The Jujube Info and Care Blog

Nodes and Buds A ‘bud’, in botany, is a compact, undeveloped shoot which may develop into a twig/branch, leaf, or flower. The region in which buds are located is called a node, and the area between nodes is called an internode. Nodes are the… more »

UPDATE: This post didn’t make it clear at the time that these trees were handled contrary to norms in the interests of science. (Basically, I wanted photos of two years’ of root growth whilst demonstrating how tough these trees are with… more »

Below is the same photo of the young Ta-Jan mentioned back on 1st September 2020 in this post. The photo below was taken today, 15th September. This tree has not seen soil since July, as part of a little experiment to a) show how tough these trees are,… more »

Back Story These days it’s ‘just known’ that we/animals take in oxygen to survive (exhaling carbon dioxide as a waste product), while plants take in carbon dioxide to survive (releasing oxygen as a waste product). Yet right up into the… more »

We covered the three stages of dormancy here, wrapping up with a description of the internal changes during the last stage which prepare a tree for spring. These changes are invisible externally, but set in motion the changes that do become visible… more »

Energy Sources All living things need energy to fuel the biochemical pathways that enable them to grow, reproduce and move. The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed or… more »

Microbes Generally ‘Microbes’ means ‘germs’ to most people, and yet maybe one in a billion microbial species is a human pathogen. ‘Only’ 1,400 or so species have been described as a human pathogen, and this number… more »

This Australian Government site is an excellent resource for more than just soils and you may wish to explore its data further — but please note that it is a heavy user of RAM and performance may be affected, especially over a slow network. From their… more »

The Air-Pot® Having recently discussed root anatomy here and here, and this being the time of year deliveries are being prepared and people may be thinking about pots and potting, I thought I’d keep to the root theme by writing about a particular… more »

Last week was a brief overview of suckers, or shoots that form from adventitious buds on roots. Today I want to pick up from the Sucker Shoot Development section in that post, with more detail and some diagrams to illustrate this development more… more »

What is a Sucker? The roots of many plants and trees never see the light of day, and spend their lives pushing ever downwards and sideways in pursuit of moisture and nutrients. The roots of other species however will occasionally send up suckers, or… more »

A plant root is an organ, and last week we looked at the specialised regions along a root in a longitudinal (lengthwise) section. Today we go in at right angles and examine what is revealed by a cross-sectional cut across a root. Before doing so, a very… more »

A plant root is an organ, and like all organs (plant or animal), has specialised regions marked by specialised tissue. This post outlines these, with an emphasis on the longitudinal section (a cut along the long axis) of a young, growing root. Next week… more »

Roots — so often out of sight and out of mind — have four essential functions. They anchor a plant in the ground, they uptake water and nutrients, they store excess food, and they synthesise some phytohormones (plant hormones) and other compounds. The… more »

Ecodormancy is the third and last stage of dormancy. It is a ‘less dormant’ state in which a tree becomes more responsive to external environmental factors, but is prevented from growth because of response to those factors, such as the still… more »