How to Grow and Care for Jackfruit Trees

The jackfruit tree is a large, tropical evergreen tree native to India in the mulberry family with huge, pineapple-banana-tasting edible fruit. It has a relatively fast growth rate, and new trees can produce fruit within three years. It’s best planted in the spring.

The tree trunk grows relatively straight and has reddish-brown bark, extensive large branches, and glossy green 8-inch leaves. The tree produces showy green flowers mainly in the fall, though it can bloom sporadically at other points in the year.

Its yellow-green, kidney bean-shaped fruits are notoriously gigantic, averaging between 10 and 40 pounds, maturing on the tree in midsummer. Some fruits have grown to 80 pounds and up.

How to Plant Jackfruit Trees

When to Plant

The ideal time to plant a jackfruit tree is in the spring or early summer.

Selecting a Planting Site

Jackfruit requires a warm and humid climate, full sun, temperatures between 70 and 90 degrees, and high humidity. They prefer well-drained soil with a pH of between 6 and 7.

Choose your site well and stick with it. Jackfruit trees generally don't take well to being transplanted if you ever need to move them to a more suitable planting site.

Spacing, Depth, and Support

If choosing a young nursery tree, get one without any signs of disease or distress and aim to find a nursery tree without roots yet outgrown from its container. If a young tree's roots have been cramped, they might never grow normally.

Plant the nursery sapling in a hole two feet deep by two feet wide. Mound up the soil around the stem. Jackfruit trees must be spaced at least 20 to 30 feet from other plants, structures, or power lines.

Jackfruit Tree Care

Jackfruit trees are fairly easy to care for in the appropriate climate. They require ample light and warmth.

Light

This tree needs full sunlight to grow well and produce fruit. That means it should get at least six hours of direct sun on most days.A tree grown in conditions that are too shady might never bear fruit.

Soil

Jackfruit trees prefer nutrient-rich soil with excellent drainage. They are not overly picky about soil pH, though they grow best in slightly acidic soil. Keeping the soil moist is key, especially for young trees as they establish their roots.

Water

As tropical plants, jackfruit trees like consistently moist soil year-round. Water them whenever your soil begins to dry out due to a lack of rainfall or extreme heat. However, be sure the tree roots aren't sitting in pooling water. This can inhibit fruit production and ultimately kill the tree.

Mulch around the tree can help suppress weeds and retain soil moisture. Plus, it can keep the roots warm if the temperatures dip.

Temperature and Humidity

These trees like warm temperatures and are very heat tolerant. However, they are quite sensitive to frost (especially young trees), and temperatures below 35 degrees can easily weaken or kill them. Jackfruit trees prefer humid conditions and don’t tend to thrive in dry climates.

Fertilizer

Fertilize jackfruit trees twice yearly in the spring and fall with a slow-release granular fertilizer, following product label directions. Mixing compost into the soil around the tree can also be beneficial annually.

Pollination

Jackfruit trees are monoecious, having male and female flowers on the tree. The tree is insect- and wind-pollinated.

Types of Jackfruit Trees

There are several varieties of jackfruit available, including:

• ‘Black Gold’: This variety produces a high yield of medium-sized fruits.
• ‘Gold Nugget’: This type bears a high yield of relatively small fruits.
• ‘Dang Rasimi’: This tree produces a very high yield of medium to large fruits.
• ‘Kun Wi Chan’: The tree is very vigorous and bears a high yield of large fruits.
• ‘Lemon Gold’: It produces an average yield of small to medium fruits.

Jackfruit vs. Durian

Jackfruit is often confused for durian (Durio zibethinus) in the mallow family. However, the only similarities between jackfruit and durian are that they hail from Asia and are banned by some airlines or hotels for their odor.

Usually, jackfruit has a bubble gum smell; however, to some, it smells like rotting onions. Durian always has a foul smell (and many argue, flavor), often compared to raw sewage, rotting garbage, and sweaty socks.

Jackfruit is beloved for its pineapple-banana flavor, while durian has a pungent smell to get past before getting to its sweet custardy flesh. Jackfruit can get up to 80 pounds and is one of the most enormous fruits in the world, with bumpy skin. Durian is considerably smaller, getting up to 7 pounds on the hefty end, and has spiky skin.

Harvesting Jackfruit

The fruit turns from green to yellowish-green when it is ready for harvesting. Simply cut it off by its stem with loppers.

When ripe, it has a fibrous texture similar to mango or pineapple. When eaten unripe, green jackfruit has more of a bland taste and is often used as a vegan meat substitute. Its edible seeds have a flavor similar to macadamia or Brazil nuts and can be boiled or roasted.

Leave jackfruit on the counter to ripen. When ripe, it should be slightly softer to the touch. Once cut open, refrigerate it for up to seven days or freeze it for up to two months.

Pruning

Young jackfruit trees don't need much pruning except for removing diseased, damaged, or dead portions. You can keep mature trees at a manageable height for harvesting fruit by annually pruning off select upright branches. This will encourage more lateral growth rather than vertical growth.

Remove old branches throughout the tree to improve airflow and ensure that sunlight can hit all parts of the tree. Don't remove more than a third of the overall branches. Wait until after your fruit harvest to prune the tree.

Regularly weed around your jackfruit tree to prevent other plants from competing for nutrients and moisture in the soil.

Propagating Jackfruit Trees

Jackfruit trees are usually propagated by grafting, sowing seeds, and, less commonly, stem cutting.

Grafting

Select healthy, vigorously growing rootstock seedlings. The types of grafting that work with jackfruit trees include chip budding, side veneer grafting, cleft grafting, and approach grafting. Side veneer grafting is the most common. Here's how:

1. Select scions or bud sticks from healthy growth in summer or fall. Cut bud sticks 4 to 6 inches long from the shoot tips.
2. Remove all the leaves.
3. You want a swollen terminal bud, which you can get by removing the tip and collecting the scions when buds swell (one to two weeks).
4. Rootstocks should be about a pencil size in diameter. Leave the tip of the terminal bud uncovered when veneer grafting.
5. Keep grafted trees in a humid environment or keep the soil moist and cover the graft with a plastic bag and place it in the shade.

Stem Cutting

Stem cutting is less successful, but rooting success is possible when combined with rooting hormone.

1. Cut semi-hardwood cuttings with three leaves at the tip.
2. Dip the cut end in rooting hormone and plant in a moist potting mixture.
3. Place the cutting in an indirectly bright spot.
4. The cutting should root within 60 to 70 days.

How to Grow Jackfruit Trees From Seed

Jackfruit is commonly grown from seeds; although the seeds you use need to be fresh, it is best to plant them within one month of harvesting.

1. To start your seeds, soak them overnight in water.
2. Plant the seeds one inch deep in moistened soil in a warm sunny spot.
3. It takes anywhere from three to eight weeks for jackfruit seeds to germinate.
4. You can start the seedlings in the ground or indoors. Transplant a jackfruit seedling when it has four leaves; after that, its roots become too challenging to transplant safely.
   

Common Plant Diseases

The jackfruit tree has few serious problems with pests or diseases, although wildlife are attracted to its fruit.

A common fungal infection that may strike jackfruit is Rhizopus rot. This disease is more likely to occur in high-rainfall areas or during and after stormy periods during a warm, humid flowering and fruiting season. If affected, it can cause the tree to lose all its fruit that season.

To prevent it from spreading, make sure the fruit skin remains intact. The fungus infects the fruit through a break in the skin. Refrigeration also kills fungal spores, containing the spread.

Common Problems

Jackfruit trees are fairly easy-going when planted in the proper conditions. Keep an eye out for root rot and potential limb decline from heavy fruit.

Root Rot

While jackfruit trees appreciate consistent watering, they do not like to sit in soggy soil. Over-watering or excess moisture from flooding can lead to root rot. Plant in well-draining soil and be mindful not to overwater during times of heavy precipitation.

Limb Decline

Excessive amounts of fruit on tree limbs can lead to decline and to stunted growth. Thinning the growing fruits so that there is only one fruit per young tree or one fruit per mature limb can prevent limb decline and increase the quality of fruit.

From: thespruce