Last edited on December 01, 2025. View history
Ackee
Ackee
How to sow ackee: Graft or direct seed
Sun requirement for ackee: Plant in Full Sun
Ackee is a member of the Sapindaceae family, which also includes the lychee and longan. It is an evergreen tree native to West Africa and very popular in Jamaica, where it is the national fruit. It grows well in tropical and warm subtropical areas. It is moderately cold-tolerant and can withstand frosts of 26°F, but it is not flood tolerant. Ackee has a short trunk and dense crown and can grow up to 10 meters tall. It's fruit is pear-shaped and turns yellow-orange and splits when it is ripe, revealing three large, shiny black seeds partly surrounded by soft, creamy flesh. Ackee is highly toxic - the pods must be allowed to ripen on the tree before picking, and most of the fruit is inedible. Only the creamy flesh attached to the inedible seeds can be eaten when the fruit is picked when ripe and prepared correctly.
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Ackee facts
Lifespan
Height
900cmRow Spacing
700cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For ackee, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 20°C and a shortest growing cycle of 150 days at its best temperature, about 825 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your ackee will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Photos
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Ackee crops
Video
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 150 to 365 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Blighia sapida K. König
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Rosidae Sapindales Sapindaceae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: -1 °C, rest: -3 °C |
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium, light, organic |
| Optimal soil fertility | high |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours) |
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