What size tree did you plant originally? I planted a gallon size Che from Edible Landscaping this spring, it was growing quite nicely until deer started to nibble on it. I also live in Southwest Virginia (New River Valley) and would love to hear updates about yours in the coming seasons.

I have actually sampled fruit from the original Che growing at Edible Landscaping twice. The first time 2 years ago, which I remember as insipid. I tried it again last year and really enjoyed it. Not sure if the difference was climate related or that this time it was actually properly ripened as the fruit seemed darker in color, or a combination of the two. I will say that the tree is 10 years old, very ornamental and crazy productive. So even if the fruit is only good every other year or so, at least it has other things going for it.

Happy Growing,
JB

Dave,
None of my Che grafts have matured fruit yet - had one that set a few a year or two ago, but they dropped off while still green.
My friend Richard has had Che growing & maturing fruits at a relatively high elevation around Bristol TN for better than 10 years now. I'm not sure when his are ripe, but I'll hazard a guess that if they ripen well for him there, they'll work for you, as well.

JB, I planted it about the same size as yours--just a small stick grafted onto osage orange. I also had it trimmed for me by the deer early on so I had to put a cage around it. The thing had a tendency to angle off sideways, so I had to train a branch upright and clip off the sideways branches until it started to look like a tree. Also had the rootstock send up a rapidly growing sprout and that stopped the growth of the graft until I finally cut it off. As far as taste goes--of course that's subjective, but they do seem to have to be dead ripe to be any good. Deep red and starting to soften up. My daughter and wife seem to like them better than I do, but they're not bad. Also, like mulberries, they're pretty much carefree and unlike mulberries, don't seem to be bird magnets. I don't know why, maybe due to them ripening so late in the season. I hope that doesn't mean the birds know something we don't and they're really poisonous.

Lucky, since yours has dropped fruit like that, I wonder if they do that naturally a few times before finally setting fruit. I'll have to look up your friend Richard next year since I'm less than an hour's drive from King College.

Dave

I've not had a chance to sample a Che fruit yet, but have had at least a couple of folks tell me that they have to be RIPE, or else you get this uncomfortable metallic taste sensation that threatens to close up your esophagus.

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Here is a link that might be useful: Encanto Farms

here is my first try at che. Leander Texas

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