Kedondong

Other common names: Great Hog Plum, Golden Apple, Otaheite Apple, Yellow Plum, Jew Plum, Ambarella

Kedondong trees are a common sight in Southeast Asian edible gardens, and produce edible leaves and fruit. The young leaves can be eaten raw in a salad or cooked as a vegetable, while the unripe and ripe fruits are eaten raw, pickled or processed into a juice.

As a perennial tree, it is a common sight in edible gardens.

Sun and soil needs:

This tree does best in full sun gardens with a minimum of 6 hours of direct sunlight.

Plants do best in pots with loamy soil at least 1m deep, or in true ground. These plants are vulnerable to root rot, so ensure that your pots drain well, and that your soil has plenty of organic matter to let the roots breathe. Keep your plants cool with mulch and plenty of water to encourage growth.

This tree can grow up to 12m high. The tree is best maintained at roughly 2m high for easy maintenance and harvesting.

Sowing seeds:

Seeds can be sown directly into pots or the ground. Because the plant eventually grows into a tree, it is easier to grow a few seedlings in separate pots before selecting the healthiest one to be grown in true ground.

The seedlings are generally resilient to most environmental factors but may be vulnerable to being eaten by snails or birds. Protect your young plants with a DIY cloche or netting.

Growing:

Kedondong trees are steady growers but do benefit from being fed high potassium and phosphorus fertilisers once every two months after its first flower to encourage flowering and thus fruiting. Regular pruning to promote airflow will keep the plant healthy and neat.

The tree will need to be around 4 years old before it starts producing fruit if grown from seed.

Harvesting:

Young leaves can be harvested at any time.

Unripe fruits are small, hard and green while ripe fruits will become yellow and more fibrous. Unripe fruits are sour, while ripe fruits are slightly sweeter. Both ripe and unripe fruits can be harvested for consumption. Ripe fruits will have a fibrous, inedible pit that will need to be removed.

Propagation:

This tree is grown via seed, or via woody cuttings with rooting hormone. This tree can also be grafted.

Common problems & solutions:

If your plant has few to no flowers, you can fertilise the plant with fertilisers high in phosphorus and potassium. These nutrients encourage root and flower growth, which are important for the plant to produce more fruit.

Many plants require pollinators to help them fruit. Bees, butterflies, birds and even beetles transport pollen from one flower to another, pollinating your crops and increasing their fruit yield. Attract some pollinators to your garden by growing pollinator-attracting plants.

Aphids, mealy bugs, and scale insects often infest the plant if it has underlying problems like repeated wilting from heat stress. Mechanical pest control methods like pruning the infested parts are the best methods for managing these pests in the short term, but resolving the underlying problem will prevent them in the long term.

Wilting leaves during hot weather is a sign of heat stress. Increase the number of times the plant is watered daily, and apply mulch at the base to prevent water loss.

Fruit flies, can lay eggs in the fruit, resulting in larvae damaging the fruit and creating spots on the skin. Birds and rodents may eat unripe or ripe fruit. Wrap your fruit in netting when it starts to develop from a fertilised flower, ideally after all the petals have dropped off.