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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Richard M.'s previous missive on Che

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  • From: Lee Reich <lreich@hvc.rr.com>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Richard M.'s previous missive on Che
  • Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:18:35 -0400

I did put a chapter on Che in my book update, now called Uncommon Fruits for
Every Garden, which was published by Timber Press in 2004.

I've grown che for a few years, but grow it in a pot that I can overwinter
indoors. I am in the colder part of Zone 5 in NY and don't think the plant
would survive winter cold here. I have ripened the fruit and, to me, it
tastes sort of like a combination of fig and mulberry. I have a male and a
female, but am still not sure of the pollination needs.

Lee Reich, PhD
http://www.leereich.com/
http://leereich.com/blog.html.

Books by Lee Reich:
A Northeast Gardener's Year
The Pruning Book
Weedless Gardening
Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden
Landscaping with Fruit






On Mar 11, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Dr. Lucky Pittman wrote:

> From November 1999:
>
> We have had Che fruit in for 7 years. Putin both a male and female plant.
> Survived 14 below several winters ago. Blooms after frost; has not frozen
> out in five or so years (am away from my notes), unlike our mulberry. No
> observed disease or insect problems. Birds are a problem, have netted the
> female. Disease and insect resistance similar here to mulberry and fig,
> which are in same family (Moraceae).
>
> Pollination is the adventure with this plant:
> The male sets fruit but most of these fall off; a few of them will ripen and
> be identical to female fruit. Male died to ground two winters ago; the
> female still set a full crop of seedless fruit. The male grew back last
> year, bloomed thisyear and acted like a female by setting the largest crop
> of ripening fruit yet. (It may be in the process of some type of
> conversion; time will tell.) Some debate has gone on for the need of a male
> pollinator. I'm not sure that I had any less fruit without the male two
> years ago. Our plants are on the far side of the field and hence do not
> merit close observation; my kids eat most of the fruit with the birds.
>
> Both our plants are grafted onto Osage Orange. Hence, if you know how Osage
> Orange does on yours or similar land, this should suffice for your site.
> A.J. Bullard let a single stem go up to 8-9 ft, and cuts all others off, he
> has a nice form as the result. A number of our limbs on our bush are on the
> ground.
>
> Hidden Springs grafts theirs onto Osage Orange if I recall correctly; they
> do not grow seedling trees of Che. If you mean they graft an unnamed
> "seedling", they then are no different from any other nursery, to my
> knowledge. Don't know of anyone who has selected and named superior
> cultivars from the wild (somewhere in China?) My impression of the one
> nursery that sells a seedless selection is that this if merely a female. My
> sample size is too small to determine the value of two for pollination vs.
> one female.
>
> We are at 1800' zone 6, we rarely get into the 90s; we are on the borderline
> for enough heat to ripen Che fruit. In a cool summer, defoliation in fall
> will occur before last of fruit is ripe.
>
> Ripe fruit has a strawberry color, knotty exterior like Osage Orange, tastes
> a bit like pear and fig to us; sweet but not overly so. Strange in that
> slightly unripe fruit leaves a metallic taste in my mouth.
>
> In summary, an overlooked minor fruit. Well worth the effort to put in as a
> carefree, dependable producer in our area. The Blacks at Hidden Springs
> have made a jam with them. Lee Reich plans to include a chapter on this
> plant in his second edition of 'Uncommon Fruits Worthy of Attention'.
>
> Richard Moyer
> East Tenn
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Mark Blossom"
> Subject: [nafex] Chinese Che
>
> From: Mark Blossom >
>
> Hello,
>
> I am looking for information about Chinese Che fruit tree (Cudrania
> tricuspidata).
>
> Does anyone have experience on this fruit, or knowledge of it, or know of
> sources for trees (other than Hidden Spring, who have apparently seedling
> trees in their catalog), availability and characteristics of named
> cultivars?
>
> In particular, is it late blooming or resistant to frost on the blossoms,
> and is it tolerant if periodic inundation? These questions are relevant
> to my site, which is river bottom land in the Arkansas Ozarks, zone 6.
> Any disease or insect problems in humid midwestern climate?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Mark Blossom
>
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