Have never had jackfruit chips before (have only seem them), but I would say that fresh would taste way much beter. There are many varieties and at least one must charm you.

I have grown potted jackfruits and once the tap root touches the bottom it won´t grow any more (my pots were 3 feet in depth and 2 feet wide and the tree was 5 feet tall) so it won´t fruit ever and I am in the dry tropic (24°N).

The season will vary among locations.

These fruits are extremely heavy even the small ones ;-]

So has anyone had success with jackfruit? Just wondering...

I have two nice MIA1 Jackfruit trees, in Jupiter, Florida. They stood up well to hurricane Wilma, much to my surprize.

Mine are young trees, the largest is 8' tall. I have seen lots of mature ones fruiting heavily at Excalibur Rare Fruit Tree nursery in Lake Worth, Florida. I might get some flowers/fruit from mine this year or next if I'm lucky.

Lisa

I've seen jackfruit growing in Darwin (tropical australia) and they grew to over 30m tall and some of the fruit were over 10kg.

It's a big tree with big fruit and wouldn't grow to fruiting size in a pot.

It is worth trying just to get some fruit - the fruit is delicious fresh - nore so than chips

hi Lisa,

are the ones they have fruiting in pots? what size pots?
thanks,

Scott

ps: yes, i am growing jackfruits in Pennsylvania ;-) (no fruit)

Scott, some are in pots, HUGE pots that are 6 to 8' across. They move pots there with forklifts(G).

The fruit are enormous, from baby 10-pounders to 45lbs. I got to taste one earlier this year. They are messy, leak latex, and a lot of the innards are not eaten. The fleshy part we tasted was quite good - sweet, juicy, mild, with undertones of other fruit flavors.

I prefer a good peach, but the tree is interesting and the fruit a wonder to see.

Lisa

Go here to see lots of jackfruits pics..

http://www.webshots.com/search?new=1&source=homesearch&query=jackfruit

Patusho,

I'm surprised to read that about your jackfruits. Mine, not quite a year old, aren't to 5 feet yet, but they definitely haven't stopped growing once the tap roots hit bottom.

Jackfruit is fantastic, I always gorge on them when I am in Asia. Typically a vendor will have a 3.5 foot long by 2 ft wide fruit and will cut it into quarters and dig out the fruit part (seed coverings) and sell that to you. It is fantastic fresh, has a bit of bubblegum taste. Whenever I am in Thailand, I get Jackfruit, Rambutan, Mangosteen, Starfrut, wax apples, cherimoya, and if I am daring, some nice stinky Durian!

Found a few pics of jackfruit growing in the wild that I took.

This was south of Saigon.

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Here are several smaller lower hanging fruit.

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Here's mine in Tampa:

I have an NS1 seedling that is about 16 yrs old now and is producing very delicious (some 30 pounds)fruit (a lot of people have to develop a taste for jackfruit to appreciate its deliciousness, otherwise you're gonna think its too weird; I love it and prefer the crisp varieties as I think most Americans would). I have a "Honey Gold" that should begin producing fruit any time, also have the Champedek/Jackfruit hybrid (Cheena)that is growing steadily (about 8 ft now). The jackfruit relative, Kwai Muk, is about 7 years old and produced flowers last year but did not set fruit. I'm hoping for some this summer. Artocarpus makes me happy!

The California Rare Fruit Growers website has a useful information sheet on growing jackfruit:

Here is a link that might be useful: Jackfruit Fruit Facts

My recommendation is to cook the flesh instead of eating it raw. Bake it in an oven for about 15 minutes at 185 degrees Centigrade, but check it as it will probably vary for your oven. Peel the flesh off the seed, lay on a baking tray +/- baking paper, and cook it until it is soft. You DON'T want it crisp (unless you are trying to make chips). Sweet and delicious.

Incidentally, you can eat the seeds too. You can boil, steam, or roast them. I've only done it once, and it takes awhile, but it tastes nice. Like a fruity chestnut.

One of our local nurseries offers a jakfruit named "Singapore Dwarf", listed on their website. Wonder if it grows smaller, and is better for pot culture.

Here is a link that might be useful: Papaya Tree Nursery Plant List

According to this abstract, (near the bottom of the webpage) scientists at the Fairchild Tropical Gardens have been doing research and selective breeding with the Jakfruit since 1987, trying to develop "patio agricultural systems". Evaluations of around 600 new jakfruit hybrids started in 2003, looking for "superior traits of precocity and productivity and the fruit quality traits of aroma, edible percentage, flesh firmness, color and flavor."
Guess the "Condo Jakfruit" varieties have arrived.

Here is a link that might be useful: Breeding and Selection of Jackfruit for South Florida

I bought a Gold Nugget in May. Beautiful plant and growing like a weed! Would dearly love to see some blooms this spring. I chose this because of a great description of jakfruit cultivars by Fairchild Gardens...and a buddy on the tropical fruit forum also recommended this one. I cannot find this writeup from Fairchild anymore. Here is another link I found that is pretty nice.
http://www.agroforestry.net/tti/A.heterophyllus-jackfruit.pdf

Jay, thanks for the link. Lots of good information.
I called Papaya Nursery, and was ready to rush over and buy a Gold Nugget, but the owner said they weren't "presentable" right now. He also had Black Gold, but reported that he was having a lot better growth on his seedlings than his grafted stock. He said the first jakfruit to flower in SoCal ever was just a few years ago on a seedling of a friend of his.
If your Gold Nugget is growing well, you must be doing something right.
The local specialty store had some jakfruit ice cream, but it was in a large container. Not sure if I would like it or not.

I bought a frozen baby jackfruit, Trái Gấc, at a specialty market, defrosted it, cut it up, and separated the red pulp from around the seeds. I baked the pulp for 20 minutes at 350 F. It tastes a little like cucumber, still a little crunchy, not sweet at all. A Google search on Trái Gấc turned up that it's not a jakfruit at all. Bummer!

I've tried many of the frozen fruits...even mangosteen. I'll never waste my money again!

There is another fruit similar,annona muricata (soursop)that is much tastier which has less seeds that is popular in Costa Rica.

can they grow in ga? how long does it take for sprouts to show if u r growing it from seeds?

I would love to have a Jackfruit/Breadfruit Tree here, but I'd have to mist it daily to get it to think we are in the tropics! It's surely hot enough!

We will be moving to a more tropical location soon, and I plan to give it a whirl!

Did I mention that I LOVE the fruit? My only experience with it was in Jamaica on a trip with college buddies. We discovered you can bake it, and it tastes like a potato! I'd like to relive that experience for real!
Suzi

OK, I bit the bullet, went to Ebay, and did that buy it now thing for A FRESH JACKFRUIT/ BREADFRUIT SEED TROPICAL NOVELTY THAI ! I'll try to grow it indoors, or outside in the shade under the sprinklers, in a root pruning pot. I also bought Monstera deliciosa EXOTIC TROPICAL Seed, which I will try to grow in the same way. They will be houseplants until we move to a better growing location for them.
Suzi

It's the Breadfruit that tastes like potato when baked. Never tried baking Jackfruit. I've got a few large trees here that produce good fruit but it's so messy trying to cut it up that most of the time I just leave them. I do like the tatse though. I've got a Breadfruit as well but it hasn't fruited yet.

So they are not the same? I've seen many web references to them being the same, so now I guess I'll have to search for a breadfruit too! Thanks!
Suzi

They're the same genus, Artocarpus, but different species. Breadfruit is A. altilis and Jackfruit is A. heterophyllus. There's quite a few others in the genus that produce edible fruit.

The Breadfruit tends to be more cold sensitive than Jackfruit. It's also propagated by root cuttings rather than stem cuttings.

So, I now learned there is a difference. Anybody know where I can obtain a Breadfruit? That one is sustaining. Starch, like a potato. We can grow palms, grapes, bananas, so I want to know where I can get a Breadfruit. I have a jackfruit coming, and it will grow, but no idea what to do with it. I really wanted a Breadfruit.
Suzi

You may have to keep it indoors, they don't tolerate dry or cold. On the web I've seen references to a California rare fruits organisation. You might check with them.

THe SMALLEST jackfruit tree I have seen with fruit on it was ~15' tall, and very wide. The trunk was fatter than my upper arm. I don't know what kind of pot would hold one, much less the vry large fruits.

My gold nugget was ~15' tall when I topped it and pruned the lower branches off. I'm hoping that next year (It's 4 years old) it will give me fruit.

BTW, I have over 30 varieties of tropical fruits on my property and Jakfruit is one of my top three faves.

Gary

I haven't seen Breadfruit get up the the heights I've seen Jackfruit, but they still get pretty big.

I've now accepted that I can't grow breadfruit, so I'm embracing the two Jackfruit seeds that I got on ebay. They arrived, and I'm soaking in water for 24 hours, per instructions. Then I'll pot them in 1" deep soil, and wait and see.

So update here. They are potted with a seal of saran over top to keep them moist. They are in pots outside in the shade, and the temps here in the shade range from 85 degrees to 100 degrees F.

Plan to ignore for 8 weeks, except for checking for moisture.

Fingers crossed that one of those seeds actually gives me a tree!
Suzi

Good luck with them. The germination shouldn't be a problem, they do come up easily enough. It'll be the ongoing maintenance that will be the real job. They don't like to dry out but still need good drainage. And sap sucking insects like to get into them.

Sap suckers! Oh dear! Not above using serious insecticide. Wouldn't have a producing vineyard without it!
Suzi