What it is
Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba) is in the Rhamnaceae family. An ironclad drought- and heat-proof fruit tree for Texas — crisp apple-like fruits dried into 'red dates'.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it very low — drought-tough, and give it tolerant, even alkaline soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0–8.0. Space plants about 15 ft apart. Expect roughly 2–3 yr to bear. Very hardy tree.
How it's used
Jujube is used: fresh (crisp) or dried.
🔎 How to identify it
- Glossy oval leaves, three veins
- Zigzag often-thorny branches
- Shiny brown date-like fruit
Edibility
How to grow & propagate jujube
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate jujube
Jujube is best started from a cutting or nursery stock rather than seed, so the fruit comes true to the parent. Seed from fruit trees tends to revert to something wilder.
Growing jujube in Texas
Give it full sun and tolerant, even alkaline soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
This one thrives in heat that flattens other plants, so it earns its space through a Texas summer. Get it established before the worst of July, keep water steady, and it'll produce when little else will.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly 2–3 yr to bear before you're harvesting. Let fruit ripen on the plant where you can — it's where the sugars finish — and pick gently to avoid bruising what you don't eat right away. The part you're after: fruit.
Making more for free
Every seed we sell is open-pollinated, which means you can save your own from the best plants and it'll grow true next year. Let a few of your strongest plants finish and go to seed, dry it fully, and store it cool and dark. That's the whole point of heirlooms — buy once, grow forever.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.