Concerning Jackfruit

[JoeP450]

I know, I know this is totally sad/lame but two days ago in line at target I actually bought a pack of juicy fruit bubble gum to see if I could get somewhat of a jackfruit taste... Does anyone have any jackfruit left on their trees and would be willing to share some?

Also, I saw on excalibur's website: http://excaliburfruittrees.com/fruits.html , under jackfruit variety's; two new cultivar's that are coming soon "excalibur gold" and "excalibur red" anyone know any gossip on these?!?!

_JoeP450

[bsbullie]

I know, I know this is totally sad/lame but two days ago in line at target I actually bought a pack of juicy fruit bubble gum to see if I could get somewhat of a jackfruit taste... Does anyone have any jackfruit left on their trees and would be willing to share some?

Also, I saw on excalibur's website: http://excaliburfruittrees.com/fruits.html , under jackfruit variety's; two new cultivar's that are coming soon "excalibur gold" and "excalibur red" anyone know any gossip on these?!?!

_JoeP450

A lot of people liked the Excalibur Gold.  It is a crunchy type, moderately sweet jak.  From what I saw, it seemed to be a late season jak (at least in 2011 it was).  While it was very good, I would still pick a Mai 1, Mai 3 or Bangkok Lemon for a "yellow" fleshed variety.

Excalibur Red, now you are talking about an outstanding jak.  Crunchy and very sweet.  Will rival or beat the best of the following crunchy varieties: Bangkok Lemon, Mai 1, Mai 3, Red Morning, and a couple others I sampled last year.

I am not going to even compare these to the soft/slimy/chewy type jaks as while some may have very good flavor, texture is just off putting to me.  Again, as always, tastes and textures are subjective.

Note - this is purely from a taste standpoint.  Since I have only seen the trees this fall, I will reserve judgment on the tree's growth and fruiting habits (especially with grafted versions).

[mangomandan]

Thanks for the heads-up, Rob.

I wonder how soon we'll need to start camping out along Fearnley Road to get first dibs. 

[Jsvand5]

Is excalibur actually grafting the "Excalibur Red"? I might try one, but with Excalibur I am always a little concerned with whether I am getting a tree that was grafted from the actual cultivar, or one that was from a seedling that tastes similar. When I bought my bangkok lemon years ago I had to search through a bunch of seedlings that were labeled as bangkok lemons before I found one rough looking grafted one that I bought.

[murahilin]

Is excalibur actually grafting the "Excalibur Red"? I might try one, but with Excalibur I am always a little concerned with whether I am getting a tree that was grafted from the actual cultivar, or one that was from a seedling that tastes similar. When I bought my bangkok lemon years ago I had to search through a bunch of seedlings that were labeled as bangkok lemons before I found one rough looking grafted one that I bought.

They are back to grafting all of their jackfruits. No more of the seedling issues. The grafts all seem to be approach grafts though. Jeff has had pretty good success with regular cleft grafts and it allows for a much lower graft. I try to remember suggesting that to them next time I am there. With a jackfruit, having a high graft can be a very bad thing because the rootstock will have space to put out its own fruit. Here is a pic of one that is fruiting from the rootstock:

[HMHausman]

With a jackfruit, having a high graft can be a very bad thing because the rootstock will have space to put out its own fruit. Here is a pic of one that is fruiting from the rootstock:

You call that a bad thing? I think it is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.  Is that picture from Excalibur?  And how large are the fruits.  They looks very small but it may be a perspective issue.

Harry

[Jsvand5]

That is pretty cool I think. Would be kind of nice to get two different types from the same tree. My Bangkok lemon was a cleft but it is grafted about 16" up on the trunk so I would not be surprised if I get a rootstock fruit eventually. I actually can't find the graft line on mine anymore but it was somewhat clear back when I first bought the tree. Mine put out a few flowers last summer so I am hoping it will hold a fruit this season.

I grafted a few a couple years ago. I did clefts and got about 50% takes. I would like to try some more but I am out of seedlings. I might grab a few seeds this summer to give it a try again. The thing that helped me was that the rootstock was pushing a lot of growth and I kept them in a covered porch so no water could get into the graft when it rained. They seem to turn to mush pretty quick if any water gets to the graft. I also seemed to have better luck from the grafts that I did a little higher up and left some leaves on the rootstock.

[murahilin]

You call that a bad thing? I think it is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.  Is that picture from Excalibur?  And how large are the fruits.  They looks very small but it may be a perspective issue.

Harry

I guess it could be bad depending if you want only one specific cultivar and the rootstock cultivar is a soft flesh typed or something no good. It looks cool though.

Yup the picture is from Excalibur. I think I took it over 2 years now so I can't remember how large the fruit were or how large they eventually got, but to put it in perspective that is a 100g container I think. I will go check to see if that tree is still there this weekend and if it has any fruits or flowers or anything now.

[bsbullie]

You call that a bad thing? I think it is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time.  Is that picture from Excalibur?  And how large are the fruits.  They looks very small but it may be a perspective issue.

Harry

I guess it could be bad depending if you want only one specific cultivar and the rootstock cultivar is a soft flesh typed or something no good. It looks cool though.

Yup the picture is from Excalibur. I think I took it over 2 years now so I can't remember how large the fruit were or how large they eventually got, but to put it in perspective that is a 100g container I think. I will go check to see if that tree is still there this weekend and if it has any fruits or flowers or anything now.

I have seen a few jaks at Excalibur fruiting above and below the graft.  I see both Harrys and murahilins side of the story however I am in Harry's boat here.  Not only does it give "unexpected" fruits but there is the chance that those rootstock fruits could be excellent and POSSIBLY lead to something new.

[bsbullie]

Is excalibur actually grafting the "Excalibur Red"? I might try one, but with Excalibur I am always a little concerned with whether I am getting a tree that was grafted from the actual cultivar, or one that was from a seedling that tastes similar. When I bought my bangkok lemon years ago I had to search through a bunch of seedlings that were labeled as bangkok lemons before I found one rough looking grafted one that I bought.

The plans for both Excalibur varieties is that they are growing the seeds from the fruit for the rootstock and then grafting the scions from the same "variety" onto its rootstock.  In short, both the rootstock and scions are the same.

[JoeP450]

Good to hear everyone's feedback on this. I have decided that due to space limitations I'm going to limit my collection to just three jackfruit and plant 1 yellow, 1 orange, and 1 red fleshed varieties to showcase the differences in color mainly as well as flavor, texture and latex content ect. So far I have yellow-bangkok lemon, orange-Mai 3, and as for the red- I have honestly yet to taste a red fleshed cultivar. My avatar is actually a Mai 3......tastes so goooood!

I have red about "zima pink" and "borneo red" and the coming attraction "excalibur red" does anyone care to comment on these culitivars profiles or any other red fleshed varieties?

_JoeP450

[mangomandan]

Joe,  would you consider MIA 3 a vigorous grower?  Is the fruit more toward crisp or toward soft?

[Patrick]

Im growing a grafted Mai-2, has anyone had experience with Mai-2?? Texture, color.... Size??

[JoeP450]

The flesh of the Mai 3 is crisp and has good flavor....but the most interesting thing about the fruit, is that it virtually has no latex. The fruit pictured in my avatar I cleaned without any oil and my blade needed minimal cleaning. I am growing a seedling Mai 3 that is about 3 feet tall now in a 3 gallon container.

Rob (bsbullie) has also verified this phenomenon of low latex in the Mai series as he is growing/tasted them.  It makes it so much easier to enjoy the fruit with least amount of hassle. This was discussed in an old garden web forum.

The person with probably the most knowledge on this subject would be the pioneer himself Richard at excalibur, If my memory serves me correctly it was Richard that selected the Mai varieties from seedlings that an asian farmer was growing....blah, blah basically give Richard a call at http://excaliburfruittrees.com/

I usually use the university of FL for a source of information especially this link for jackfruit, http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg370 and if you notice none of the Mai series is listed which tells me there probably is not a lot of information floating around out there as far as vigorous growth habits average flesh/seed ratio, size of fruit ect..

Here is a Mai 3 jackfruit:







As you can see after cutting the fruit completely in half there is a very small amount of latex beads on the rag.

_JoeP450