Let's Talk...Che

Che in zone 5? Anyone else?

zone 6 close enough?

I just put it in last year. I will say the stems look dry and ick, but when I scratch they are green underneath. Still waiting for new growth of any sort, though.

~Chills

Chills, Mine still hsn't leafed out yet. It was late last year as well.

Che is very late here. Mine is just starting to leaf out, along with the jujubes. Everything else is leafed out to some degree. This spring has been odd, there was a huge delay in the mid-April freeze but now the plants seem to be trying hard to catch up.

Scott

LAst night I went out and checked on the Che and it has now started to swell its buds. This puts it ahead of its partner, a Ichi-Ke-Kei Jiro Persimmon that is still green when I scratch, but hasn't shown any signs of progress....I have heard that Persimmon are slow to emerge from dormancy I'm just going to chalk it up to that.

Anyone gotten any fruit on their Che? If so how long did you wait from planting to fruiting? I've heard it is a very early producing plant, I'm just wondering if anyone's experience has borne this out.

~Chills

I bought one last year from Edible Landscaping in Virginia, a supposedly self-fruitful variety, seedless, grafted onto osage-orange rootstock to prevent suckering. Still small. Leafed out rather late for here, now fully in leaf. Still in a pot, need to plant it the ground, maybe take some cuttings.

Mark., don't really know much about it

Chills & gooley, I too got mine from Edible Landscaping, listed as self fruitful. Last year was its second year, I think and it fruited. There were only 6 fruits, and all dropped off before ripening except 1. That one was my first Che fruit, and I was glad that I had gotten the plant. I am very much looking forward to more. The ripe fruit was picked the day before a hard frost in October. They appear to ripen very late in zone 5.

What is Che?

Cudrania Tricuspidata....a relative of the mulberry and figs. It produces a fruit that is supposedly a fairly good composite of the two fruits to which it is related.

Mine is from Edible Landscaping as well. I did look at other places (Hidden Springs and Just fruits and exotics) but EL has the only self-fertile variety and I didnt want to have to plant two (most likely the reason everyone else chose EL as well).

~Chills

Chills, my understanding is there is no such thing as a self-fertile variety. Apparently the females will set seedless fruit without a male around (there is a name for that - parthenocopic?). Supposedly it takes longer to get fruit without a male, because when the tree is young it will all drop if there is no pollinator. Only older trees will hold on to their seedless fruit. I think the Just Fruits and Exotics website is where I got this info from. I had a male and female from Hidden Springs but my male died and I decided not to replace it.

Scott

Edible Landscaping claims to have a self-fertile variety. It is listed in the fruit and nut inventory from 2001 as a unique cultivar (but it wouldn't be the first mistake I've found in there).

Lee Reich makes a comment about Che possibly being parthenocopic (?) due to the fact that the fruit must be plucked from the branches, but he and now you are the only two places I've seen it described as being so. I'll admit to being ignorant enough about the subject to not have an opinion either way.

~Chills

My che was dead. I ordered replacements. Updates from anybody else?

Mine leafed out around the second week of May. It has put on a little new growth, but the plant overall is still spindly, top heavy and needs to be supported to stand straight.

It has a poorly placed branch, low, that I will likely be pruning and trying to root. (I'll wait til my traveling is over before I attempt to do so, though).

~Chills

Chills,
Good luck with the cutting. I'm glad yours made it thru the winter. I replaced mine with two more, which will be coddled next winter. I'm going to keep one in a large pot and try overwintering in cool spot in the house. The other will get lots of protection outside in a good spot.

I don't know if it made a difference, but I did put a tubex tube around my Che after the plant had gone dormant last autumn. Additionally the winter was quite mild with the exception of that Easter freeze.

If you use a tree tube, be warned they can interfere with a plant properly going dormant. I've lost inches on a number of plants due to uneven dormancy and winter temperatures.

~Chills