I was thinking So too, but not sure if they will grow well in md or not. I think 3 gallons is fine. What about winter jujube? Have you grow them before? I am eating them right now, and they are just perfect, not too sweet and just right!
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I think So would grow fine in Md, as you arenāt that far from me in CT and So has been a solid producer here. Itās growth habit is a bit lower than most other jujubes, forming more of a large bush than a central leader tree. My 12 year old one is at least 10-12 feet in all 3 dimensions. Though Iām sure with some pruning you could make it into more of a vertical treeā¦Iām actually fine with this sort of structure, as it makes picking a easier.
I think āWinterā would just be another name for Dong. Sandia is an earlier-ripening version of Dong. I just picked my first Sandia yesterday.
Even though the Sandia are only half brown, their brix was around 30, so I donāt know that I would call them ānot too sweetā 
Their texture is light and good, but they are a bit more crumbling than a hard crunch. So has more of a hard crunch and a more balanced flavor (with the late-season So having a good sweet-tart). Both are good- just a matter of taste. Dong is about a week later than Sandia, so you could finding yourself picking them yellow in some years, which I may be doing in the next few days. Even in their blond state though they have enough brix to be worth eating.
But, I didnāt see any Winter/Dong/Sandia at EL. One of the few places you can get them is from ChineseRedDate.com.
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Wow! There are just so many varieties to pick. Itās so hard to choose. Too bad I donāt have space in my backyard for them. I was thinking growing them in pot, but they are much better in the ground. How many jujube trees do you have?
I guess we have to email the vendor @ Chinese Red date for pricing since they donāt list them directly on their site huh? I wonder if their shipping is expensive as well.
Last time I ordered from them (last spring), it was $55 shipping per box. I got 6 trees that time, so it was 2 boxes. Iāve ordered from them at least 3 times over the years.
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I have one other planted and gifted one to the neighbor next door. Iāll probably find room for one more. They seem to do alright in sunny former driveway locations and I have those available.
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Bob,
I called edible today, and the guy on the phone was like. Honey jar trees are self-fertile. You donāt need to get another tree. Not sure if he knew what he is talk about, I added Li to the same order just to be sure. At first, I was going to add SO, but I want different sizes of fruits so I changed my mind and added Li to the same order. He said he only guarantees 90 days, but these trees will survive the cold . fingers crossed! 
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I need to find a sunny location to put them down then.
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Technically, this is not true, even though people often use the terms interchangeably. Self-fertile implies the production of viable seeds from self-pollination. As far as we know, some jujubes appear to be self-pollinating, but none are truly self-fertile. Without cross-pollination, you get empty pits.
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When protected from flowers of other varieties, Honey Jar produced no fruit. When it was open pollinated, it was one of the highest producers with 125 fruit per 100 branches.
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That was my next question. How come most jujube seeds have no pit. Now I know!
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Very very interesting!
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Typical ignorant response from EL. He has no idea what he is talking about.
Unless youāre buying jujubes from Clifford England or Chinese Red Dates or other folks who specialize in jujubes, most nurseries know next to nothing about jujubes.
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Thatās not why many jujubes seeds have no pit.
Many jujubes do not make seeds even if fully pollenized.
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Why is that?
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Thatās what I thought. Hence, I added Li to the same order.
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To clarify, a lot of jujube varieties donāt produce viable seeds, even when pollinated. Li for example- I donāt think Iāve ever seen a usable seed come out of it. Others like Texas Tart will average more than 1 seed per pit. That is because the pit (the stony part) generally has 2 chambers, each of which can have a seed (the soft part that can be planted). When planting them, I crack open the pit with vice-grip pliers to extract the seed.
The above was pit with no seed (or a shriveled up seed fragment). The opposite also happens. I bit into a fruit and found a fully formed seed in the middle, not being protected by a hard shell. But Iāve only found this once, after eating a lot of jujubesā¦And even here, there was a soft membrane around the seed.
And the last permutation also exists- no pit, no seed. Itās an annoying habit of some varieties, such as Chico and Shanxi Li.
My wife decided I had too many jujubes and sold some in bulk to friends. Anytime they wanted the large Liās she would try to talk them out of them (while Iām thinking- āyes, take the Li, leave the little ones for meā). And generally after sampling one of each everyone was asking for more Black Sea and Honey Jar. I had some So earlier today that were top-quality as well. I donāt think Iāve ever had a Li that good.
But, it isnāt so bad to have a Li. It does have a more vertical habit than So, and you can use it as a large rootstock to graft better varieties.
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Thank you for your reply. I learned so much from you!
I heard jujube are spreader. They spread everywhere if you donāt prune or maintain them. This is why some folks grow them in pots.
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Why do you have so many jujube trees? Just wonderingā¦,
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I planted a few (~2012) and after a few years was surprised to find that I really liked them. I was surprised, since the only jujubes I had tried previously were the bland, spongy ones from Chinatown (often Li, which isnāt great at their best, but when picked green and shipped across the countryā¦wow). So, after I decided I and kids decided that we liked them (my wife even likes the horrible ones from Chinatown), I kept planting more, really getting started in 2017. Not all jujube are productive immediately, especially the large ones. But they do gradually pick up steam. So, Iāve been getting more and more fruit each year. Last year was a bit over 300lbs, while Iām over 460lbs this year, even though the weather wasnāt as good for jujubes. So, Iām getting to a point where it is taking a lot of time to pick them. Luckily, it seems there is a lot of demand for them, at least among Chinese people.
I also like to collect & optimize things, so Iāve been spending some time getting āallā the jujubes and figuring out which are good for what.
One thing that made it easy to keep planting more is that they donāt need much care. No need to spray insecticide, fungicide, etc. It isnāt a big deal to toss down some fertilizer in spring and early summer. Even a light pruning in late June to encourage fruitset doesnāt take much time. So, it wasnāt until I find myself picking a lot that I see the amount of time it can take
It depends. If you mow the lawn around them, then they donāt really get the chance to spread, as you are just cutting down the suckers. If you ignore the whole area, Iāve heard that they can form thorny thickets, particularly in the sunny SouthWest.
Growing them in pots is a lot more work than just keeping the suckers down. 10X or more. And a lot less output.
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