Author Topic: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida  (Read 1923 times)

C24mccain

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Here is a short video I made today (March 7) of our Jackfruit tree flowering here in Lakeland Florida. The tree is exactly 24 months old and was seed sowed directly in the spot its growing. I only found one flower and pretty sure its a male. Correct me if I'm wrong. The tree is approximately 15 feet tall.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVwIXHdLZSc

Samu

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2019, 02:05:19 AM »
Wow, that's one super speedy growth! Good job!
I am wondering it is common to grow and fruits jackfruit trees in your 9b zone?
(I saw one photo posting of a fruiting tree that was said to be grown in Southern California,  but haven't seen the tree myself.)
Sam

C24mccain

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2019, 06:09:21 AM »
Samu, I don't think this is a common thing to do this far north but it was from seed so I had little to lose. Here are the key things I believe have helped this tree. Keep in mind the tree is nearly dormant for three months out of the year barely growing in winter. You can't tell in the video because of all the mulch but the tree is on a mound that is about two foot above soil level. I have to do this because of our extremely high water table and flooding on our property. This gave the tap root some depth yet because water is not to far down the tree has a constant supply of water. We had record rainfall last year blowing away previous rainfall. The tree grew about ten foot in 9-10 months. The area is heavily mulched. Compost was used on the mound as well. I don't use any synthetic fertilizer. The area gets a lot of sun. Protected from north wind by industrial buildings and oak trees. No freezes this year which is actually common at about 30% of winters from what I see in the records. Anyhow these factors are what I believe have helped this tree.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2019, 06:11:12 AM by C24mccain »

sahai1

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2019, 09:32:29 AM »
nice growth!  a lot of trees which suffer from water damage are much more hardier when sown directly by seed.  my grafted jackfruit is in a supported mound (giant concrete bulkeads) 3 feet above ground.  Tap root still hasnt gone deep enough to take off but should get there soon.  And it survived 2 floods already, so woking so far.

Samu

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2019, 12:01:56 PM »
Thanks for your detail explanation. I respect people living in marginal zones but still putting lots of effort for the sake of growing their favorite trees...

Please give us update on this tree, I think I am not the only one who is interested in it's progress.

Have fun growing it, and good luck McCain!

Edited: vocab.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2019, 03:26:50 PM by Samu »
Sam

C24mccain

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #5 on: March 11, 2019, 10:03:22 AM »
Second flower came out today. Looks like another male.

WGphil

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #6 on: March 11, 2019, 01:06:29 PM »
IMy seedling is about knee high so a long way from a chance for fruit

Good job hope you fruit soon

irun5k

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #7 on: March 21, 2019, 10:52:58 PM »
Nice!  Just this week we were having a discussion on a neighborhood forum here in Saint Petersburg.  Several folks growing Jackfruit successfully, with good fruiting.  This came as a bit of a surprise to me, I thought you'd need to be further south.  Lots of mangos and lychee, etc. here but for some reason I thought jackfruit were a little more sensitive.

C24mccain

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Re: 24 month old Jackfruit starting to flower in Lakeland Florida
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2019, 07:41:15 AM »
Nice!  Just this week we were having a discussion on a neighborhood forum here in Saint Petersburg.  Several folks growing Jackfruit successfully, with good fruiting.  This came as a bit of a surprise to me, I thought you'd need to be further south.  Lots of mangos and lychee, etc. here but for some reason I thought jackfruit were a little more sensitive.

Jackfruit is more sensitive but we had a winter this year where our coldest temp was 35* and the previous winter I protected it. Without protection I'm sure the tree will get hurt or killed if we get under 30.. most of my other trees shouldn't do to bad above 28 if it's short duration, now that size is toughening them up. I hope my jackfruit will continue to grow fast so that it will toughen up as much as possible. If we can get another freezless winter next year the tree will be very big two years from now. Probably the biggest jack this far north and inland in Florida. No female flowers yet...