Thanks for the pictures, Ronald. For me, Mauritius, Kaimana and Emperor were the most consistant bearers. Bengal has also fruited pretty regularly. But, of the all of the ones that do fruit, they all seem to be fairly close in their fruiting frequency. At least, that has been my experience. When is lychee season in Jamaica? No blooms here as of yet. I am hopeful that this current cold we are getting will finally kick start the blooming cycle.

Harry

Harry I think we are bout the same in the time of the season. Earliest time for fruit is late april and all finished by late June usually.

usually if i don't see any sign of flowers by mid January then that is it , I might as well start planning for next year.
Ronald

Ronald:

I think you might be a month or so ahead of us on lychee season. Here, it is usually a mid to late May start with a finish in July. Your longans are way earlier than ours if they are in bloom now.

Harry

Harry,
I found an unknown cultivar some years ago that had fruit in august but I have yet to have it fruit for me.

Ronald:

Where did you find it? That would be a great addition to many of us lychee grower's collections. How old and large is your tree and how was it propagated?

Harry

I had actually noticed a neighbors tree with something strange on it one August. I later realised they were actually a couple bunches of fruit. Fruit in August? I couldn't believe it ( anybody have binocolars for these clandestine missions?)but luckily they were friends of mine so I was able to get a close look.
The fruit, I was able to taste and was quite good, in bunches so tight that you would have to twist a fruit with your fingertips to get it off.
This was a large tree about 15-20 foot tall and as far as they knew had not produced before.
I took a few air layers from the tree and gave some to some friends in differnet parts of the island and kept one for myself. However it has been many years now, the tree is 12 feet tall and it had never put on a panicle.

Here is the tree in question

Ronald:

Thanks for the picture of the tree. I assume you do not have a picture of the fruit from your friend's tree. Have you girdled this tree as you have some of your other's? For me, the latest lychee was Emperor. I never logged when its fruiting dates were, but it seems that I did have fruit in August at some time or another. I lost my bearing Emperor to some combination of flooding and some root pathogen. I have replanted but am several years away from having fruit again. I do have an Emperor seedling that is getting closer and closer to fruiting size. Not sure if this is going to be the year. Of course, I am hopeful.

Harry

No, no photos of the fruit, wasn't taking much pictures at the time.
Have tried girdling it a few times, but I have always wondered if you should adjust the time of girdling for a tree that flowers so late the following year.
How large is your seedling emperer and how old?

harry- my hak ip and sweetheart are 3 gallons and maybe 3-4 feet tall and have quite a few pannicles - im hopeful of getting a handful of fruit this year. why do you think it will take several years for your emperors to reach fruiting age. my understanding was that it takes airlayered lychees 2-3 years to fruit

Ronald:

The seedling Emperor is, I guess about 7 feet tall. It has an open habit .......not a dense canopy like the lychee pictured above in this thread you posted. It's probably still going to be a while until it fruits. I would estimate it as being about 8 or so years old, could be more....at this point, I really don't remember when I planted it. It was in a shade house for quite a few years in a pot. In the shade house the leaves where much larger than all of my other lychees, so I eventually planted it out. Now that it is in the full sun....the leaves are more normal sized.

Gerry:
Yes...that is correct. I just replanted Emperor about 4 months ago. It might be 18 or 20 inches tall abd is an airlayer from Pine Island. If lychees bloom, they will usually set fruit. So you ahould have some fruit to show off in the not too distant future.

Harry

Was under the impression that Emperor was usually grafted and one of the only ones sold in this fashion???

Not a far as I know....I have always layered Emperors. Not sure what the rest of the world is doing...but I would be surprised if they were mostly grafted.

bill mee from lychees online said as long as your lychee trees r not going through a leaf flush right now, you can be hopeful that the recent cold will bring out a bloom flush in late jan/early feb.

man- ive been sweating feverishly concerned about my supply.

LOL, I know what you mean Gerry. I hope the bad winter won't affect the florida tropical fruit harvest too much this year. I actually have a bit of money set aside this year just so I can load up on fruit. I am determined to find a nice fresh Jackfruit this year.

John:

Be careful where you get your jakfruit from. There is, like in most fruits, a pretty good range of quality and characteristics......including mushy versus firm almost crispy flesh, sweet versus slightly sub acid flavor, smell, quantity of latex you have to deal with, and some have an unpleasant after taste. It would be a shame for you to spoil your first impression. Or, if you are willing to keep an open mind, try whatever comes along and hopefully you get to try a better one at some point. I will warn you in advance, even the best of them are a bit of a pain to prepare to be able to eat. There is a definite labor intensity that cannot be completely avoided no matter what. So, this is not a fruit for the lazy who are unwilling to work for their dinner.

Harry

I am not worried about the work. I am hoping to buy one from you so you can tell me point me to a good one. Is your Bangkok lemon to fruiting size yet? I have a small one of those so I would love to try one. I might have to make two trips down south for fruit this year since the lychee crop does not match up with the jacks. What is your favorite type of jackfruit? I have Bangkok lemon, Gold nugget, and Black gold.

John:

I am presently growing:

Black Gold, Dang Rasimi, Rien Baht, Tabouey x J 30 (Fairchild breeding program), Black Gold x Tabouey (Fairchild breeding program), Mia 1 (pronounced and even possibly spelled correctly Mai), Mia 2, seedling of Mia 3, seedling of Mai 1, seedling of Bangkok Lemon, seedling of Red Morning (I think it is from Excalibur), 2 Borneo Red (Grafted), and another seedling I call Orange Crisp (I think it is a seedling of NS 1. Over all, I think I have about 15 jakfruit trees in the ground and a whole bunch of seedlings that I keep threatening to do some grafting with.

I don't have Bangkok Lemon fruiting. I assume you could get one from Excalibur. I have heard it is good. Over the years, in addtion to what I am growing, I have tried NS1, J-30, J-31, Cheena, Cochin, Golden Nugget, Tabouey and probably about 10 other seedlings. Of all of these, I have pretty good things to say about most of the named varieties. Although, I am not a huge fan of Cheena,Black Gold and Dang Rasimi. My seedlings from Fairchild have both turned out well. Cochin is excellent but the tree vigor is highky suspect. I like both j-30 and 31. I hear Borneo Red is the best (from Chris Rollins and several others that have tried it) but I haven't tasted it yet. That summarizes my jakfruit thoughts.

Harry

harry i never tried Jackfruit.

i picked up cheena because i thought it would be the closes thing to Chempendak i can grow (havent tried that either, just looking for different varieties)

what is it you dont like about cheena versus other jackfruit? im looking to grow another Jackfruit because they are such beautiful trees. i think i may go with a lemon crunch or bangkok lemon variety to have something that is different then my cheena.

i always wondered what the flesh of borneo red looked like, if its really red i may be tempted to pick it up without trying it.

I looked for a borneo red tree for months before I gave up. If anyone know of a source I would definitely like to grab one.

Harry, how large do your grafted trees usually need to be before you start seeing fruit? I am just wondering if I have a shot anytime soon.

i want to grow two more jackfruit in a row alongside my cheena like this:

John:

I got my Borneo Red from Pine Island a bunch of years ago. Unfortunately, it has been one of the few varieties jakfruits that have not flourished in my yard. Because it was a later addition, the planting site might be the reason for its poor performance. It is in a partially shaded area between larger jakfruuit trees. Also, when it was relatively new, I was asked to send some budwood to a friend in Hawaii. I did and the tree never seemed to grow after that. It is maybe 5 feet tall with a very bush-like (not tree-like) habit. I approach grafted three trees from it. Initially all the grafts took. One died when I was trying to separate the rootstock from the mother tree and one died after being planted out, a victim of the weed wacker. The third has been planted out and was doing wonderfully until this cold spell. It seems to have sustained more damage per size of the tree as any other jakfruit in the yard. But, overall, not that much damage...at least not so far. Pine Island hasn't had these in stock for a very long time as I have tried to buy more. Maybe when you come down you can try to do a graft for yourself. I have seedlings, assuming the survive the cold. As far as how long before a grafted tree produces fruit. I have experienced a range of periods of time. The fastest for me was 3 years and the longest was 15 years. Most have been closer to the former than the latter

Mango Kush:

The one time I tasted Cheena, it was at the Just Jakfruit Festival at Fairchild. It had a strange consistancy. It was mushy, with the flesh also being somewhat fibrous. It wasn't appealing to me. However, the ease of cleaning the fruit was extremely appealing. I was willing to give it another chance just for the easy cleaning nature of it, but the tree I bought from Fairchild did not do well and eventually died. It is possible that the fruit I ate had been frozen and it may have lost of its taste and flavor in that process. The flavor of the Cheena I tasted was bland compared to other jakfruit available. I have not seen the flesh of Borneo Red and wonder myself if it is really red.

Harry

Harry,
Did you like the taste of the Borneo Red? I once had some of what was told to me to be Borneo Red and I didnt find it that great.

Sheehan:

Never tasted Borneo Red......been wanting to, but I have heard from very reliable sources that it is one of the best, if not the best that these people have ever had. Your tasting might not have been optimum. I am trying to arrange some source of trying it later this year. I'll keep you posted.

Harry

Well PI emailed me back and confirmed that they don't have them. They did mention that Top T has them. I checked their site and they are asking $45 for a ONE FOOT tall plant. I am assuming they must be newly grafted. I think I'll hold off and take my chances on getting a graft to take from you Harry. I have a couple of seedlings let over from when I ordered from Montoso a while back.

John:

Bring the seedlings down and you can do the surgery right in my yard. If that doesn't work, I am still going to try to some more appoach grafts after the cold loosens it grip on us.

Harry

Lychee that was blown over by huricane Ivan years back.

Harry...so you liked the Gold Nugget? I have a huge one in the greenhouse and I'm chomping at the bit waiting for the first blooms. I keep looking over the entire tree each day hoping for a sign. With all of the foliage...I'd be surprised if I spotted a bloom anyway. I'm hoping this spring is a good year for many plants.

Jay, Hide the hatchet. It has to be getting close.

Ronald, That lychee is crazy. Has it rooted all along the trunk? Has it been productive since the hurricane?

jsvand5 , no the tree does not root along the trunk and it has produced since, about 80 pounds 2 years ago and some last year.
ronald

Jay:

Yes, I did like Golden Nuggett. I wouldn't say that it was my favorite, but the small fruits were very manageable and quite tasty. Mine got destroyed by the hurricane. I did not replant as there are other cultivars that I like better or new ones I wanted to try.

Harry

If this thing ever produces fruit, my wife wants us to try and make an ice cream we get in Thailand that has jack bits in it...coconut based. Very good and refreshing in that heat.

Erik from PI told me that once the trunk is 3-4" in diameter, that is when they normally start producing. Mine is just around 3" now...thought it was bigger around than that. Might need another hard prune!

a few pictures from today

Looks good to me. Which variety is it that you are showing bloom on?

Harry

As best as I can research they are mauritous. If I am correct it would be by far the prevelant variety on the island. We grew up seeing this cultivar aound us, but had never heard it expertly identified.

Good morning everyone,
You guys have got me interested in the jackfruit. I never really thought to much of this fruit seeing how much it looks like the durian. The opinion on durian from what Ive heard hasn't been too great but with jackfruit being a good sweet fruit maybe it is possible. So when is its season? Harry I agree with what you said. I would only try it if I could try yours. It only takes one bad tasting for me. I remember trying mabe the first time. I tried it as a drink and I didn't like it at all. It reminded me of badly fermented beer. The same with guava. I have never tried one that made me want to eat another bite.
Jay,
How tall is your jackfruit? I looked at these trees on Tops website but they made it sound like they would have to grow pretty large before they can fruit. Not that I want one(unless what I try really impresses me!)but it is a nic looking tree. Think I will stick with what I am comfortable with....MANGOES!!! I am hoping to get some of Harry's this year!!!I am hoping he has some Maha Chanook still. I want to try to grow this tree. I know seeds don't always grow true to type but I will still try! I would also like to get my hands on some passiflora mcaine. I love this fruit and I did buy two from Logees but I don't think there roots were too good. Hoping to buy it in FL maybe, or a diffrent variety that is easy to fruit. Jay you had passion fruit, did you ever get any on your vines? One more vine I would like to try is the black pepper. I think this vine is beutifull. I always do this during the winter bleakness. Man, I can't wait for spring! Also can't wait for this guy who owns a nursery in PA to call me. He is in FL now, stocking up on tropical fruits as we speak. Can't wait to see what he brings back. He sold memy first mango tree, and it has been all downhill since! LOL!
Andrew

Andrew...my jack seems to always be pushing against the ceiling glass...nearly 13'. Besides the bananas, it takes up the most room in the greenhouse. Once it ever starts to produce, I will narrow and shorten it up a bit.

Jackfruit is NOTHING like durian, and I love 'em both. JF will need warm temps consistently, cannot withstand cold 40 or below at all. Same with durian. As for your distaste of guavas, maybe you tried the kind that are smallish with lots of seeds and pink inside? I like the large oval shape, uneven texture on the exterior, white interior, crunchy, a tiny bit tart, great when dipped in chilli pepper mixed with salt.

Newgen,
Don't misundertsand me. I realize that jackfruit doesn't taste like durian(at least from what I have heard). I just associated the two as being alike prior to joining this forum. I actually would like to try it(thats what I was saying above), but I will wait to try it unti l I can get a hold of a good fruit. I am hoping to get my hands on one this summer whene I go to Florida. I have tried a couple varieties of Guava and never liked them but would be willing to try the white fleshed form. I am not prejudice when it comes to fruit(well MOST fruit anyways), I would LOVE to try as many as I can in my lifetime. I have tried few tropical fruits so far. Mango, passionfruit, guanabana, cherimoya(but never a good one), guava, acerola, mabe(not a fruit but a drink made from the bark,)coconut(two forms) quenepa, fresh sugar cane, pomegranite and I think that is it. There are so many more fruits that people talk about or actually grow that I would love to try. Out of them all my favorites so far are the mango, quenepa, passionfruit and the guanabana. I wont buy guanabana here, it never tastes good to me.
Andrew