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Jackfruit in Tampa


Alan_Tampa

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Some of you might remember me from a few years ago, been absent a while.

 

Anyway,  for those that do recall I have been trying to get jackfruit to fruit in Tampa for almost 17 years. At long last I have!

 

Remember that this tree was killed to about waist high in January 2010.

20161011_085024.jpg

  • Upvote 4

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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Cool! Let me know if you decide to save any seeds. My brother in Seminole heights really wants to grow jackfruit but the seeds that he's bought so far have never sprouted. 

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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Zeeth, your brother should buy a grafted tree! The wait will likely be much shorter. Or at minimum, seeds from more recent introductions. This tree is a from seed of NS1. According to a friend of mine, his NS1 seedlings took anywhere from 10 to 15 years to fruit. 

Trees from seed of more receintroductions have fruit in as little as 4 years. 

I have tried others, but this tree was in the " best" spot in the yard. So the others were at a disadvantage.  

 

I asurprised seeds have not come up! 

 

That Is very odd.

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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Yes, I remember you, and you posted a pic of your jackfruit tree that was towering above your house roof. Well, I have two jackfruit trees, both grown from seed a friend gave me. Both trees are different varieties, although I don't know which. In any case, the youngest tree is actually the tallest of the two, and it's probably over 20 feet tall. Yet, the tree (neither tree) has produced fruit. Yet, I gave a jackfruit tree to another friend of mine (grown from the same seed batch as mine) and his produced huge fruit three years ago! Go figure. Neither of my trees were frozen back in 2010, but they are planted in a more protected spot on my property. I will try to post a photo of them to compare with our tree for size. I'm disappointed both of my trees have never produced a single fruit.

  • Upvote 2

Mad about palms

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That is great! 

A Jackfruit here at Leu Garden has 2 fruit setting for the first time. In the past it has set fruit and when they got to pingpong ball-size they would drop. Then it was years before the tree flowered so finally it is fruiting again. There are some trees around Orlando I have seen fruiting in the past few years too.

I saw some good sized specimens at Hollis Garden in downtown Lakeland this summer that was loaded with mature fruit.

  • Like 1

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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Thanks for sharing, it is always good to see what can grow around here. Alan, you're in S. Tampa I presume? 

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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11 hours ago, Alan_Tampa said:

RedRabbit,

No, I am in citrus park/north dale area.

Ohhh, interesting. I saw your signature says "Zone - 10a" so I kind of figured you were in S. Tampa... I do wonder if we're technically 10a though, I've guesstimated my area's avg low is around 31f so it might be over the threshold. When you see garden's like Frank Tintera's it makes you think it is a possibility. The climate in NW Hillsborough county is a little weird, there's some sort of east/west dynamic going on but it isn't too clear why. Heat from urbanization would seemingly be just as strong around USF, but you don't see any royals east of about Himes. Seemingly we're too far from the Gulf for it to have an influence too so I don't know what it is. 

  • Upvote 1

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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Way to go Alan!  Great to see an avant garde PT still lurking and contributing.

What you look for is what is looking

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14 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

Ohhh, interesting. I saw your signature says "Zone - 10a" so I kind of figured you were in S. Tampa... I do wonder if we're technically 10a though, I've guesstimated my area's avg low is around 31f so it might be over the threshold. When you see garden's like Frank Tintera's it makes you think it is a possibility. The climate in NW Hillsborough county is a little weird, there's some sort of east/west dynamic going on but it isn't too clear why. Heat from urbanization would seemingly be just as strong around USF, but you don't see any royals east of about Himes. Seemingly we're too far from the Gulf for it to have an influence too so I don't know what it is. 

What's weird is that people have gone foxtail crazy around USF and in Tampa Palms, and foxtails are slightly less hardy than royals. You'd expect to see a few royals here and there near some of the larger lakes, but they aren't there in any significant numbers. Maybe if they were sold at big box stores like foxtails you'd see a few. krishnaraoji88 planted a royal on the south-east side of the large lake at the USF botanical garden sometime around 2010. It's trunking now so hopefully we have enough time before the next freeze for it to mature and gain some cold tolerance. 

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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I put my zone as 10a based upon what I observed growing. So far, so good. Doesn't mean I don't get damage now and then, 2010 was brutal!

 

One thing I have learned, fast growing and cold sensitive does way better than slow growing and cold sensitive. It seems the slow growers never really recover between freezes. 

Also, I've learned that some spots in the yard are way better than others. Oh, and finding a sunny yet protected spot is way hard!

Edited by Alan_Tampa
Typo

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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Walt and Bubba, it's nice to be remembered! Here's a couple of recent pics of my jackfruit and more! From the roof:

20161015_181537.jpg

20161015_181553.jpg

  • Upvote 1

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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Alan, yours jackfruit tree is much bigger than mine. Still, how my friend's tree produced fruit three years ago puzzles me, as my tree and his tree was grown from the same seed batch. In any event, I like my tree just for the looks of the leaves. Your tree made a great comeback from the 2010 freezes. The freezes were bad, as I lost limbs 6-8" in diameter on the north side of my Ficus altissima tree. I sure hope we don't see that kind of prolonged cold again anytime soon.

  • Upvote 1

Mad about palms

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7 hours ago, Zeeth said:

What's weird is that people have gone foxtail crazy around USF and in Tampa Palms, and foxtails are slightly less hardy than royals. You'd expect to see a few royals here and there near some of the larger lakes, but they aren't there in any significant numbers. Maybe if they were sold at big box stores like foxtails you'd see a few. krishnaraoji88 planted a royal on the south-east side of the large lake at the USF botanical garden sometime around 2010. It's trunking now so hopefully we have enough time before the next freeze for it to mature and gain some cold tolerance. 

It is a shame there aren't more royals available in Tampa since they do pretty well here. I'm only aware of 1 nursery selling them though... I'm skeptical of how those foxtails will do longer term in New Tampa / USF. I think there's a reason why there are ~100 royals west of Florida Ave and next to 0 east of there.  

 

7 hours ago, Alan_Tampa said:

I put my zone as 10a based upon what I observed growing. So far, so good. Doesn't mean I don't get damage now and then, 2010 was brutal!

 

One thing I have learned, fast growing and cold sensitive does way better than slow growing and cold sensitive. It seems the slow growers never really recover between freezes. 

Also, I've learned that some spots in the yard are way better than others. Oh, and finding a sunny yet protected spot is way hard!

Good point. There's some zone 10 stuff around but it isn't as common as I'd like it to be. :/

What are the palms you have in the picture with your jackfruit tree? 

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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21 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

It is a shame there aren't more royals available in Tampa since they do pretty well here. I'm only aware of 1 nursery selling them though... I'm skeptical of how those foxtails will do longer term in New Tampa / USF. I think there's a reason why there are ~100 royals west of Florida Ave and next to 0 east of there.  

After the 2010 freeze, the royals in Palmetto and Sarasota (Bradenton sticks out into the gulf more, so it didn't get as cold) had about the same level of damage as the ones in habitat in Fakahatchee, but foxtails fared significantly worse. We can hope that the next 2010 type freeze won't happen soon, but I'd say most of the foxtails in New Tampa/USF won't last when it comes. There is a Ptychosperma that survived the freeze, as well as some Adonidias and Carpentarias, but they were the exception.

 

Here are some shots to show what I'm talking about. These are post 2010 pics, and the palms are all a few hundred feet from each-other. Look how poorly the foxtail did  in comparison (and it's in a less exposed spot too). 

5802e92ad8c54_ScreenShot2016-10-15at22.3

5802e93200ac4_ScreenShot2016-10-15at22.3

5802e93a1fd6b_ScreenShot2016-10-15at22.4

 

Here are the post-2010 royals growing natively in the Fakahatchee strand. You can see that the level of damage is similar to the local royals that I pictured.

4661269465_b47d67a93d_o.jpg

 

 

  • Upvote 1

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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12 hours ago, Zeeth said:

After the 2010 freeze, the royals in Palmetto and Sarasota (Bradenton sticks out into the gulf more, so it didn't get as cold) had about the same level of damage as the ones in habitat in Fakahatchee, but foxtails fared significantly worse. We can hope that the next 2010 type freeze won't happen soon, but I'd say most of the foxtails in New Tampa/USF won't last when it comes. There is a Ptychosperma that survived the freeze, as well as some Adonidias and Carpentarias, but they were the exception.

 

Here are some shots to show what I'm talking about. These are post 2010 pics, and the palms are all a few hundred feet from each-other. Look how poorly the foxtail did  in comparison (and it's in a less exposed spot too). 

5802e92ad8c54_ScreenShot2016-10-15at22.3

5802e93200ac4_ScreenShot2016-10-15at22.3

5802e93a1fd6b_ScreenShot2016-10-15at22.4

 

Here are the post-2010 royals growing natively in the Fakahatchee strand. You can see that the level of damage is similar to the local royals that I pictured.

4661269465_b47d67a93d_o.jpg

 

 

Very interesting, I wouldn't have guessed the ones in Fakahatchee would have taken damage. 

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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I have to say that the foxtails and royals most impacted by the cold weather are those that are already in poor condition. The "ratty" looking ones just get worse when winter comes. Same goes for coconuts. 

Fakahatchee and surrounding area get way colder than one would guess based on the latitude.  That muck soil and limestone gives up heat pretty quickly. 

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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The Fakahatchee can actually get pretty chilly sometimes. The low temperatures for the stations in the area recorded around 28˚ as their low for that freeze, and it got down to 26˚ a few times during the 80's as well. 

  • Upvote 1

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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1 minute ago, Alan_Tampa said:

I have to say that the foxtails and royals most impacted by the cold weather are those that are already in poor condition. The "ratty" looking ones just get worse when winter comes. Same goes for coconuts. 

This almost goes without saying. What ticks me off is that the landscape companies that plant them often end up hurricane cutting them in fall, which is just asking for them to get killed in the winter. Who trims a self-cleaning crownshafted palm anyway? It's not like their fronds pose a threat to cars below like can be the case with royals. 

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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In the photos you can see my foxtail, picabeen, far right and albang  (Mike Evans). I never over trim! Actually I rarely trim anything!

  • Upvote 1

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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Alan: Below are two photos I took today of my two jackfruit trees. There's no way I could get a good shot of them as they are planted in a lightly wooded area. Both receive inadequate sun. The tallest of the two trees appears to be at least 20 feet tall, but doesn't have a wide spread.

Both fared well during the December of 2010 cold spell. I grew both trees from seed a friend gave me, but at different times (at least one year apart). The oldest tree is much shorter than the younger tree. Also, the back side of the leaves on the oldest tree are smooth. The backside of the leaves on the newest tree have a light rough texture, like fine sand paper. Neither tree has ever produced a fruit -- yet a tree (from same seed batch) I gave to a buddy produced fruit three years ago. His tree is planted at the south side of his house and is in full sun.

Jackfruit%2010-16-16_zpsxnnjsmcj.jpg

Jackfruit%20Oct.%2016%202016_zpsbyvvtgyf

 

  • Upvote 1

Mad about palms

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4 hours ago, Alan_Tampa said:

In the photos you can see my foxtail, picabeen, far right and albang  (Mike Evans). I never over trim! Actually I rarely trim anything!

Cool, they looked like Archontophoenix but I wasn't sure. I'm glad yours are doing better than mine, I think I might need to get some bigger ones next spring.

Edited by RedRabbit

Westchase | 9b 10a  ◆  Nokomis | 10a  ◆  St. Petersburg | 10a 10b 

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Actually Walt, it looks like your jackfruit might not be that starved for sun. Have they flowered ever?

 

Zeeth-there is no way to predict what people do to helpless palms!

 

RedRabbit, none of those were started bigger than 3 gallons. Bigger does not always grow best!

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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2 hours ago, Alan_Tampa said:

Actually Walt, it looks like your jackfruit might not be that starved for sun. Have they flowered ever?

 

Zeeth-there is no way to predict what people do to helpless palms!

 

RedRabbit, none of those were started bigger than 3 gallons. Bigger does not always grow best!

If they ever flowered, I never saw any. In any case, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Maybe one day.

Mad about palms

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  • 3 months later...

16 years in the making. It is good firm flesh, and very sweet. Pollination seems to have a bit incomplete as the rag content was rather high.

20170121_182212.jpg

20170121_183529.jpg

  • Upvote 6

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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I've got a little grafted jackfruit tree about six feet tall, that's been in the ground about 3 years (I bought it as a little five gallon).  I suppose it's a little slow but I probably haven't been fertilizing or watering it as much as I should.  The neighbors put in a vineyard above me so it should get a little more water.  I wonder how long it will be before it fruits?

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Depends on variety and cultural care.  That does seem slow, but grafted jackfruit trees aren't as fast as seedlings, despite fruiting earlier. Even small trees support a few fruit.

 

What variety is the one you have?

Tampa, Florida

Zone - 10a

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