Jackfruit variety for container, minimum size, growth rate etc

[LostBoy_Dani]

Hello! Does anyone know what jackfruit variety (or varieties) would be the most suitable for container growing, at least for short term (1-2 years)? And the minimum container size that may work?

I am unsure of how fast they would outgrow their pots, but I have also heard transplanting them may be difficult. Does anyone have advice on transplanting them to larger pots, and eventually into the ground? I don’t currently have in-ground space but plan on moving hopefully in a couple years to a place with more land.

[brian]

The jackfruit trees (and other artocarpus) I had growing in containers seemed moderately healthy but sometimes struggled.   The ones I put in the ground in my greenhouse took off and are super healthy.  Might be my soil mix, or might be they don't do well in containers. 

In ground I have grafted "golden nugget" jackfruit that is constantly hitting the greenhouse ceiling ~12ft up and I have to prune it often, yet it still hasn't flowered yet.  Trunk is ~4in diameter.  I expected it would have flowered starting at least a year ago but who knows.  At this point I wonder if a seed grown one would have flowered already. 

It seems unlikely to me jackfruit could be grown in a reasonably sized container to fruiting size, but maybe there are some smaller types.


To actually answer your questions... I don't know what the isssue with transplanting them would be.  They seem fine up-potting and then going in ground.   They probably need up-potting twice yearly, I think the largest ones I have will be in ~15gal this year.  When in ground they seem to grow very fast, like 6ft in a year

[LostBoy_Dani]

Wow, I always thought gold nugget would be smaller and be more suitable for containers, I guess even ones with small fruit are too large?

For transplanting, I heard they have a delicate and deep tap root that breaks easily, but that's just what I've heard online.

I'm not sure my current yard has the space (HOA is a pain too, but maybe they'd never find out if no one reports), I've heard they have large and invasive roots that makes sense! So maybe wouldn't be wise to try and grow in my yard where it may still hit the neighbors fence if I planted far enough from my own home...

I do have some seeds I've sprouted, but not sure they could take the winters here, it's mild but still can be in the low 40s at night pretty consistently in the winter...

[brian]

I'm not sure about cold hardiness as I have mine in a greenhouse.  I remember that the excess jackfruit seedlings I left outside to die last winter lived through a couple freezes before succumbing.

[LostBoy_Dani]

Okay, thank you so much for the info! That's comforting, it rarely ever hits freezing where I am so maybe I can try it out and just see - there is a grocery store that has Jackfruit I get to eat (no idea the variety, also probably picked unripe) so I have seeds readily available to experiment with 🤞🏽

[brian]

Okay, thank you so much for the info! That's comforting, it rarely ever hits freezing where I am so maybe I can try it out and just see - there is a grocery store that has Jackfruit I get to eat (no idea the variety, also probably picked unripe) so I have seeds readily available to experiment with 🤞🏽

Ripe jackfruit seeds sprout very readily, so you should have good success (if they were picked ripe enough)

[LostBoy_Dani]

Okay, thank you so much for the info! That's comforting, it rarely ever hits freezing where I am so maybe I can try it out and just see - there is a grocery store that has Jackfruit I get to eat (no idea the variety, also probably picked unripe) so I have seeds readily available to experiment with 🤞🏽

Ripe jackfruit seeds sprout very readily, so you should have good success (if they were picked ripe enough)

Oh yeah I've had a lot of success sprouting grocery store jackfruit seeds so far! I've got around 15 seedlings right now I think. Now to just hope one survives the next steps!