I can't help too much because I have yet to taste one, but I have heard Black gold is not the best variety. I have heard many good things about Bangkok lemon and Borneo red. I am sure Harry can help you a lot more than me. I have Black gold, Gold nugget, and Bangkok lemon. So far the Gold nugget is growing the bushiest and least upright of the three but I don't know if that is just my tree or a trait of the variety.

John...would you post a pic of your gold nugget for me? Mine is not resembling a bush at all. Differing pruning techniques?

Mostro...I agree that Harry or a few others more familiar with these will help you out when then chime in here evenutually.

Thanks guys... I will see what Harry has to say...

Yeah, I definatly want to get a good tasting variety, but it must be able to stay small...

im planting another Jackfruit, i want a crunchy type to go next to my cheena.

still havent decided. i almost bought a Honey Gold the other day but i decided to wait, the last thing i want is an inferior variety.

Jay, I can't really get a pic of it now because there are about 20 plants surrounding it in the greenhouse. I planted it in the ground last season. I have really not done much to this tree to shape it. About 3 months after I gout it the main stem started turning brown and mushy from the top and working it's way down so I clipped that off well below the brown area and that is all the pruning I have done aside from a few branch tips for grafting. I am not sure what it was but I was worried that it was some kind of disease. I cut about 8 inches off the top to stop that. I think I may just have got lucky with my plant. It was nice and bushy when I received it and it has seemed to keep that growth pattern. I am going to top it again soon because the tree is getting up to about 6' now.
I wish my Bangkok lemon was the same, but he only tree excalibur had left when I went there didn't start branching until about 3' off the ground. I do have a nice small graft that I did that looks to be growing much lower to the ground.

Black Gold is self fruitful. The jury is still out on how similar or disimilar seedlings are from their parent. I tend to think there is possible considerable seedling variability...but I do not have enough experience to say conclusively. I would go with a grafted tree in anycase if you are concerned about size of the tree. The grafted tree will grow more sideways and less upwards while the exact opposite is true for a seedling even if the seedling produces similar fruit.

Fairchild's thoughts on Black Gold are:

ÂBlack Gold (left) was selected in Queensland, Australia. The tree is vigorous, with a dense and highly manageable canopy. With annual pruning the tree is easily maintained at a height and spread of 2 to 2.5 m (6.5 to 8.1 ft), with consistent, heavy production of 55 to 90 kg (120 to 200 lb) per tree. The fruit are medium-sized, averaging 6.7 kg (14.7 lb), with an edible flesh percentage of 35%. The exterior of the fruit is dark green and has sharp fleshy spines. The spines do not flatten, or "open" upon maturity, making it difficult to judge the proper harvest time and maturity. The deep orange flesh is soft, with a strong, sweet flavor and aroma. The flesh is easily removed from the fruit compared with other cultivars.

From my experience....Black Gold is a beautiful tree. Probably the best looking of the jakfruit trees I have. It grows very dense with lots of green foliage such that you cannot see through the canopy. I understand that it is often used for rootstock because of this characteristic. The fruits are good sized.....25-35 pounds and are nicely flavored (typical juicy fruit gum-like flavor). The flesh is somewhat softer than I prefer. I like crip/crunchy flesh and somewhat complex flavor, if possible. The flesh in the Black Golds that I have tried have varied at various times (not sure why) but it ranges from medium firm down to a softer melting flesh. It has never been crispy/crunchy. I have three seedling jaks that I actually prefer to Black Gold. From what I hear about Borneo Red and Bangkok Lemon, I would probably like them better too. We'll see, I haven't tasted those yet. So, overall....very nice fruit on excellent tree. You might get 4-6 fruits per year on an 8/8 foot tree once it is mature.

Harry

Here is a link that might be useful: Jakfruit

I have both Mai 1 and Mai 3 grafted trees. Anyone have personal experience with either, if so, how do you personally rate them?

I have grafted Mai 1 and a seedling Mai 3. The Mai 1 is very good. Also, much better than Black Gold (IMHO). Very crisp, nicely flavored.....somewhat complex with a slight sub-acid undertone. It also has considerable less latex than Black Gold making fruit cleaning a lot easier.

I have never tasted Mai 3 grafted. The seedling hasn't put on a decent crop yet. Given the size of the tree, I am getting concerned that it won't. It did put on a couple of small fruits that were not very well pollinated, as indicated by their shape. I am reserving judgment on it once it puts on a regularly sized fruit and crop.

Harry

Harry, how does your Mai 3 tree grow? I accidently bought the Mai 3 at Excaliber when I was looking for the Mai 1, I then later bought the Mai 1. To me the Mai 1 looks and grows very good, the Mai 3, not so much.

I think I may replace the Mai 3 with the Bankok Lemon, we'll see.

JB:

My Mai 3 is a seedling.....so it grows very seedling-like. It is much taller than it is wide. It was given to me by Noel Ramos...he thought it was grafted.....but I am sure it is not. It is not as vigorous as most of my other seedling jaks....so maybe it is not a great grower. There are some, like Cochin, that are just not very good at producing a nice strong tree. Some, like Cochin, go through a die back when there is substantial crop put on by the tree. Again, having had no real crop on my Mai 3 seedling I am still unwillling to pass final judgment on it.

Harry

Hello Harry:
Thank you for your help. I've been looking at the mia1 jackfruit and it seems a better choice, at least when it comes to fruit quality.

Questions:

1. Would yu say that the mia1 is a good compact grower?
2. Would you say that the mia1 is a good producer?
3. Would you say that the mia1 has good cold hardiness (for a jackfruit, of course)?

I know you have a jackfruit cross that is very cold tender, I want to avoid that sort of thing...

Thanks again...

Mostro:

As jakfruit trees go, the Mai 1 seems to be a pretty compact grower. Mine only produces a couple of fruit a year, but it is somewhat wedged between other trees and that may be a limiting factor. From my personal experience, I would say it is a relatively light producer as comapred with Black Gold, Dang Rasimi and several of my seedlings. I would give it an average mark on cold hardiness from what I could observe. It is definitely not cold sensitive like my Tabouey x J-30 cross, but neither is it as cold resistant as my Black Gold x Tabouey cross. In our last freeze, leaves on the ends of branches were burned and we had about 30% leaf drop so far, but it appears that no major damage has occurrred. I hope none will appear as we go.

Harry

Alright, the decision is not as simple as I thought I am leaning toward the ÂMia 1 variety, but I have a couple more questions:

1. Is ÂMai 1Â the same as ÂMia 1Â?
2. When does ÂMia 1Â (assuming they are the same) flower?
3. When does ÂBlack Gold usually flower?
4. How would you rate the cold hardiness of ÂBlack Gold when compared to that of ÂMia 1Â?
5. If you had to pick one of the two, which one would you get?

Yes, that was more than a couple of questions... Sorry, I just have zero experience with these trees and there is not that much information aroundÂ

Thanks againÂ

The Mai or Mia jafruit series came out of Excalibur. I don't remember the exact story that was told by Richard Wilson, but he's the first one to sell them. He writes the name Mia 1,2,3 but doesn't pronounce it that way...rather, he pronounces it as if it was spelled Mai (like "my"). Since Richard wasn't always the most reliable person to ask when it comes to pronounciations and spellings (Example....he was selling Monstera plants that were labelled correctly as Monstera deliciosa, but he was pronouncing their name as if it was Monstera "delocia.") So, I kind of ignore his suggested spelling and go with name that sounds more SE Asian to me I usually write Mai instead of Mia, but they are referring to the same culitvar.

The Mai 1 flowers more or less at the same time as the other jakfruits that I have. Basically, the fruiting season is from mid to late summer on through the fall. Blooming starts as soon as the weather warms in the sping. There can be off season fruits on jakfruit trees and I have had this occur twice with Mai 1. This info would also be true of Black Gold.

The two are comparable in cold tolerance as fr as I can tell. I don't see any significant difference.

As far as picking a tree to plant.....you notice that I have both. If I wanted the best flavored and textured fruit (per my preferences) I'd take Mai 1. If I wanted the more substantial, beautiful tree that will produce more fruit, I would take Black Gold. I hope this helps.

Harry

Ok, thank you for all your help... I will probably end up going for quality instead of quantity, but we'll see. I will let you know what I picked when I order the tree! Right now, I feel like 'Black Gold' would be a good tree (for my first jack), but ten minutes ago I would have said 'Mia 1'...

I have always understood that J30, J31 and NS1 all have firm texture with rich flavor, have you considered those? Perhaps anyone with more experience can chime in on those cv's.

J-30, J31 and NS-1 are all excellent. I am not growing them, but I have tasted the fruits and they are (depending on taste preference) as good or better as the others we are talking about in flavor. They are not as firm/crisp as Mai 1, but flavorwise, you would not be disappointed with any of these.

I want to make a slight correction to my previous Mai 1-Black Gold comparison.....this morning's yard walk causes me to reassess the cold hardiness issue. As the days go by, Mai 1 is showing some cold damage, while Black Gold is showing almost no damage. So please amend my previous comment about them having similar cold hardiness.

Harry

Hello again:
Yeah, I've been seeing the j-30, j-31, and ns1 varieties around the web, but I'm not sure if I want to experiment with them...

I just spoke to Pine Island Nursery and they said that the jacks will be available in April or May, so I have a couple of months to make up my mind... I also want to get a Magana mamey sapote and it won't be available until then either...

Harry, what you say about the cold hardiness of the 'Black Gold' is very interesting, I did not think that there could be so much noticeable difference in such a small sample of trees. For me, cold hardiness is a very important factor to consider. Of course, I will protect the tree in the winter, but the hardier the better...

It is quite remarkable the difference of cold hardiness between closely related plants. Did you see this post from my yard showing the difference in cold hardiness between my two Fairchild Breeding Program seedlings?

Tabouey x J-30 in the foreground, cooked.......... and Black Gold x Tabouey just behind it...unaffected by the freeze.

Harry, How do you harvest the higher up fruit on those huge trees?

John:

The good news is that jakfruits fruit from the lowest branches...or even from a spur which comes out of the main trunk at the bottom of the tree. As for other fruits, I have a 16 foot orchard ladder and various picking devices with extension ability giving me reach up to and sometimes slightly above 20 feet. Above that, the fruits are reserved for the birds and other critters more nimble than I.

Harry

Harry:
Yes I saw that the other day, it is amazing in fact. I wonder what the hardiness limit of the Black Gold x Tabouey is? Have you ever gotten freeze damage on that tree?

My father grew a couple of tamarind trees from seed a few years ago. He planted one at his house and one at a friendÂs house just a couple of miles away. In these recent south Florida freezes, the friendÂs tamarind dropped all of its leafs and my fatherÂs is looking as good as ever. There are really no indications that temperatures were much different at the two locations Also, the two tamarinds are about the same size and appear to be in very good health overall. Go figure?

mostro, Harry is only a few miles away inland from me, and my trees survived the cold much better than his.

the difference being i am in a dooryard setting and Harry has the amazon jungle for property.

Hi all:
After giving some careful thought to all of my options and asking Harry and others a bunch of questions, IÂve decided to get a ÂBlack Gold jackfruit for my first jack.

Reasons (in order of importance):
1. The fruit is large and the tree is prolific.
2. The tree is easy to manage (keep it between 6-8ft).
3. The tree seems to be relatively cold hardy (according to various sources).
4. The tree is compact and good looking.
5. If I succeed, I can always get another variety.
6. My gut tells me itÂs a good choice...

The only negative seems to be that the fruit quality is not the highest, but it is still a good fruit overall.

Thank you all for your help, I will order my tree from PIN in April or May...

Well reasoned!

Hi, I am looking for someone who can supply me with fresh blackgold jackfruit seeds or other variety, so that I can buy them! if someone can supply with the seeds please dont hesitate to e-mail me! stevenmadz@hotmail.com

Can anyone suggest a place to get the dwarf Singapore Jackfruit? I contacted papaya nusery and they are not carrying it anymore. I live in Los Angeles. I would like to find the plant. anyone with info would be great!