Just planted this Che from Edible Landscaping with my boys.
We were blessed with abundant Woodchips so I gave it a nice 4ft radius circle of mulch
Hoping it does well and that I can accelerate the time it takes to bear with the abundant mulch
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My son in law and I searched and found every soft CHE fruit on my tree yesterday and ate them… Very good. They ripen slowly over several weeks here.
I still have several more (still firm) hanging on the tree.
TNHunter
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Just planted one from EL myself about two weeks ago. Looks about the same as yours. On the down side though, a good number of people have reported the EL variety taking a very long time to start fruiting. I plan to either plant some other varieties or graft them onto the one I have. The CA Dreaming THHunter has fruited really quick for him.
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Thanks and best of luck.
I hope it fruits 3-4 years in… We will see
What do they say it takes?
Some said over ten years with it dropping fruit for a number of years first. Haven’t heard anyone say it fruited quick for them. I bought something else from EL and the Che was in stock so picked it up as an after thought. The few places that sells them seems to run out of stock quick.
Well, I was hoping a much faster process than 10 years LOL.
We will see…
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Mine set fruit and some turned reddish… in year 3… but they all dropped.
In year 4 mine set fruit and it started ripening… and about half of it dropped… the other half stayed on the tree and ripened.
Since then, no fruit drop… and increasing fruit yields.
TNHunter
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Thank for your response. It’s yours the one from EL?
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@pedroeastexas … no… I got mine from Cliff at Englands Orchard… early spring 2020.
The variety name is…
California dreaming seedless CHE.
TNHunter
throwing my hat in the ring for taste: to me it tasted basically exaclty like a cantaloupe when I tried it at Charlie Wests farm.
I tried a soft one and a not soft one, soft was to me, exactly musk melon taste. no tartness at all. Truely indistinguishable from cantaloupe for me.
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My CHE fruit taste most like a very nice ripe watermelon with some extra berry flavor in there.
It is not a watery type flavor at all… more of a rich fig syrup type flavor.
I have no male so my fruit is completely seedless with the consistency of a ripe strawberry.
TNHunter
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We finally got a small harvest of Che from the one surviving self pollinating tree we have. I planted 3 about three years ago that I bought off Cliff. The Osage part of the tree is still surviving on the other two, so I am planning to graft to them next year.
I was really happy with the flavor, though it’s hard for me to explain. It has an obvious “berry” flavor, but I don’t know what to compare it to.
Also, for some reason, I didn’t think to cut one in half. I have just been picking them off and eating them, so I’m glad that you posted that pic @TNHunter . I’m going to try to a similar pic. 
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Ate several nice CHE fruit today… my harvest is about 75% done now… the ones that remain are nice and red… just not soft yet.
TNHunter
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I am in the DFW area of Texas. I got my Che from EL and it followed a similar pattern. I think year 3 it flowered but the little fruitlets all dropped shortly there after. Year 4 I got most dropping, a few appeared to be changing color and might have got some to ripen but the birds, or a squirrel got all of them before I could get a fully ripe one. Here in Texas they ripen in July. So this is the 5th year and the thing was absolutely loaded with fruit and for reasons I don’t get, the critters eating them did not go after them. It is growing in a bush form with low braches pruned off since deer get them and is I guess 7-9 feet tall at its tallest branches. Anyway absolutely loaded this year and ripened fully. If people are having to wait ten years for fruit, my suspicion is temperature, this thing seems to like high heat, but I am not an expert on this.
And since I got to eat fully tree ripened fruit and the great debate on che taste I now have first hand experience. It is a lightly sweet fruit, has a bit of a cantaloupe sort of taste mixed with a sort of berry like taste. Not bad as many insist by any means, but of course not as good or in the same taste class as things like apples, jujube, and peaches which will grow here. If I had limited space I would grow these other fruits instead of che of course, but got lots of space so I can plant a wide variety fruit from “just OK” to the best tasting stuff.
Some of the other factors other than taste bump it up a little bit. Texas summers are not kind to many fruits. Yes you can grow a bunch of fruits here if you are willing to put in a lot of effort with watering and other factors like diseases or whatever. There are not many things here you can plant, once established, and you can mostly ignore it except for significant droughts. This appears to be one of those few “grows well in Texas” plants handling temps to 110F, droughts with supplemental watering, 3 months straight of about 100F degrees days some years, and by year 4 handling non drought dry periods without supplemental water to any significant degree. Others that grow well here are figs and jujubes and would add che to that list. Peaches of course but you have to water those more. So it is an OK fruit in my opinion, the taste is there, just needs more sweetness. Gets a positive bump from being able to grow in our summers even if the fruit is not as good as the better known ones.
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@Darby64 … here in southern TN my CHE fruit ripen mid Sept to late October… slowly a few at a time will get to the point of deep red and soft.
My variety tast most like a watermelon… but a very rich syrupy watermelon with some extra berry flavor.
They are very pleasant to eat, plenty sweet, nicely flavored…
But during that time I have persimmons, figs and raspberries ripening. Figs and persimmons are absolutely the best most flavorful / delicious fruit I grow.
CHE and Raspberries are good… but not great in comparison. They are definately worth stopping and picking and eating a few every time I pass their way.
TNHunter
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Well stated. That’s why I put it in. I have other fruits that I put in just to have it because I have the space, but otherwise would have skipped. Many people collect things and for me it’s uncommon fruits.
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Mine is growing like this too. Does anyone know why?
it seems like something if i ever end up with a property that has an osage orange i’ll graft over it with che, otherwise not that interested
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My older CHE… started spring 2020.
The new one I grafted spring 2024.
Both were trained up single stem then allowed to branch out.
TNHunter
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