Monday, November 08, 2010

Breeding tiny jakfruit

This wheelbarrow tells a long story that has taken more than 6 years to unfold. Manipulating fruit characteristics is not something that happens overnight. Fruit growers need patience. 

Digby  is proudly holding a wheelbarrow full of tiny ripe jakfruit weighing 1-2 kg. Most jakfruit we grow on the farm are big - over 10 kgs and sometimes up to 40 kgs. Six years ago we found a baby jakfruit and decided that this would have much more marketing potential - nobody wants to buy a 40 kg fruit - they will never eat it all. Unless of course you grew up with it in Sri Lanka or Malaysia. We want to be able to sell our jakfruit to our fruit tasters - this is the fruit that we think will work.

Now we are saving the seeds to grow more small trees and as our old jakfruit trees reach senescence, they will be replaced with trees growing tiny jakfruit. Will I live that long? Who knows!

Read more about Jakfruit