Chinese date: Other names: unabi, jujube, jujube or sesame - cultivation and useful properties.

This fruit subtropical culture (the Latin name of the Chinese date "Zizifus jujuba Mill"), belongs to the family of buckthorn, which has about 80 species. The Chinese date among them has received the greatest distribution as fruit, medicinal, honey and decorative plant, is known as in wild, and in a cultural condition.

Unabi - useful and other properties

Especially appreciated are its fruits for high nutritional, dietary and medicinal properties. They contain: Sugar 25-30%, pectins 6%, proteins 2,9%, that is as much as in potatoes, fat - as in milk, acids - 0,3-0,8, vitamin C - 500-900 mg%, then while in lemon and orange it is only 35-70 mg%, vitamin P (routine) - up to 150 mg%, 14 amino acids (including 7 essential), lots of potassium, iron, cobalt and iodine. This allows us to use them not only as a delicacy, but also as a high-calorie food product, equal to the calorie content of bread products.

Of the fruits unabi make flour, bake bread, biscuits, cook with rice, stew, bake. They are also used in the dried fruit and canning industry for the preparation of high-vitamin jam, juices with pulp, compotes, jams and other products. Dried fruits, pre-cooked with sugar syrup or honey, acquire a beautiful appearance and a pleasant taste.

Due to the high content of biologically active substances, fruits, leaves and shoots of Chinese dates are an effective tool for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. It is used in the form of infusions and broths (fruits, leaves) for colds, coughs, anemia, as a tonic and diuretic, for cardiovascular diseases, neurasthenia, diabetes, for the treatment of liver, kidney, tuberculosis.

These medicinal properties of plants since time immemorial are widely used in folk medicine. Among the twelve plants tested by the famous Arab doctor of antiquity Avicenna in the treatment of nephritis, anemia, nervous diseases, the Chinese date is the fifth. Infusions of fruits and leaves of this plant are a good remedy for hypertension.

The bark and roots contain a large amount of tannins (more than 9%), they are used for dressing and coloring of hard skins. The flowers of the Chinese date are very fragrant. They have a lot of nectar and for two months are an excellent honey for bees.

The wood of the Chinese date is also prized for its hardness, strength, original bright yellow color, suitability for making musical instruments, caskets, incrustations.

The native land of this plant is China, where it has been cultivated for a long time on large areas. More than 50 of its species grows in Afghanistan, India, Iran. The widespread spread of Chinese dates in these countries is associated with such outstanding economic and biological properties as low demand for soils, precocity, resistance to pests and diseases, high and annual yields.

In our country wild small-fruited forms of Chinese dates have long been cultivated on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus by amateur gardeners. However, due to the low gustatory and commercial qualities of fruits, these forms did not spread. They are propagated mainly for the production of a slab material.

Large-bodied same varieties and forms of Chinese dates in a small amount were first brought to Russia only in the middle of the 50-s - to the Sochi experimental station. But it was only at the end of 80-x that the study of the biological features of cultivation of this culture in various zones of the region was begun.

At present, the collection of various forms and varieties of Chinese dates, both introduced and created as a result of breeding, preservation and reproduction of valuable material is carried out by the department of subtropical crops VNIISSIK and the laboratory of rare cultures SKZNIISIV.

Cultivation of the Chinese date

Grow Chinese date in the form of a bush (most often a seedling) or tree (grafted seedlings) with a low stump and a wide-spread or pyramidal crown.

The vegetation of Chinese dates begins in late April - early May, but in some years, depending on the external conditions, the timing of the onset of vegetation varies greatly. Blooms late - in the middle of June, so it is never damaged by late-spring frosts. Flowering is long, about 4-8 weeks. Flowers are small, yellowish-green, bisexual, cross-pollinated, formed on the growth of the current year and on perennial annulus (the latter forms more than 80% of the main crop).

It enters fruiting at 2-3 year after planting in the garden (the yield reaches 10-16 c / ha), at the age of 5-6 years (the beginning of full fruiting), plants yield up to 20-60, and from 15-20 years - 150-300 centners per hectare.

Harvest varieties of Chinese dates

Among the most productive and large-bodied are the varieties Unabi Vakhsh, Hurman, Southerner, Finik, the average fruit Burnim, Chinese 60, 93, the small-fruited yield form of Sochi 1.

Annually high yields in conditions such as Temryuk rayon showed the mid-fruit form of Temryuk 1 and small-fruited forms 2 / 16, 3 / 44 and 4 / 22.

In the conditions of Moldova, the yields of promising varieties with very low agricultural practices (two cultivations, one mowing in rows, plowing) reached 3 c / ha for the 16 year, 5 c / ha for 63,3 year.

The fruit ripens in September-October, after 70-90 days after flowering. The maturation period lasts 2-3 weeks. During the ripening period, the Chinese dates set high demands on heat and moisture.

Unabi fruit is an elongated-rounded drupe, 3-4 cm in length and 2,5 cm in diameter. Average weight of fruit 10-18 g, maximum - up to 40. Peel thin, red or yellow, glossy, often spotted with scattered lenticels. Flesh is light green, white, thick, after drying the fruit is separated from the stone, sweet, crispy.

Ripe Chinese date fruits can remain on the tree for 2-4 weeks, withering and improving their taste. The fruit is similar in taste and appearance to dates. The fruits are quite transportable, in a refrigerator (at a temperature of +4 degrees) they can be stored for up to two months.

Mass leaf fall immediately after harvest (October). The length of the growing season varies from 160 to 190 days. The plant life expectancy reaches 120-150 years.

Chinese date has a powerful, widely ramified, buried on the 5-6 m root system, and it is often used in the fight against soil erosion and landslides. Although it is undemanding to soils, it does not tolerate heavy clays and strong salinization.

The bulk of the roots is located in the layer 20-80,

Due to its high drought tolerance and heat tolerance (+ 50 degrees), it normally grows and fructifies in arid regions with precipitation of 300-400 mm per year, on dry slopes where it does not grow grapes. But with a lack of moisture irrigation and fertilizer significantly increase the yield and quality of the fruit.

In the conditions of the south of Russia, the Chinese date is more frosty and wintery than grapes (although in some winters the air temperature dropped to -28 -30 degrees-in the foothills of the Tuapse region), it regularly fructifies. In the case of freezing (damage to the kidneys and individual tissues of annual growth), due to its high regenerative capacity, it regenerates the crown during the growing season and yields an average or even good yield. It can be cultivated with great success in areas where apricot and a peach often frosts from spring frosts.

The Chinese date is a thermophilic and photophilic culture. In shaded places, almost no yield.

Reproduction Unabi

They reproduce the Chinese date with seeds, root siblings, green cuttings, vaccinations. The best results were obtained by inoculation with cuttings, their survival rate reached 85%, with eyepiece eyepiece this indicator was at 20% lower.

An orchard-experimenter himself can grow seedlings on his plot. To do this, the seeds from the fruits of small-fruited forms used as a rootstock, it is best to sow in the soil under winter. Then they will be provided with natural conditions for their germination. To increase the percentage of seed germination and seedlings, the plot in spring (in March) is covered with a polyethylene film.

The next year, you can vaccinate with a handle. You can vaccinate in April-May and in August. The advantage of the spring vaccination is that the unabi seedlings can be grown by the autumn - by this time the grafts reach 40-60 cm height and are quite suitable for transplanting into the garden. From cuttings grafted in August, shoots of 15-20 height are growing by autumn. They do not manage to grow lighter before frost, and in winter some of them die.

Billet cuttings are carried out in autumn or spring during spring pruning of trees and prior to vaccination they are stored in a cool place (refrigerator) in wet sawdust.

The technique of grafting is simple unabi seedlings.

On the stem of the rootstock at a height of 5-7 from the ground with a secateur cut the wild on the stump. Then on one side (best of all with the northern side) in the cortex in the direction to the base of the hemp, make an incision length of 1,5-2 cm, into which a stalk with one kidney is inserted, and then the place of grafting is tied with polyethylene film. The upper cut of the cuttings is covered with a garden sauce. The grafted plant is covered with a loose ground by one third of its length.

It is also effective to propagate with green cuttings. When carrying out works in the optimal time (the first decade of June), it takes root up to 80% of the cuttings.

Growing Chinese dates is not difficult. Possessing high productivity, it does not require special agricultural technology. In home gardens, Chinese dates are often planted thickened - 3 × 2–2,5 m, in industrial gardens, the distance is increased to 6 × 3,5–4 m. Trees are thickened in a row, and row spacing is increased.

Plants of Chinese date in the culture are usually grown in a stump form with 7-9 skeletal branches. Saplings grown from root shoots or grafts are formed with a stem of 60-70 cm.

More often form the most accessible volumetric, freely growing crown with the main trunk-leader, which should rise above the main branches on 10-20 cm and suppress the growth of the lower ones. Formation of the crown of the future tree begins with the bookmark of the stem in the garden at the height of the two-year-old 80-100 cm. The central conductor is cut at a height of 80 cm. In the crown lay two tiers of the main branches: in the first - 3-5 branches spirally, evenly spaced in distance 15-20 cm from each other, in the second tier - up to 4 branches, placing them singly, through 30-40 cm one from the other.

When laying the main branches, it is necessary to take into account the biological feature of the Chinese date, which consists in the following: from the lateral buds of the central stem, as a rule, small fruiting branches develop, and those that are left to form the skeleton are cut off on 2-3 kidneys (to obtain growth shoots), the remaining branches are cut into a ring. On branches of the first order, branches of the second order are laid.

The laying of skeletal branches ends at 3-4-th year after planting.

With the beginning of the fruiting tree strengthen thinning for clarification of the crown, because in the middle of it when thickening the fruit is tied worse and the period of their maturation is prolonged; if necessary, reduce the height of the tree. If the tree grows normally and fructifies, then only maintain the dimensions and sufficient illumination of the crown. Further, when the crown is thickened and the growth is weakened to 10-15 cm, a strong pruning (partially rejuvenating) is carried out on the 2-3-year-old wood on the lateral branch.

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Also on the topic: Correct pruning of trees in the garden

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Thus, the great variety of varieties and forms of Chinese dates, its high yield, frost resistance and drought resistance, unpretentiousness to growing conditions, high palatability and healing advantages of fruits make it possible to recommend this crop for cultivation both in private gardens and in plantations of industrial type.

© Author: А.П. Lugovskoy

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UNABI ZIZHIFUS - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. TIPS AND REVIEWS FOR LANDING AND CARE

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UNABI - WHAT IS IT?

That year we were given 2 small unabi seedlings. I did not know anything about them before. Please give more information about them - what kind of tree it is, where it comes from, how to care for it and what you can cook from its fruits. G.N. Kurdzhieva, Krasnodar

Unabi is also called "ordinary jujube", "youyub" or "Chinese date." The fruits of the plant can be used as food; they are also used for medical purposes.

This is a large shrub, which can also be considered a tree, reaching a height of 8 m. It is very drought tolerant, but weakly tolerant and will grow only in the southern regions, where in winter the temperature does not drop below 10 degrees below zero.

Unabi fruits can vary greatly in size even on one plant and can be from 5 to 30 and even 40 g.

Regular consumption of unabi fruit, even one fruit per day, can help normalize blood pressure, and this has been proven by medical research.

Fruits that did not have time to eat fresh can be dried, which makes them look like dates. They also make stewed fruit, jam, jelly, jams.

In the wild, unabi grows in Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and China, where plants and its fruits are appreciated and revered.

You should know that the unaby vegetation begins late, and if you decide to grow the plant in conditions that are not quite suitable for it, then in the spring, before you uproot the plant, mistakenly frozen, still wait until mid-May - maybe the buds will still wake up .

Unabi flowering begins only in June, this is a big plus, because the risk of freezing frost at this time is negligible.

If you want to get crops, then at least two plants must be planted on the site for cross-pollination.

Fully ripened fruits are usually quite soft, sweet in taste, juicy, reddish-brown in color.

Plants live and bear fruit for a very long time, sometimes up to 100 years.

After planting a seedling no more than a couple of years will pass, and the first fruits will appear, so that unabi can rightfully be considered a precocious crop. Bushes will grow, and yields will increase, the record is up to 50 kg per bush / tree.

Fruits can be harvested from late September to late October, ripening is extended.

ABOUT UNABI

Choose a lighted place without stagnation of melt or rain water, reliably protected from the north side from the cold wind. The soil should be neither alkaline nor acidic; the neutral reaction is optimal. As for the type of soil, any one is suitable, even on stony soils it grows well.

It is better to plant unabi in early spring. It is clear that we are talking only about the southern regions, where the optimal time for landing is the end of March and the beginning of April.

Plant one plant from another at a distance of 4 m, you can further, but not closer.

Further care - weeding, loosening the soil, watering in severe drought, in spring, feeding with nitroammophos in the amount of a couple of teaspoons for each plant.

As for pruning, it is better to limit yourself to sanitary - remove dry shoots that are frozen, too thin, short, and those that grow deep into the crown, leading to its thickening.

WHAT IS UNABI - VIDEO

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