disease, red spider, etc.

7. Fruit swelling period (August)

① In early August, spray 1% nongkang 751 aqueous solution at 300 times + 100-140 international units agricultural streptomycin to control jujube fruit shrink disease and jujube spot disease.

② In mid-to-late August, spray 10% nicotine EC or 10% polyoxin to control jujube leaf roller, fruit borer, spot leaf fall disease and fruit diseases.

8. Fruit coloring period (September)

① In early September, spray diniconazole at 1000 times + 140 international units agricultural streptomycin + zaotefeng at 600 times + Meilin calcium to control jujube rust, anthracnose, fruit shrink disease, peach fruit moth, ceroplastes scale, etc., while also improving fruit quality and enhancing fruit storability.

② In early September, tie grass bundles on the trunk and the base of large branches to attract overwintering pests such as jujube leaf roller, jujube owlet moth and red spider.

③ In mid-September, spray lunmeijunqing at 600 times + monopotassium phosphate at 300 times to control ring rot disease.

④ In mid-to-late September, apply base fertilizer in the jujube orchard. For 1-3-year-old trees, apply 10-30 kg organic fertilizer, 0.25 kg calcium fertilizer and 0.15-0.25 kg urea per plant, using expanded-hole ring-shaped fertilization. For 4-8-year-old trees, apply 50-75 kg organic fertilizer, 0.5-1 kg calcium fertilizer and 0.2-0.5 kg urea per plant. Trees deficient in iron or zinc can be given additional iron and zinc fertilizer.

9. Fruit maturity period (October)

① In early October, spray yinguo at 600 times + high-efficiency calcium + agricultural streptomycin to improve fruit quality and storability and control fruit rot disease.

② Starting from early-to-mid October, harvest winter jujube in batches; harvesting is best done in the early morning after the dew has dried.

③ After harvesting the fruit, spray the tree once with carbendazim at 600 times or thiophanate-methyl at 800 times, and pick up diseased and pest-damaged fruits for centralized destruction to reduce sources of disease and pests.

Planting Techniques for Winter Jujube Trees, Management and Pruning of Winter Jujube Trees

The winter jujube tree originated in Xiawa Town, Zhanhua County, Shandong Province. It is an excellent late-maturing fresh-eating variety of the spineless jujube tree, and is also recognized as the fresh-eating jujube variety with the best quality.

Planting of Winter Jujube Trees

This variety has strong adaptability, tolerates drought and poor soil, and is not strict about fertilizer and water requirements. Orchard establishment should adopt close-planting and dwarfing cultivation, generally 2-3 × 3-4 m, with 56-111 plants per mu, which has an obvious effect on increasing the early yield of young trees. Winter jujube has relatively high light requirements, and the row direction should preferably be north-south.

Winter jujube has a relatively high demand for phosphate fertilizer. When planting, apply 0.5 kg of superphosphate and 25 kg of organic fertilizer per plant. Apply chemical fertilizer once each in late May, late June to early July, and early August every year. In autumn, apply organic fertilizer in trenches, with 50-70 kg of farmyard manure and 0.5-1 kg of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer per plant, or the same amount of three-element compound fertilizer. Irrigate thoroughly once each before jujube trees sprout, before flowering, during the young fruit swelling stage and before overwintering; at other times, irrigate appropriately according to drought conditions, drain promptly in the rainy season, and cultivate and weed promptly after rain. Plow and turn the tree plate in autumn.

How Many Years Until Winter Jujube Trees Bear Fruit

Winter jujube is generally grafted onto wild jujube trees using winter jujube branches, and grafted jujube trees can bear fruit two years later.

Management of Winter Jujube Trees

Management Techniques for Winter Jujube Trees

I. Orchard site selection and planning. Although winter jujube tolerates drought and waterlogging, poor soil and saline-alkali conditions, and has strong adaptability to soil, in order to achieve the cultivation goal of high quality, high yield and high efficiency, it should be planted in deep, fertile, slightly alkaline sandy soil. The planting method for winter jujube should preferably be a close-planting orchard, which facilitates intensive management and achieves high benefits. The density should preferably be 55-111 plants per 667 sq m, with a plant-row spacing of 2-3 m x 3-4 m.

II. Planting and orchard establishment. Winter jujube trees can be planted in autumn or spring. Autumn planting is carried out after leaf fall and before the soil freezes, and spring planting is carried out after the soil thaws and before sprouting. When planting, mark points according to the planned plant-row spacing, dig planting holes 1 m square, place topsoil and subsoil separately, and apply 50 kg of high-quality barnyard manure and 0.5 kg of diammonium phosphate into each hole, mixed evenly with the topsoil.

Pruning of Winter Jujube Trees

I. Pruning should be carried out after leaf fall.

The most suitable time for pruning winter jujube trees is the dormant period from leaf fall to spring sprouting. During this period, the physiological activities of the winter jujube tree are very slow, and most of the nutrients in the tree have already returned to the roots, so the nutrient loss from pruning is small. In addition, the pruning wounds are not easily infected by microorganisms and rotted.

II. Avoid pruning during severe cold.

Pruning should not be carried out during severe winter cold. Pruning when the temperature is too low will cause the sap at the wound to freeze, thereby affecting the tree's recovery and growth.

III. Rejuvenation of old trees.

Bark scraping must be done with the key points mastered. The cracks in old jujube bark are overwintering sites for jujube leaf rollers, jujube fruit borers and harmful fungi. In winter, when scraping off old bark from the trunk and the base of main branches with a sickle, gather the scraped bark and burn it in a centralized manner to eliminate overwintering pests and pathogens. After scraping the bark, apply limewater prepared with lime, salt and water (ratio 1:0.8:150) to the scraped areas, which has sterilizing and cold-protection effects.

Planting Management and High-Efficiency Cultivation Techniques for Winter Jujube

Winter jujube is an excellent late-maturing fresh-eating variety of the spineless jujube tree, distributed in Shanxi, Hebei and other places. The winter jujube cultivation techniques in these areas are very mature, not only making the quality of winter jujube very good, but also greatly increasing the yield of winter jujube. So how do you plant and manage winter jujube? Today let us take a look at the planting management and high-efficiency cultivation techniques for winter jujube.

High-Efficiency Cultivation Techniques for Winter Jujube

Winter jujube has strong adaptability, tolerates drought and poor soil, and is not strict about fertilizer and water requirements. Orchard establishment should adopt close-planting and dwarfing cultivation, usually planted at 2-3 × 3-4 m. Winter jujube has relatively high light requirements, and the row direction should preferably be north-south. Winter jujube has a relatively high demand for phosphate fertilizer. When planting, apply 0.5 kg of superphosphate and 25 kg of organic fertilizer per plant.

Planting Management of Winter Jujube

If winter jujube has bloomed and set fruit, pinch the tops of jujube heads at the early full-bloom stage, retaining 3-5 secondary branches for pinching according to growth vigor. Then spray clear water, spraying clear water once every 1-3 days from the early flowering stage to the full-bloom stage, 3-5 times in total. Next is hormone treatment, spraying 10-15 mg/L gibberellin 1-2 times at the early full-bloom stage. Finally comes girdling and ringing.

The main diseases and pests of winter jujube include spider mites, peach fruit moth, jujube looper, jujube rust, jujube fruit shrink disease, jujube witches' broom, etc. Corresponding pesticides are available for the corresponding diseases and pests, generally sold on the market, but for early prevention, it is still better to prepare them in advance.

Winter jujube is rich in sugars, vitamin C and cyclic adenosine monophosphate, etc., and can reduce the damage caused by various chemical drugs to the liver, so winter jujube is a very popular cultivated tree species. So please hurry and plant some of your own winter jujube trees according to the above planting management and high-efficiency cultivation techniques for winter jujube!