2015 jackfruit recommendation ?

[Das Bhut]

I've read a lot about jackfruit on this forum, read the red jackfruit debates, and read UF's site on jackfruit but I'm still undecided. I'm not picky when it comes to jackfruit but I already have a yellow flesh variety, the RS-22, so I'd like an orange or red fleshed one. I also have a few questions:

Black Gold X Tabouey : how big is the fruit? what color is the flesh? are they all seedlings?
MAI-1 / MAI-3 : how do they compare to some of the newer Fairchild/PIN cultivars?
J-31 : same question as above
are there any other varieties I should look into besides the new PIN ones?

[bsbullie]

Personally I would not go for the new PIN/Fairchild varieties.  Go with an Excalibur Red or Red Morning.  Mai 3 is good and has an orangey flesh.

[murahilin]

I haven't had any of the new Pine Island cultivars so I can't comment on their flavor. I've had most of the ones available at Excalibur though and as Rob said, the Excalibur Red is a good choice. So is Bangkok Lemon and Excalibur Gold.

[Sleepdoc]

Have you tasted the R55-22?  Why did you choose to plant that one ?  Just curious- I also planted that out recently.

As far as a new planting, I would wait and plant out something that you have personally tried and like the most.  There are going to be personal preferences in regards to flavor.  There are also other factors such as size, ease of cleaning, latex level, color, etc. 

We have some feedback from forum members regarding the quality of the jacks you mention. 

Rob highly backs the Excalibur varieties, including new ones such as Excalibur Gold, Excalibur Red, etc. with some support from Sheehan.  Other than that, we have very little end user opinion on the newer Excalibur varieties.  The "older" Excalibur varieties such as the Mai's, Bangkok Lemon, Red morning, etc are well regarded by others as top end Jacks. 

We have basically no evaluations of the newer PIN varieties as far as I know... 

Black Gold x Tabouey is offered grafted by PIN.  The only one I have tasted however is from Harry's seedling which may or may not be very similar to the grafted version.  The seedling Harry has IMO is excellent, although is somewhat variable and not always at the top of its game.

J-31 I've eaten a seedling version which was very good

If we look at past experience with mango ratings on this forum, we find that most mango fanatics are in line with the flavor evaluations posted by Rob.  Many here do not agree with mango ratings given by PIN.  Given that, I tend to believe Rob when he gives an evaluation on fruit quality.  I don't think you would be wrong to go with one of his recommendations.

If you have a lot of room, and plan on planting a number of trees, then choosing a few of the recommended and or new varieties may be a good plan ( I did it - I have a few planted out that I have never tried).

[Das Bhut]

Have you tasted the R55-22?  Why did you choose to plant that one ?  Just curious- I also planted that out recently.

As far as a new planting, I would wait and plant out something that you have personally tried and like the most.  There are going to be personal preferences in regards to flavor.  There are also other factors such as size, ease of cleaning, latex level, color, etc. 

We have some feedback from forum members regarding the quality of the jacks you mention. 

Rob highly backs the Excalibur varieties, including new ones such as Excalibur Gold, Excalibur Red, etc. with some support from Sheehan.  Other than that, we have very little end user opinion on the newer Excalibur varieties.  The "older" Excalibur varieties such as the Mai's, Bangkok Lemon, Red morning, etc are well regarded by others as top end Jacks. 

We have basically no evaluations of the newer PIN varieties as far as I know... 

Black Gold x Tabouey is offered grafted by PIN.  The only one I have tasted however is from Harry's seedling which may or may not be very similar to the grafted version.  The seedling Harry has IMO is excellent, although is somewhat variable and not always at the top of its game.

J-31 I've eaten a seedling version which was very good

If we look at past experience with mango ratings on this forum, we find that most mango fanatics are in line with the flavor evaluations posted by Rob.  Many here do not agree with mango ratings given by PIN.  Given that, I tend to believe Rob when he gives an evaluation on fruit quality.  I don't think you would be wrong to go with one of his recommendations.

If you have a lot of room, and plan on planting a number of trees, then choosing a few of the recommended and or new varieties may be a good plan ( I did it - I have a few planted out that I have never tried).

Thanks for the detailed write up. I haven't tasted the RS-22 (the tag said RST-22, but I saw some others with the R55-22 tag) I just bought it because I wanted to plant one of the new PIN varieties but didn't want to plant something called orange crush or canteloupe. I've tasted a few seedling jacks and a few named cultivars and while they all have different flavors there's not a huge difference to me. I'm also the type of gardener that cares more about seeing plants progress than getting fruit. I haven't tasted any of the red ones though so I'll plant one out and see how it does.

[gunnar429]

J-31 is quite good...and can have offseason fruit.

[bsbullie]

J-31 is quite good...and can have offseason fruit.

Most to all varieties can have "off season" fruit.  The exception possibly being the red fleshed varieties.

[PurpleAlligator]

I planted 2 of the pine island varieties (orange crush and tangerine)and can report back in a few years when I have fruit.  I also plan on getting up to Excalibur to get the red and a Bangkok lemon.  I also planted j31, sweet fairchild, fairchild first, black gold, gold nuggett, an amber seedling from patrick, and an ns1xj31 seedling.  All were planted since last September so I can give reviews in a few years.  J31 seems to have the most universally positive feedback during my research.  I couldn't sample them all and have the room and prefer to get trees in the ground as soon as possible due to the wait for a tree to produce.

[TnTrobbie]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

[mangokothiyan]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

In two to three years. I planted a 3-gallon  Bangkok Lemon that I got from Excalibur in March 2013. It has its first two fruits on it now, small but growing nicely. I do not know if all varieties are precocious.

[bsbullie]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

In two to three years. I planted a 3-gallon  Bangkok Lemon that I got from Excalibur in March 2013. It has its first two fruits on it now, small but growing nicely. I do not know if all varieties are precocious.

Post pictures, please.  Less than two years is really fast.  Normally it would be 3 - 4 years from a 3 gal.  Seedling can actually be known to fruit sooner thsn a grafted tree.

[bsbullie]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

3 - 4 years from a 3 gallon is a good norm.

[Das Bhut]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

3 - 4 years from a 3 gallon is a good norm.

How long for a 7 gallon?

[cbss_daviefl]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

In two to three years. I planted a 3-gallon  Bangkok Lemon that I got from Excalibur in March 2013. It has its first two fruits on it now, small but growing nicely. I do not know if all varieties are precocious.

That is awesome. I planted my bangkok lemon the month after you. I must have just missed the cutoff date. So far my tree has only put out males.  The tree is a vigorous grower in my yard, in the top 3 of 30 jak trees. I guess next year will be my year.

I have a seedling I planted from a 1 gal 1.5 years ago that put out more male flowers than all my other trees combined. Multiple waves of 40+ flowers on a 7ft tree.

[bsbullie]

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

3 - 4 years from a 3 gallon is a good norm.

How long for a 7 gallon?

Assuming a "real" 7 gallon,  2 - 3 years.

[GardenIslandGrower]

I planted a 3 gallon "black gold" here in Hawaii October 6th, 2013. It was 18" tall. It is now around 8 ft. tall and has 4 fruits on it so far and blooming like crazy. The largest fruit is around 9" long.....

[gnappi]

Assuming a "real" 7 gallon,  2 - 3 years.

That sounds right. My Gold Nugget went in the ground in 2011, bloomed last year and lost all of them. This year it has many fruit from 5" and down.

[gnappi]

Assuming a "real" 7 gallon,  2 - 3 years.

That sounds right. My Gold Nugget went in the ground in 2011, bloomed last year and lost all of them. This year it has many fruit from 5" and down. I put a 3 gal Bangkok lemon in last fall and It's doing real well, I hope I see fruit in 4 years.

[Sleepdoc]

Grafted Excalibur Jack planted April 2012 - fruiting now for the first time.  Excalibur red seedling planted at the same time, in a less prime location but a bigger tree is not yet fruiting. 

[cbss_daviefl]

I found this today.  The tree is a seedling I planted 8/31/13 as a 1 gal.  It is about 10 ft tall now.  The fruit is actually 6 ft up in the tree and I never look that high for females when I check my trees.  I do not know the variety that the seed came from.  I bought the fruit in Feb 2013 from Robert is Here.  My guess would be J31 based on the flavor and shape of the bulbs, long and thick walled with pointed tips.

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

In two to three years. I planted a 3-gallon  Bangkok Lemon that I got from Excalibur in March 2013. It has its first two fruits on it now, small but growing nicely. I do not know if all varieties are precocious.

Post pictures, please.  Less than two years is really fast.  Normally it would be 3 - 4 years from a 3 gal.  Seedling can actually be known to fruit sooner thsn a grafted tree.

[Sleepdoc]

2 years from seed.  Awesome !

[Coconut]

I found this today.  The tree is a seedling I planted 8/31/13 as a 1 gal.  It is about 10 ft tall now.  The fruit is actually 6 ft up in the tree and I never look that high for females when I check my trees.  I do not know the variety that the seed came from.  I bought the fruit in Feb 2013 from Robert is Here.  My guess would be J31 based on the flavor and shape of the bulbs, long and thick walled with pointed tips.

How soon after planting a 3-7gal jack in South FL can you expect to have fruit? 4-5 yrs? I don't mean to sound impatient. Honest.

In two to three years. I planted a 3-gallon  Bangkok Lemon that I got from Excalibur in March 2013. It has its first two fruits on it now, small but growing nicely. I do not know if all varieties are precocious.

Post pictures, please.  Less than two years is really fast.  Normally it would be 3 - 4 years from a 3 gal.  Seedling can actually be known to fruit sooner thsn a grafted tree.

Hmmmm a two years to fruit from seed bloodline how interesting!!  What you went to a Tourist trap and discover a nice thoroughbred; congratulation!🐎 Hopefully that fruit will be fertile and you can repeat the next generation to see if it will be A stable 2 years from seed line for breeding purposes!  Keep us  post on the CBSS Robert is not there Jackfruittree line!  Now you think you can find a two years to fruit from seed purple mangosteen, Dorgon it!😂😂  Seadation came last week to pickup Orange Snob Jack seedling for Clint Breeding and I show Ron my prize, An Orange Snob yearling that start sending male flowers, a twig pencil thickness at four feet only so I snip every flowers so your Story is absolutely beleivable!  😆😆👍👍👍



Finding a short breeding cycle line will increase your breeding Immortality! However fast breeding line suck when Hurricane come, so grow a dwarf coconut next to it to act as wind break! Have Fun with your discovery & update us on some exciting fruit Porn!😎

[Das Bhut]

update on that R55-22, tree is about 20 feet tall and put out one fruit this year but something killed it when it was still small

[Rex Begonias]

Any word on the PIN varieties?  I’ve seen some feedback now on orange crush, what about Tangerine?