great discussion. going back to some basics in biology and genetics everything can POTENTIALLY be true to seed. all plants are anuploidy (more than 2 sets of chromosomes (humans have 2)) which means the more sets of chromosomes the higher the genteic diversity and the less likely the seed will be like the parents. whether a seed is "true" is obviously a bit more complicated but you ALWAYS take a gamble when growing from seeds. in general, a grafted or cutting plant is less "healthy" than a plant grown from seed but you know exactly what you get. but who knows... with seeds you may just find and create that perfect chromosomal mix that leads to a great fruit and new cultivar. oh the perils and anguish of gambling. grin. sorry for getting so deep.LOL

Jay, I'll be posting pictures first thing tomorrow - I just found another flower today, so things are definitely looking good for this year's fruiting prospects. Gardener, I'm in the extreme southeast of Miami, about 25 minutes north of the Florida Keys. The Jakfruit seems very well adapted to our climate (and is actually tolerant of local soil conditions as well); as a matter of fact, there are actually a couple of small commercial growers some 15 miles to the west of where I live. Patusho, I'll be sure to get your information in 4-6 months when I harvest the fruit. The commercial growers I mentioned earlier use Black Gold seedlings for rootstock on account of their exceptional vigor (although NS-1 is also used for rootstock), and it seems that seedlings generally exhibit precocity as well, so collecting the seed is well worthwhile.

The marang seeds I have from Puerto Rico have almost all sprouted, there were a few puny seeds that did not. I started them, like almost all my seeds, in a moist (not wet) paper towel inside a zip top bag. Once the seeds cracked open and started send out their roots, I planted them in potting soil. I started them in 16oz plastic cups filled with OSH potting soil (shredded bark, perlite, sand, peat w/ph 5.5-6), perlite and Soil Moist w/mycorrhizae. Once the first real leaf emerged I moved them up to 32oz cups, the tap root had already reached the bottom of the 16oz. Most of them seem to be doing good, a few died but most are healthy and are on their 3rd or 4th real leaves. They have not seen temps below 60F and receive filtered sun/shade. They will overwinter in a S. facing window inside a humidity chamber in the house (w/ pulasan, rambutan, mangosteen, etc.). Considering Whitman has them in a pavilion, I dont have a lot of hope fruiting them in the CA desert. Pedalai was a holy grail for me, I found a source this past winter for seeds and ordered multiples, killed them all. In PR we saw a HUGE pedalai tree, unfortunately, no fruit. I've satiated my urge to kill pedalai seeds for now and seeing how monstrous the tree gets settled me down too. I'll stick to kwai muk, jak, breadfruit, breadnut, chempedak and marang, that is enough artocarpus for now, well.....maybe lakoocha. -Ethan

Len, Michael sent me a few of the Eugenia too. Nothing yet, dynamite may be needed. Then again maybe patience but wd also appreciate any clues - maybe they get some pre-treatment assistance (bird or animal ingestion) in the wild?