Increasing Grafted Jackfruit Vigor

[Galatians522]

Like a number of other people on this forum, I have observed that Jackfruit trees seem to be stunted by grafting. The only exception I ever observed to this was at the home of the late Wayne Clifton. He had a 2yr old grafted Jackfruit that was growing as well as any seedling. Being somewhat shocked by this, I asked him how he did it. He showed me that the tree had a double rootstock. Apparently, he had approach grafted a second rootstock to the tree shortly after it was planted and in doing so restored the tree's vigor. Has anyone else ever seen something like this? Is it really just that easy, or did I miss something?

[simon_grow]

Check this out
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=109.0

Simon

[Galatians522]

Thank you Simon! As always you are a wealth of information. I read through that entire thread and learned a lot. The youtube clip done by Sulcata Groves ("geosulcata") on page 5 of the link you posted is an excellent description/resource.

[Saone]

By stunted growth do you mean for the first few years or for the life of the tree? And after a few years dont you want a more stunted Jackfruit tree? I am trying to keep my trees like 4 or 5 meters high. I have some that are like 20 or 30 meters and half the fruit or more is in accessible

Edit: Also one other thing I would mention, not sure if it has been tried or talked about on this forum, but there is a guy in Vietnam working with Vetiver grass and he has tried with several different fruit trees, guava, jack fruit and a few others, planting vetiver like 5 cm from the base of the plant when he plants it. The vetiver roots grow super deep and the theory is that the fruit tree uses the deep roots of the vetiver to go deeper. Here are a picture.


There is a user on this forum called Tho Ngo and he has several photos of vetiver companion planted besides a fruit tree, and then a photo take one year after and the fruit trees that have vetiver grass planted besides them are all much bigger than without. Here is a link to one such thread. https://www.facebook.com/groups/vetivernetwork/permalink/10158382660487760

[Galatians522]

By stunted growth do you mean for the first few years or for the life of the tree? And after a few years dont you want a more stunted Jackfruit tree? I am trying to keep my trees like 4 or 5 meters high. I have some that are like 20 or 30 meters and half the fruit or more is in accessible

Edit: Also one other thing I would mention, not sure if it has been tried or talked about on this forum, but there is a guy in Vietnam working with Vetiver grass and he has tried with several different fruit trees, guava, jack fruit and a few others, planting vetiver like 5 cm from the base of the plant when he plants it. The vetiver roots grow super deep and the theory is that the fruit tree uses the deep roots of the vetiver to go deeper. Here are a picture.


There is a user on this forum called Tho Ngo and he has several photos of vetiver companion planted besides a fruit tree, and then a photo take one year after and the fruit trees that have vetiver grass planted besides them are all much bigger than without. Here is a link to one such thread. https://www.facebook.com/groups/vetivernetwork/permalink/10158382660487760

I have only observed the first few years of life, so I don't know for sure what the long term results are. I know that grafting reduces the total height of citrus significantly and I can't see why Jackfruit would be different. Citrus still grows vigorously when grafted, though. That is interesting about the grass. I will have to read about that.

[cbss_daviefl]

I have seen grafted trees with growth rates at both ends of the spectrum, 6 years after planting and still 3 feet tall and trees that grow from 3 feet to over 10 feet in a year.  My opinion is that increased vigor is not desirable. A grafted tree grown in South Florida will get to 15 feet tall in 3 to 4 years.  The trees that I have grown with excess vigor are not able to withstand strong winds and easily break. A grafted tree with a single rootstock will get way taller than I would ever want.  I have read scientific studies testing alternate rootstocks with the goal of reducing vigor. Under my conditions, if I let the tree hold all the fruit it sets, this will reduce vigor and cause limb dieback when fruit sets on smaller branches.

[shot]

I've done this on jaks and numerous other fruit trees taking info from old time citrus industries techniques and applying it to tropical fruit.30 years of use and data,no down side to this technique at all.Helps subvert pest (nematodes) and pathogens also holds up to wind flipping.This is where Wayne and Craig observed this technique when working for the state ag agency and visiting my grove.This has been done to hundreds of tropical fruit trees in my grove.Seems to be working well for cempedak using extra jak roots to boost their growth dramatically and even keledang.Or how about this technique to help grow lychee in poor soil,done!The uses are endless and open doors to tremendous possibilities.

                                     experiment it adds joy your endeavors!

[brian]

my grafted 'Golden Nugget' jackfruit is the most vigorous tree I have.  It grew from a foot tall to ten foot tall in a year or so. 

[shot]

In Florida if a jak is not a genetic runt or has circling roots then pest (nematodes) and pathogens are most likely culprit.This this leads to symptoms of wilting or loss of vigor,induction of nutrient deficiency and secondary infections(pathogens).
 In the Philippines phytophthora fungus is #1 problem in Jaks

[Mike T]

Gold nuggets can be really big trees and they grow fast. Reducing size an vigour is one of the main reasons for grafting. They often just sit there doing very little for a long time and then suddenly spring into action and grow fast.

[Galatians522]

I've done this on jaks and numerous other fruit trees taking info from old time citrus industries techniques and applying it to tropical fruit.30 years of use and data,no down side to this technique at all.Helps subvert pest (nematodes) and pathogens also holds up to wind flipping.This is where Wayne and Craig observed this technique when working for the state ag agency and visiting my grove.This has been done to hundreds of tropical fruit trees in my grove.Seems to be working well for cempedak using extra jak roots to boost their growth dramatically and even keledang.Or how about this technique to help grow lychee in poor soil,done!The uses are endless and open doors to tremendous possibilities.

                                     experiment it adds joy your endeavors!

Thank you for showing the technique to Wayne. It was quite the eye opener when I saw it. I would be very interested to hear about your experiments with this on lychee some time.

[Galatians522]

I have seen grafted trees with growth rates at both ends of the spectrum, 6 years after planting and still 3 feet tall and trees that grow from 3 feet to over 10 feet in a year.  My opinion is that increased vigor is not desirable. A grafted tree grown in South Florida will get to 15 feet tall in 3 to 4 years.  The trees that I have grown with excess vigor are not able to withstand strong winds and easily break. A grafted tree with a single rootstock will get way taller than I would ever want.  I have read scientific studies testing alternate rootstocks with the goal of reducing vigor. Under my conditions, if I let the tree hold all the fruit it sets, this will reduce vigor and cause limb dieback when fruit sets on smaller branches.

You make a good point. I wonder if it would be possible to grow a tree quickly to the desired height with multiple rootstocks and then stunt it by pruning out some of the approach grafts. It would be sort of a built in root pruning.