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mangogrower

Any luck growing a Breadfruit tree?

mangogrower
18 years ago

I'm thinking about tackling this challenge with a portable greenhouse and a light, I live in Jax, FL, I wonder if any of you have tried to grow one with any success ?

Comments (11)

  • ARAD
    18 years ago

    Yes, I did, it grew kinda big in 2 years and left it out in the ground without any protection at all. This is its 2nd winter like that and seems to be dead, although I'm sure that it would have been much better if didn't get hit again by the hurricane late last fall. I other words, yes, you can do it for a while but eventually gets too big.Grows really fast too.

  • wanna_run_faster
    18 years ago

    All I know about them is from my Jamacian neighbor who said that you have to cook the fruit for hours just to make it edible and that they are alway dropping on people's heads!

  • Heathen1
    18 years ago

    oooh! After reading Pippi Longstockings as a kid, I always wanted to eat breadfruit! You have to actually COOK it? :o( There goes my childhood fantasies...

  • siegel2
    18 years ago

    wanna and heathen,

    You really should try a breadfruit. They are delicious. You do have to cook them, but only for an hour or less in an oven. They taste like creamy sweet potatoes only a little sweeter. They are very filling like a potatoe, not at all like a fruit.

    I knocked some out of a tree in Hawaii and cooked them by setting them next to the rocks that surrounded my camp fire in Waimanu Valley on the Big Island. Even using this method, they didn't take long to cook.

  • unautre
    18 years ago

    I'm in Jamaica now, we ate breadfruit for dinner, cooked by setting it directly on a low wood fire.

    Totally tasteless. I had to put some garlic-y vinaigrette for the salad on it. :) The taste of the dinner was provided by boiled pumpkin and a great sauce on barracuda steaks. :)

    Breadfruit tree has magnificent foliage, which is the only reason I'd try to grow one. They are huge trees here.

  • patusho25
    18 years ago

    I´ve got some breadnut trees, I was bummed by the fact of not having a breadfruit, but then I read that breadnut fruits are more nutritius than those from the breadfruit because of the seeds (although there is also a seeded breadfruit)!!!. Besides, both trees are identical. Great foliage.

    Breadnut starts shedding leaves at about 10°C.

  • maltesebev
    18 years ago

    I would love to start one. Anyone have any seeds or starts to share?

  • barefootgardentender
    17 years ago

    I like breadfruit chips (like potato chips).

    I grow a breadfruit tree in a pot. He comes into my greenhouse for the winter. Gorgeous, but challenging, tree!!

  • aroideana
    17 years ago

    Breadfruit grows easily from a root cutting , or should I say it will sprout readily when roots are damaged by digging under the tree.

  • kpuanani3_gmail_com
    13 years ago

    Would really like to grow a few trees. I tried before but it died.
    was wondering what's the secret if any

  • tropicalzone7
    13 years ago

    The secret is warm weather ALL the time. I left mine outside in a 40F degree night that only got to 60F the next day and it was dead! It should have day temperatures no less than 75F and night temperatures no less than 60F. The best conditions would be a good amount of humidity with day temperatures from 80F-95F and night temperatures from 65F-85F. They seem to be hard to kill in the tropics, but anything out of the tropics will be a challenge for them. They even have a hard time surviving in Miami, FL (which isn't considered part of the true tropics, but Miami does have frost-free weather all year long).

    They really dont make good potted plants in cold zones because they will spend a lot of the year inside a dry house and they dont have a chance outside a greenhouse in areas with cooler summers or drier summers.

    Good luck!
    -Alex