That's excellent. How big was it pre-planting? You'll have lots of growing season for those fruit to mature if they hold, and they probably will.

Gary

My tree was just over two feet tall when it went into the ground in June of 2005. I was shocked by how quickly it grew, although I'm told that it's not unusual for Black Gold and some of the other vigorous jakfruit cultivars to push out at that rate during their juvenile stage; I'll probably have another year or so of rapid growth before it slows down to about two or three feet a year. It's really a beautiful tree - I'm surprised more people don't use them for landscaping. There's only the one flower developing at the moment, although I hope more follow soon.

You know, I hadn't even thought about the growing season - I've just realized it's still February! Maybe I will have some fruit this year...

That's an incredible growth rate. Wish some of my plants in the greenhouse would take on even a little of that characteristic! Let's get that camera battery charged dude!

Where are you located?

Eldys, I want seeds!!!

Jay, I'll be posting pictures first thing tomorrow - I just found another flower today, so things are definitely looking good for this year's fruiting prospects.

Gardener, I'm in the extreme southeast of Miami, about 25 minutes north of the Florida Keys. The Jakfruit seems very well adapted to our climate (and is actually tolerant of local soil conditions as well); as a matter of fact, there are actually a couple of small commercial growers some 15 miles to the west of where I live.

Patusho, I'll be sure to get your information in 4-6 months when I harvest the fruit. The commercial growers I mentioned earlier use Black Gold seedlings for rootstock on account of their exceptional vigor (although NS-1 is also used for rootstock), and it seems that seedlings generally exhibit precocity as well, so collecting the seed is well worthwhile.

Male flower:

Female flower:

Tree:

Nice! Very attractive tree. Do you plan on doing any pruning to manage the size or just let it go? Thanks for the pics!

I'll be maintaining the height at between 10 and 15 feet - if I let it get to full size I wouldn't have much room left for anything else! Besides, an unpruned jakfruit tree in this area would be a definite hurricane hazard (especially since most of the trees I'm growing are quite susceptible to wind damage). I'll be sure to post more pictures if any fruit develop.

Oh, you might be interested in this Jay - I think the seedling jakfruit that I uprooted and potted last month may be attempting to flower as well. The terminal bud of one of the branches is swollen in a way that I would expect to lead to flower formation. Of course, I won't know until it opens, but if it does flower it's a good indication that jakfruit will bear in a manageable container size (15 gallon). I'll keep you posted...