Banarasi Karaka

Three trials give three answers. At Haryana Agricultural University, in a 1980 evaluation of 16 midseason selections from an orchard planted in 1967-68, it gave 130 kg a tree, the most of the 16 (as reported by Morton). At Mondouri in West Bengal (2013-14), 5-year-old trees planted 5 x 5 m gave 39.6 kg, while Madhavpur gave 50.8 kg and Umran 47.6 kg. At CSAUAT, Kanpur (2020-21), untreated 48-year-old trees gave 25.54 kg, and sprays of NAA and GA3 lifted that to as much as 42.48 kg. TNAU gives about 70 to 80 kg a tree for ber in general. Ask the nursery for a bearing orchard to visit.

TNAU gives 8 x 4 m for Banarasi, which is about 312 trees a hectare. For most other ber it gives 7 x 7 m, about 204 trees a hectare, and for Kaithali 8 x 3 m, about 416. Pits are 60 x 60 x 60 cm and planting is in July and August with budded plants. TNAU names the variety as Banarasi, not Banarasi Karaka, so confirm with your nursery that the plants are the same type.

No. Morton's review of Indian jujube lists 'Banarasi Karaka' and 'Banarasi (or Banarsi) Pewandi' as separate cultivars, and says both are self-incompatible. Banarasi and Banarsi are only two spellings of the same word. The 1993 Gujarat trial's Banarsi Pewandi gave 53.92 kg a tree over three years, second of 20 varieties, but that is not Banarasi Karaka's figure. Ask the nursery to write the full name on the bill.

In the Mondouri trial the fruit weighed 30.0 g, of which 28.5 g was pulp, with a pulp-to-stone ratio of 18.6 and 0.3% acidity. Ten tasters scored it 8.2 on a 9-point scale, the highest of 12 varieties. Only BAU-1 had bigger fruit, at 45.5 g. The Haryana evaluation reported in 1980 called it poor-flavoured, though it gave the highest yield. At Kanpur the untreated fruit had a TSS of 12.82 Brix. At Banda in 2021-22 it read much sweeter, 16.13 Brix, with 10.98% total sugars and a pH of 4.50; of the ten varieties there only Kaithali (16.62) and Umran (16.22) were sweeter. Size and sweetness change with site and ripeness, so taste fruit from your own district.

Very likely yes. Morton's review says Banarasi Karaka, Banarasi Pewandi and Thornless are self-incompatible, and that Banarasi Karaka and Thornless are cross-incompatible with each other. So a block of Banarasi Karaka alone may set poor fruit, and Thornless is not a partner for it. Ask your KVK or nursery which ber variety flowers at the same time and is compatible, and plant some trees of it in the same block. TNAU also says to prune in February and March and keep one straight stem up to 75 cm.

Yes, but not worse than most. Plant pathologists at Acharya Narendra Deva University, Kumarganj, Ayodhya screened 40 ber types under natural conditions for Alternaria leaf spot. Banarasi Karaka showed disease on 9.00% of the leaf area, which puts it in the moderately susceptible group along with Tikdi and Seedless. No ber type was free of the disease. The least affected were Narendra Ber Selection-1 (3.50%), Seo (4.00%) and Narendra Ber Selection-2 (4.60%). The worst were around 35% and above. So plan for one or two sprays in a wet year, and ask your KVK which fungicide is cleared for ber in your state.