Happy Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

Greenhouse Plants Update

Woahoooo two blog posts in one day?  That's right, but I cheated and my first when was written earlier and just scheduled for today.  If you follow my blog, you already know that I left some plants in the local university greenhouses for the winter.  I visited them today and noticed that they haven't grown much since the last visit.  I ended up potting them all up but took a few photos first.

Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) - Now I thought I had F. religiosa but the seedlings look identical so I didn't take a photo and think they're just also Banyan.  There is however, something strange in these seedlings.  Notice how the back left pot has red in the stems and 'frilly' leaves with a different shape?  The pot on the right has a seedling with the same shape of leaves but minus the red and 'frill'.  Any idea what's going on here?  The round leaves seem correct for Ficus benghalensis, see here.  The others ones must be different, so can anyone ID them?

Desert Rose (Adenium arabicum) - I see flower buds coming! Hopefully they don't fall off this time. :)

Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) - They are towards the back of the photo. The one on the left is single stemmed but on the right there are 5 stems with a few more coming up! I wonder if this is because the fruit was irradiated? The young passion flowers are up front (Passiflora edulis).

Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa) - these haven't grown at all.  They must desperately need to be repotted.  I'll mention again these can be invasive in warm clients but are generally fine in zones 7/8. They should also be hardy in USDA zone 6 (my zone), but I'll keep these ones in the greenhouse for their first year.

That's all. I hope you enjoyed my seedlings! :)

Jackfruit Update (Artocarpus herterophyllus)

Just a quick update about my Jackfruit seedlings. They're growing well and seem relatively healthy. I have noticed a little visual damage to some of the leaves that may be the result of insects. The plants don't seem to be negatively affected, at least not yet.

These seeds came from irradiated, refrigerated fruit and the seed leaves were actually damaged (they ended up rotting). I figure the seed on the left was damaged more, as is evident from the multiple stems which usually happens after damage to the main stem. I don't ever expect to get fruit from these, but they'll be nice plants nonetheless. How many people living in Canada have their own Jackfruit trees?

Jackfruit Seedlings (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

It took an extremely long time, but I now have two healthy young jackfruit seedlings growing! As far as I can tell it took longer than expected because the original seed leaves were damaged during irradiation and refridgeration of the fruit.

I'm thinking the plant on yhe left suffered even more damage. It sent up a bare stem with no leaves whatsoever. At least I've ended up with an odd bushy seedling that probably wouldn't have existed otherwise.

These are the only seeds I've successfully sprouted from irradiated fruit. The papaya sprouted but stop growing and eventually withered.

Jackfruit Sprouting (Artocarpus heterophyllus)

One of my jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) seeds is sprouting! It was collected from irradiated fruit and soaked for about 24 hours before planting. Allegedly they germinate quickly, but this one took well over a month. Another seems to be putting up a stem, so hopefully I'll end up with two!