四季成り果樹園芸: 棗の始動 Jujube waking up

去年の12月11日に届いた3本のナツメ苗のうち、「七月早脆王」の芽が動き出しました。まだ目を凝らして見ないと分からないほどのサイズですが、確かに一箇所から数個の葉の先端が尖って出てくるというナツメ独特の芽吹きです。

Of the 3 jujube bareroot trees that arrived on December 11th last year, Early Crisp King has started to show signs of life. The buds are still tiny, and I have to strain my eyes to see them. Nevertheless, I can see the unique budding of jujube trees, where several sharp heads come out of one node.

３本の苗は、継目から上40cmくらいのところで切りそろえて、室内で過保護に管理しています。左から、七月早脆王、無核大金絲棗、蟠棗です。苗の先端を切り詰めたとき、七月早脆王と金絲棗は瑞々しい切り口でしたが、蟠棗は芯のあたりが茶色で空洞化していました。これは結構、心配な要素です。また、樹皮は、最初の２品種はうっすら緑色を帯びていて、日光が当たるとツヤツヤしているのに対し、蟠棗の樹皮は地が黒っぽい赤茶色で、それを灰色の表皮が縦皺のようになって覆っています。これが蟠棗の品種特性なのか不健康な状態なのか、本格的な春になるまで何とも言えません。

I trimmed the plants at about 40 cm above the grafting point - in Japan, 40 cm is considered optimal for strong growth in the initial year. I have been keeping these indoors so that they would have an easy start. In the picture below, from left to right, Early Crisp King, Golden Silk Jujube, and Panzao. When I trimmed the plants, the cut section was green and fresh looking with Early Crisp King and Golden Silk. However, with Panzao, the core was brown and hollow, which worried me a lot. Also, the surface of the first two varieties is greenish and, in the direct sunlight, the skin looks shiny. Not so with Panzao. Its surface is dark reddish brown with thin film of grey skin running vertically. I do not know whether this is unique to this variety or not. I will have to wait until spring-early summer before coming to any conclusion.