Breadfruit
The staple crop of the tropics. Truly cold-tender here, so it's for the protected, adventurous yard.
Artocarpus altilis
An iconic Pacific staple, a starchy roasting fruit, but really a Keys tree, not a Treasure Coast one.
Why it works here
I am including breadfruit so you know the real story. It is one of the most cold-sensitive fruit trees there is, taking dieback around 40 degrees, well before an actual freeze. Only the Florida Keys stay reliably warm enough for it to thrive and fruit. On the mainland, even in warm southeast Florida, trees only fruited during a rare run of mild winters around 2015 to 2017 and then took heavy damage when normal cold returned. On the Treasure Coast it is not a landscape tree, it is a greenhouse or a heartbreak.
Care
For our area the honest care advice is: do not plant it in the ground and expect it to live, unless you can give it a large heated greenhouse. If you are set on the experience, grow a young tree in a big container you can wheel into shelter well before nights drop toward 40 degrees. It wants full sun, rich fast-draining soil, steady water in the warm months, and compost and mulch, but none of that overcomes our winters.
Common problems
The overriding problem is cold, full stop. Everything else is secondary to the fact that our winters injure or kill it. If you did keep one warm, it is a big, brittle-limbed tree that needs room and storm-smart pruning, and mealybugs and scale can show up as with most tropicals, handled with beneficial insects and hose sprays.
Common questions
Can I grow breadfruit in Stuart?
Not reliably in the ground. It takes cold damage around 40 degrees, which we hit most winters. This is really a Florida Keys tree. On the Treasure Coast it is a container-and-greenhouse project at best.
I saw one fruiting in South Florida. How?
During a rare stretch of very mild winters a few mainland trees fruited, then got hammered when normal cold came back. Those were lucky years, not a dependable plan.
Is there something similar I can actually grow here?
Its relative jackfruit is far hardier and does well in South Florida. If you want a big starchy tropical fruit tree that will actually live here, that is the direction I would point you.
Interested in a breadfruit in your landscape?
We plan, install, and care for it. Start with a paid consultation.