Indian Jujube - the verdict

It took forever for the jujube's to ripen with our record breaking cold December and January.

The branches became so heavy with fruit that some snapped off.

The tree likes to droop and not a single branch is growing straight. I pretty much planted it in the spot I have because I counted on it growing up straight, instead, it is consuming so much space with its drooping branches that my lawn services can't mow the lawn there and every time they were here, another branch or two is broken in their attempt to cut around it.

So with much anticipation, I waited and waited, tried a couple of green jujubes and just spat them out as they are completely tasteless/ insipid. Finally some turned ever so slightly yellow and dare I say, some had a slight resemblance to a bland golden delicious apple. Most however, have no taste whatsoever. To make matters worse, some go from green to brown and then have a slightly spicy but half rotten taste, completely alien to my palate. Even the raccoons had second thoughts about it, the drooping branches were complete laden with fruit and lying on the ground. Every day, I would find half chewed jujubes everywhere, much like I did, took one bite and spat it out.

The big question now is, do I keep it around even though no-one in my household really cares for it and because I paid $35 for it, or do I cut it down and plant something I really like ? Maybe a different guava variety - I am growing an orange fleshed variety from seed and its going to take 3 years or so to reach fruiting age.

This weekend, I took out my frustration on it and cut it back almost to a stump. I will give it one more season and I will attempt to make it grow a little more upright and compact, plus I will prune it so that it bears fewer but larger fruit - the larger fruit tends to be sweeter and tastier.

If I had tasted jujubes before, I probably would not have bought the tree.