🥕 Jackfruit (Young/Green)
Artocarpus heterophyllus
vegetables perennial evergreen tree
☀️ Sun
full sun
💧 Water
moderate to high
🗺️ Zones
10, 12
🪴 Soil Type
well-draining, deep, fertile
🧪 Soil pH
6.0-7.5
💧 Drainage
Well-drained
📏 Spacing
25-30 ft apart (large tree)
📅 Days to Maturity
3-4 years (from planting grafted tree); 5-7 years from seed
🍴 Edible Parts
🍽️ ["Young: pulled jackfruit (vegan meat)🍽️ curries🍽️ stews"🍽️ " Ripe: fresh fruit🍽️ desserts🍽️ preserves"]
🤝 Companions (7)
🤝 bananas
Bananas grow rapidly beneath young jackfruit, creating a productive middle layer in the food forest before the jackfruit canopy fully develops.
Turmeric thrives in jackfruit's deepening shade, which provides the filtered light and humidity turmeric rhizomes need for optimal growth.
Ginger benefits from the wind protection and moist microclimate under jackfruit's canopy — ideal conditions for rhizome development.
Galangal grows well in jackfruit's partial shade with the consistent soil moisture the tree's canopy helps maintain throughout the growing season.
Cacao is a classic understory companion for jackfruit — the tree provides the dappled shade and humid environment cacao needs to thrive.
Coffee grows excellently under jackfruit's shade; the canopy moderates temperature extremes and provides the filtered light coffee prefers.
🤝 black pepper vine
Jackfruit's sturdy trunk and branches make excellent living supports for black pepper vines, which climb without damaging the host tree.
⚠️ Keep Apart (1)
⚠️ small sun-loving vegetables under mature tree
Growth inhibition or competition
💊 Medicinal Uses
Contains lignans, isoflavones, and saponins with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties. Rich in prebiotic fiber and potassium. Traditional Ayurvedic and Southeast Asian remedy for digestive health, skin diseases, and as a cooling food. Seeds are astringent and used for diarrhea. Leaves used in diabetes management. Latex used for wound healing.
📝 Notes
Giant tree producing world's largest tree fruit. Young green fruit used as vegetable/meat substitute. Mature tree provides heavy shade—understory guild of shade-tolerant spices. Black pepper can vine up the trunk.