Ziziphus Jujuba
I have grown 4 of these from two different sets of seeds. Of the plants I have, 3 have spines one has not. One of the three with spines has different coloured leaves - pale green while the others are lime green. Of the two left, one has longish, pointed leaves while the other has shorter, roundish leaves. All the seeds looked the same, except that one batch were smaller than the others.
Does this plant have a great many genetic types or varients, are they males and femails of two different varients, or are they responding to some other environmentl condition? They are all the same age, and sat on the same windowsill to grow. I am really quite puzzled. Anybody know??
0
Posts
ps- suffering internet gremlins at present, just lost a draft of this, so if you get two similar responses from me that’s why.
As Dinah says , I think cultivation is climatically limited in the UK . In the 1980's we tried it in a greenhouse in North Yorkshire .
My mentor at the time (Roy) liked to experiment with plants of all genera ; obtaining seeds of Zizyphus jujuba , it germinated well and made a moderate sized shrub .Our primary interests were (of course) , S.American cacti and unusual succulents .
Although not particularly a fruit eater myself , I recall trying a fruit which had the semblance of a dark plum , but the texture and taste similar to an apple .At the time I knew next to nothing of its numerous cultivars (200+ now I believe) .
The plant survived well until the incredible cold spell of January 1980/81 where the village the nursery was situated saw several consecutive nights of -22 Centigrade !!!!
Daytime we reached the balmy heights of -18 C !
Set near the base of a 1000' escarpment , cold air flowed down from the N.York Moors into the valley (not a wise location for a cactus nursery
To cut a long story short , most of the stock plants and almost all the private collection were devastated , including the Zizyphus .
Shortly afterwards the nursery went into liquidation , job fell through and that was that .
Apologies for no particularly valuable info regarding cultivation .
Nollie ; I sympathise with your battle with the seedlings . Some areas of the world , particularly dry tropical , have become almost infested with this plant .
Paul B3, what a shame about the nursery, I know it can get a bit parky in Yorkshire, but -22
I think there must have been times when he wished the nursery wasn't under the 'Whitestonecliffe'
Being an ex-meteorologist based at Stoke-on-Trent , he had kept all his weather instuments etc. , all calibrated thermometers and the like , so all readings he took were 100% accurate .
I recall with trepidation one morning when I couldn't open the caravan door (I lived in on-site) from the inside because the inner walls were covered in frost !!! My kettle and toilet had frozen solid ! Luckily for me , Vodka and a thick sleeping bag kept me fairly warm
Several dead blackbirds were scattered around the car park , frozen overnight into grotesque parodies of their former selves .
The greenhouse heaters (sods law) all failed on the three coldest nights (as they do), so temperatures in them stayed at around -17C for several days .
Good times indeed !
My father was Russian ; he used to say summers there reached +35C ; winters dropped to -35C .
Extreme indeed !