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Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
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Plant · P-431
Che
Maclura tricuspidata
Che, also called silkworm thorn, produces a mulberry-like fruit that is nearly tasteless while firm but turns sweet once it goes soft-ripe. Its common name comes from its traditional use as silkworm feed, and its spiny, base-sprouting growth makes a close-planted row into a genuinely thorny stock barrier. It needs both a male and a female tree to fruit, grows slowly, and tolerates heat and long hot summers without trouble.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 6–9
- Soil
- Sand · Loam
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moist
Vertical layer
Sub-Canopy- Soil pH
- 6.1–7.8
- Plant type
- Deciduous Tree
- Mature height
- 20 ft
- Mature spread
- 20 ft
- Plant spacing
- 15–20 ft
- Root type
- Not yet recorded
- Spread pattern
- Root
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The deeper layer
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- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
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Behind the record
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