Hello Che Growers,

Any Che growers out there.  I got my first and only edible che last year.  It was very good but very small.  Sort of a relative to the fig I think.

Anyways, do you Che growers trim the tree to encourage fruiting?  Do fruit grow on new growth or old growth?

I'm hoping to get a nice crop one of these years.   (Yes, I know that I may need a pollinator tree).

I also want to do an air layer.  What are your best propagation methods for Che?   It's in ground and I want to propagate to move to another place. 

I have a tree from edible landscape and a female and male from hidden springs. Last year I had fruit but they never ripened and eventually dropped. I've read very mixed reviews on whether or not a self pollinating Che is real or not or if it just takes years for it to get to that stage. 

I also tried to air layer but it seems to be a hard one to do that with.

Binbin9, I had a Che tree in Central Florida and the single tree did have fruit that ripened on the tree and was about 1.5 inches in diameter. It will not retain the fruit until the tree matures. The variety I had was from TyTy nursery and was supposed to be self fruitful and was for me. The flavor was just alright, I got rid of it because it kept sending up suckers all over the yard that were covered with wicked spines 2 inches long. Supposedly it can be grafted onto hedge Apple to prevent the root suckers. I think if you put it in a pot it would not sucker and would mature quicker so you can see if you like the fruit. If you use a large pot you could put both the male and female plants together or just graft a branch on the female tree with a branch from the male tree IMO.
Jim4figs

Keep trying. I've tried the fruit and love it. A good ripe one is as great as a good fig. You'll hopefully get more in the ground after I don't know how many years. Mine put on a lot more potential fruit and nothing happens for months. Then all of a sudden they swell up just like figs. I would have lost less without the monsoons.

I grow it, and mine is certainly self-fruitful. Here is a link sorry about my lack of cinematography skills and the video quality  I didn't recall the video being that poor when I uploaded

Now that's a productive crop. Is there another name for this fruit?

Not just one other name also called  Chinese Mulberry, Cudrang, Mandarin Melon Berry, Silkworm Thorn, and probably a couple more

Wow, I was thinking Chinese Mulberry.

Planning on starting several hundred hedge apple seeds this spring.  Maybe if they grow well I'll have extra to send around.  Ask me later.

They graft very easily onto hedge apple aka Osage orange aka Bois de arc. I have had 100% success on about 7 trees and they grow very fast. They will fruit 2nd year after grafting but will drop fruit until mature.