It’s not good it’s great! But I had to wait a lot of time to get good fruits. My tree is grafted and i bought from mitakami member of this forum many years ago.
Mine are still young Darrow and Norris. 1st year in ground as as expected all fruits have fallen off still green. I’ll need to wait a few years. But it likes the spot i planted them. Tolerates really well dry and wet spells.
Mine is the seedless che (California Dreaming) from Cliff at Englands Orchard.
What Cliff says about it…
California Dreaming CHE - Larger than most and more productive with upright growth habits, Berries are sweeter does not produce seed, but the fruit is larger if a male is present as all che will produce seed if pollinated.
“Berries are sweeter”… still dreaming.
At least you can try to grow silk worms (it’s pretty fun, believe me ) with Che leaves…that’s how Chinese people use the tree. The Che fruit, forget it if you are not a fan of Chinese medicine.
It is interesting that some like their Che while for others it is probably a fruit not worth growing. I wonder if the cultivar or growing conditions explains the difference.
I am finally harvesting more than a handful of fruit after 5yrs or so. Have 2 varieties grafted on to the same tree but only one holds fruit. I believe it is Norris. I also have a grafted male tree but have not seen it bloom.
I do enjoy the fruit, it has the sweet melony flavor that most people describe. Similar to a good Cantaloupe without the tart component. I also detect the slightest hint of Durian on very ripe fruit!
The fruit is ready to pick when it turns a darker shade of red. At this stage they are slightly softer but still firmly attached to the tree. It may leak a little latex from the stem when picking
but none in the fruit. Fruit fallen on the ground are past prime and are not good.
The only downside for me is that the fruit has seeds(around 5 or so per fruit). I have learned how to separate the seeds in my mouth while enjoying the fruit and finally discarding the seed.
It’s just personal preference.
Some people love durian and some people hate durian. It doesn’t matter where it’s grown. And even durian is far more genetically diverse than che.
Funny how this debate keeps coming back. @castanea I took your advice 3 years ago on that debate and never got one. Most of the people I talk to say they are sweet, but have weak flavor and take a long time to fruit without dropping.
My first taste of some Che fruits sent by my friend @Luisport .
Can confirm i love the taste, melon/light mulberry and sweet.
Cant wait my own Che trees start producing!!!
@Carld … thanks … for the update.
I am still hoping mine turn out to be something i will enjoy.
Planted this tree from Edible Landscaping in 2014, and finally getting fruit. Most drop without fully ripening (and interestingly aren’t eaten by animals like @castanea noted), and I kind of agree with the animals. The fruit is fine, but I’d rather eat pretty much anything else I grow.
Viva la revolucion!
Delicious?
Yes DELICIOUS!!!
Love your sense of humor.
And you don’t have the right to make fun of everyone that says that Che has great flavor! If you didn’t eat any with decent flavor it’s not our fault!
I will say that I brought in fruit from my yard to the garden club I help run at school and Che was the favorite of many of the students.
By that point they had tried che, hardy kiwi, pawpaws and cornelian cherries
It wasn’t bad juiced.
Unfortunately I don’t see any more che coming in for quite a long time (assuming I even try to replace it)
Scott
It’s not easy to have good che fruit, it takes a lot of time to fruit properly… my tree took 9 years!
I was almost taking it down but i wait and i’m really happy for doing it. My fruit is big, seedless, juicy and it’s like a big round mulberry with watermelon + strawberry flavor.
I got 3 good years before the tree succumbed to something. I am hoping to identify the cause when I take it down.
The tree is almost 18 feet tall and died from the bottom up.
If the roots push (osage orange) I might look into re-grafting (assuming I can get something worthwhile from England’s or otherwise)
Scott
@Luisport … . Mine are going to taste like yours someday… this is year 4… hope I am still around when they get good like that