2.7. Identification of growing seasons
At our study site, in normal years, the jujube trees sprout generally in
middle April and leaf-fall occurs in mid-October, by which time the
fruit are mature. Root growth, however, generally commences earlier and
ceases later than shoot growth (Gregory, 2006). Therefore, for this
study, we defined the growing season of jujube trees as being from April
10 to October 20. Each growing season was divided into four different
growth periods based on records from several years, i.e., the sprouting
(SPR) period from April 10 to May 20, the blossom & young fruit (BYF)
period from May 21 to July 10, the fruit swelling (FRS) period from July
11 to September 10, and the fruit maturation (FRM) period from September
11 to October 20.