Grafting question

[Rsw21282]

Pretty new to fruit trees. Have a good selection but just added an orange crush jackfruit tree. I am curious if I could graft another variety onto it and get crunchy and soft jackfruit? I was told as for mango trees multi-grafting not a good idea(don’t see why but I’m inexperienced enough to take their word for it). I’m also curious if anyone has recommendations for sapodilla variety? Also any suggestions of a good tree I may not know about I’m all ears. Im in south Florida and have had no luck with soursop, avocado, black sapote.

My list:
Mango-coconut cream, m4, Valencia pride, Alphonse, Philippine, choc anon
Sapodilla-alano, butterscotch
Mulberry-tice, Loquat-Gold nugget, banana-blue Java, miracle berry, jackfruit-orange crush, Barbados cherry, strawberry tree.

[Coconut Cream]

I can't sleep so why not answer a few questions? Welcome to the forum 

Since Jackfruit fruits on the trunk and interior part of the branches, multi-grafting presents a technical challenge. It's possible in theory but I've never seen it. You have Orange Crush which is one of the best regarded varieties so I would just roll with that. I actually planted an Orange Crush seedling tree yesterday.

Some people discourage multi-grafting mango, probably due to the challenge in matching the vigor and growth habit of different varieties on one tree. Or maybe they have plenty of land and no good reason to multi-graft. For many of us with no space left, it's the only option to add a new variety. In a worst-case scenario, you can just remove the grafted branches. Mango is well suited to multi-grafting because of the way it fruits at the terminal ends of the branches, and also a forgiving sandbox for experimentation.

My favorite tasting Sapodillas are Hasya & Molix but your Alano and Butterscotch pairing should be delicious.

What else do you need in your food forest? Here are some suggestions, biased toward smaller cultivars where possible:

• Mamey Sapote: Pace, Jamaica, Lorito
• White Sapote: Redlands, Younghans, Campbell
• Canistel: Fairchild #2, Ross Sapote, Trompo
• Jaboticaba: Red Hybrid (fruits quickly and my favorite tasting one)
• Try Avocado again, it's one of the easiest: Brogdon, Simmonds, Nishikawa, Ronnie
• TR Hovey Papaya: beautiful plant, very productive
• Coconut: essential, I've got some wacky ones like Pink and Dwarf Samoan
• Loquat: maybe add another one? Yehuda, Champagne, Sherry
• Black Sapote: Reineke, Matt's Giant
• Annona: Fernandez Custard Apple, Ilama, Painter's Cherilata
• Other Stuff: Grumichama, Lemon Drop Mangosteen, Pigeon Pea, Roselle

[MasOlas]

From a 1st time mango grafter I've got eight varieties on my manila. I tried to keep them all towards the slow/compact growing varieties but Keitt found its way onto the tree. As pointed out above I'm going to try to contain it's growth via pruning and can always remove the branch if it gets unruly. Don't be afraid to experiment and good luck on you quest!

Next up, I'm going to try my luck with Cherimoya and multi-grafting. Just waiting on my seedling from a member who lives a couple miles away.

[Rsw21282]

Thanks for the replies. Super helpful and will likely add a few of your suggestions. I may try the multi variety mango. I have one that’s a seedling given to me that has taken well so good grafting candidate I think. Thanks again.

[Orkine]

Some of my mango trees are not multigrafted, they are the ones I love and want an entire tree dedicated to their production.
A good number are multigrafted, and it is true that if the varieties you graft are poorly selected, your tree may have some problems.

I have a large tree on which I dump everything until I can graft them on their "forever home" tree.  It must have had 20 plus varieties grafted onto it at some time in the past.  Some are fruiting.  Some have died back often because they were shaded by more vigorous varieties.  Most, I was able to graft single or two-variety trees before they got shaded out; others I did not get around to, so I have to find scions of these varieties if I want them in the future.

If you can pair them well, 2 to 3 varieties on a tree is just fine in my opinion.  Five or more, and you are on thin ice in my opinion.

[Coconut Cream]

I stand corrected on jackfruit grafting. In this video, Julian takes you through his jackfruit collection which includes several topworked trees. He even shows the grafts:

https://youtu.be/F_wQsvoeQxU?si=qfHC_TsYPcrvIIj6