Youyou jujube is an excellent fresh-eating variety of jujube tree

"Youyou jujube" is a new jujube variety selected from the local Youyou jujube variety resources in Zhuolu County, Hebei Province, and was approved by the Hebei Provincial Forest Tree Variety Approval Committee in December 2005.

Characteristics

The tree posture is open, with strong trunk dominance; the trunk and perennial branches are grayish brown with longitudinal cracks. Current-year jujube shoots are reddish brown, with paired stipular spines at the jujube shoot and jujube spur. Leaves are broadly ovate, dark green, glossy, medium-sized, and relatively thick. Flowers have 5 petals, red, with a relatively small calyx tube, mostly closed. The fruit is elongated oval, slightly pointed at both ends; the first-crop fruit has a longitudinal diameter of 4.2-5.3 cm and a transverse diameter of 2.0-2.6 cm, with an average single-fruit weight of 12.3 g and a maximum single-fruit weight of 20.8 g, uniform in size. The peel is bright red, and the fruit surface is smooth and clean. The peel is thin and the pit is small, with an average pit weight of 0.4 g. The flesh is greenish white, fine and crisp, juicy, with a delicate fragrance, sweet-sour flavor, and excellent quality. The soluble solids content is 35%-41%, and the edible rate is 97.2%. The growth vigor is medium, the crown is medium-sized, the germination rate is high, and the branching ability is strong. Self-fruitfulness is strong, and it can bear fruit and produce high yields normally even without pollinizer trees. The fruit-setting rate is high, and the ability for continuous fruiting is strong. It bears two crops a year, with the first crop accounting for about 70% and the second crop accounting for about 30%. After planting, the average yield per tree is 3.5 kg in the 2nd year and 12.6 kg in the 3rd year, with the highest yield per tree at full bearing stage reaching 20 kg. In the Zhuolu area of Hebei Province, buds sprout in mid-to-late May, the first crop flowers in June, the second crop flowers in July, the first crop ripens in mid-September, the second crop ripens at the latest in mid-October, and leaves fall from late October to early November.

Youyou jujube can be trial-planted in areas where the extreme winter low temperature is not lower than -17°C. It has strong adaptability to hilly and mountainous areas and gravelly land, is drought-resistant and cold-resistant, tolerant of poor soil, strongly resistant to early defoliation disease, and has a low fruit-cracking rate.

Key points of cultivation techniques

Use north-south row planting; in mountainous areas, choose sheltered, sunny slopes and plant along contour lines. The suitable row spacing and plant spacing are 3 m x 2 m or 5 m x 3 m. After planting, build a tree basin, water thoroughly, and cover with plastic film; water again once after 7-10 days. Use the delayed-open central leader shape or spindle shape for tree form. From the 1st to 4th years after planting, winter pruning should mainly be light pruning; after entering the fruiting stage, combine winter pruning with summer pruning. In production, pay attention to watering before freezing or promoting grass mulching and film mulching techniques to prevent shoot dieback. Harvest at the crisp-ripe stage, using hand picking; do not use the method of shaking off jujube fruit or chemically forcing jujube fruit to drop.