- Author: Ben Faber
In a recent article in Fresh Plaza, the flood of imported jackfruit is reported. As recently as 2 years ago, I saw jackfruit advertized on Amazon for nearly $10 a pound. These babies regularly weigh in at 10-20 pounds. In their homeland, they regularly clock in at 80 pounds and more. I've recently seen fruit sold locally at Vons, Sprouts and Whole Foods for $4 for 20 pound beasts. That's still a hefty return. I saw the same fruit in the same stores for weeks on end. No body was willing to buy it. It was fruit imported from Mexico. I've seen similar fruit at the local swap meet where it's sold by the piece for $2 a pound. Still a nice price. Jackfruit can be grown in Southern California and until recently, a small grower could make a nice amount of money on the sale of the fruit. But as this article reports, at 28 cents a pound its hard to make money. We can grow it, but someone can always grow it more cheaply it seems
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Influx of jackfruit into US market
https://www.freshplaza.com/article/9113152/influx-of-jackfruit-into-us-market/
There is plenty of jackfruit available in the US right now as peak season continues in the Mexican growing regions. Over the past month, the market has become saturated with fruit leading to a wide range in prices and also quality. The peak of the season occurs in May and June so there is still several weeks to go until the market starts returning to normal.
"There is lots of jackfruit saturating the market right now," said Scott Miller of LA-based Tropic Trading Co. "We source them from Nayarit and are currently in the middle of peak season. There is all kinds of quality out there and prices have been all over the place, anywhere from between 28c per lb to 40c per lb."
Miller added that demand drops as summer progresses due to the presence of other fruit. "Demand usually drops in the peak summer months because there are so many other fruits available," he said. "People do eat jackfruit year-round but especially in California, there are a lot of stone fruit and other summer fruits that vie for consumers' attention."
Photos: Jackfruit interior and a tree growing in Long Beach
/h1>- Author: Ben Faber
Nitrogen and its Effect on the Balance of Vegetative and Reproductive Growth
With the big avocado crop out there, the question came up about whether a grower should add extra nitrogen to encourage more canopy growth to protect the fruit from sunburn or whether that would cause the fruit to drop. There is in our understanding the idea that there is a competition for resources and that in that competition one must best another. A commonly held belief is that if you apply nitrogen at the wrong time it will push resources to vegetative growth at the expense of fruit. This is somewhat true for annual plants that get most of their nutrients from outside sources (soil, air, fertilizer, water), but trees have a huge buffer in their storage organs (roots, stems, leaves, etc.). Most growth in trees occurs from this storage source and most importantly from photosynthesis and the sun. The more sun captured the more energy for flowering and fruit production.
So it is this competition for photosynthates that becomes the most limiting factor. When there is not enough to go around, the tree sheds fruit. If you see fruit dropping off a tree after applying a slug of fertilizer, it's a salt effect. Too much salt and it causes a water competition and the tree is stressed. It's not the nitrogen, but too much salt. With fertigation this is not so likely to happen as when dry fertilizers were applied and someone got too aggressive with the application
In fact a dose of nitrogen fertilizer is a good idea at this time when there are lots of clusters of fruit. This can encourage a flush of leaves that will protect the fruit from sunburn and damage that would cause fruit to drop. Also at this time, persea mite has been building its population and is starting to cause leaf drop. A bit of nitrogen to encourage leaf replacement is a good approach to dealing with this mite damage.
For further reading about the competition between vegetative and reproductive growth as affected by nitrogen (or little affected in fruit trees by nitrogen), D.O. Huett wrote a wonderful review of past research on this topic:
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AR9960047.pdf
- Author: Ben Faber
Nitrogen and its Effect on the Balance of Vegetative and Reproductive Growth
With the big avocado crop out there, the question came up about whether a grower should add extra nitrogen to encourage more canopy growth to protect the fruit from sunburn or whether that would cause the fruit to drop. There is in our understanding the idea that there is a competition for resources and that in that competition one must best another. A commonly held belief is that if you apply nitrogen at the wrong time it will push resources to vegetative growth at the expense of fruit. This is somewhat true for annual plants that get most of their nutrients from outside sources (soil, air, fertilizer, water), but trees have a huge buffer in their storage organs (roots, stems, leaves, etc.). Most growth in trees occurs from this storage source and most importantly from photosynthesis and the sun. The more sun captured the more energy for flowering and fruit production.
So it is this competition for photosynthates that becomes the most limiting factor. When there is not enough to go around, the tree sheds fruit. If you see fruit dropping off a tree after applying a slug of fertilizer, it's a salt effect. Too much salt and it causes a water competition and the tree is stressed. It's not the nitrogen, but too much salt. With fertigation this is not so likely to happen as when dry fertilizers were applied and someone got too aggressive with the application
In fact a dose of nitrogen fertilizer is a good idea at this time when there are lots of clusters of fruit. This can encourage a flush of leaves that will protect the fruit from sunburn and damage that would cause fruit to drop. Also at this time, persea mite has been building its population and is starting to cause leaf drop. A bit of nitrogen to encourage leaf replacement is a good approach to dealing with this mite damage.
For further reading about the competition between vegetative and reproductive growth as affected by nitrogen (or little affected in fruit trees by nitrogen), D.O. Huett wrote a wonderful review of past research on this topic:
http://www.publish.csiro.au/?act=view_file&file_id=AR9960047.pdf
- Author: Ben Faber
Along the coast, it is very common to see windbreaks protecting the citrus and avocado groves. Invariably the first two rows next to the eucalyptus trees are shorter and less thrifty than the citrus further away from the windbreak. This is due to competition primarily for water, but somewhat due to light, as well. Often by putting emitters on the windbreak, the completion stops. Growers will also root prune between the windbreak and the first row of citrus. Those roots inevitably grow back and pruning must be done again. This also occurs in areas where there are oak trees or other natives that are planted in or around the orchard. Growers will frequently plant right up to the canopy or even under the canopy of the native tree(s), with a similar result seen with windbreaks.
It is important to remember the architecture of roots. Not all trees are exactly alike, but a general rule of thumb is that the active roots go out one and half times the height of the tree. So a 40 foot tree will have competitive roots out 60 feet away from the trunk. That’s why it is best to keep a distance away from a competing tree, because avocados and citrus are just not as competitive as an oak or eucalyptus.
In low rainfall years, this competition is even more intense. Significant defoliation of the crop plant can be seen. The grower then thinks that it is some disease and ponders what to spray, when they should actually be spraying more water.