How to prune sihong jujube

Late winter to early spring before bud break. Maintain an open-center or central-leader form. Each year remove any dead, crossing, or crowded branches; thin dense secondary-branchlet clusters to allow light penetration; head back the longest shoots lightly to stimulate lateral fruiting wood. Cut suckers at or below soil level as soon as they appear.

Annually. Sihong Jujube is a relatively upright, moderately vigorous Chinese variety. Like other jujubes, it fruits on current-season growth from one-year-old wood, so annual light pruning to thin and renew fruiting branchlets is worthwhile. Manage suckers aggressively — all Ziziphus jujuba send up root suckers that can become invasive if ignored.

Maintain an open-center or central-leader form. Each year remove any dead, crossing, or crowded branches; thin dense secondary-branchlet clusters to allow light penetration; head back the longest shoots lightly to stimulate lateral fruiting wood. Cut suckers at or below soil level as soon as they appear.