Where to get pouteria viridis

[Tropical Bay Area]

Does anyone know where to get pouteria viridis seeds or small plants? I’ve seen miamifruit but unfortunately they don’t ship them to California, and I’ve seen trees for a lot of money that is out of my price range, seen fruit lovers but the seeds minimum amount plus shipping is too much :/

[K-Rimes]

Does anyone know where to get pouteria viridis seeds or small plants? I’ve seen miamifruit but unfortunately they don’t ship them to California, and I’ve seen trees for a lot of money that is out of my price range, seen fruit lovers but the seeds minimum amount plus shipping is too much :/

I've seen green sapote seeds on http://www.fruitlovers.com/indexen.html occasionally.

I bought one off eBay, the Red Faisan. They were being sold for $60 last year free delivery but now are $150 iirc

[Epicatt2]

Polynesian Produce Stand in Hawai'i had 'em.

I ordered several from him last October.

OK — HTH

Paul M.
==

[Julie]

I will keep a look out for this fruit for sale in my area. How does the fruit taste compared to mamey? Personally mamey is ok, maybe I haven’t tasted the right variety, but it’s not good enough for me to have a tree in my yard

[Epicatt2]

Hi Julie,

Just FWIW, I got P. viridis because it is supposed to be more cold tolerant than other Pouteria species, in particular P. caimito, the Abiu and P. campechiana, the canistel.

This winter in Tampa I lost several abiu seedlings at 41ºF. while my several green sapote seedings came through unaffected.  (My canistel was fine, too, BTW.)

Cheers!

Paul M.
==

[Tropical Bay Area]

Hi Julie,

Just FWIW, I got P. viridis because it is supposed to be more cold tolerant than other Pouteria species, in particular P. caimito, the Abiu and P. campechiana, the canistel.

This winter in Tampa I lost several abiu seedlings at 41ºF. while my several green sapote seedings came through unaffected.  (My canistel was fine, too, BTW.)

Cheers!i

Paul M.
==

Yeah um about the price range... I can’t get anything above $23... 

[NateTheGreat]

Pretty safe to say you're not going to get any for $23. Maybe 2 seeds.

[Julie]

I will let you know when I find the fruit in season. I don’t usually save the seeds as I’d rather buy a grafted tree which is only $35.

[Tropical Bay Area]

(Deleted)

[Tropical Bay Area]

Pretty safe to say you're not going to get any for $23. Maybe 2 seeds.

23 is a lot though imma try to get 1 seed cuz cheaper
Maimifruit sells each fruit for 10 dollars which I guess is pretty reasonable

[Julie]

The prices of Miami fruit are very high compared to the market price here in homestead. It may be worth it to you especially if it’s a one time cost. I personally find that company very frustrating because they make it very hard for people in the area to actually buy tropical fruit here.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Yeah but as I said before, they don’t ship green sapote to California
Their prices are sky high, but the price for the green sapote seems reasonable enough

[Julie]

Compared to the price per seed online yes.

[Julie]

If anyone is looking for seeds of certain fruit please let me know.  I buy various rare tropical fruit here in homestead and I can keep an eye out for you.

[brian]

I got one a couple years ago from the seller 'safenut' on ebay.  They are in Hawaii, looks like they ship to CA.  I paid $27+shipping in 2018.  They are still selling them now, $40 + shipping.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/One-seedling-plant-10-12-inches-29-cm-Green-sapote-Pouteria-viridis/184642778134

it looks like mine is flowering now... is this what green sapote flower buds look like? 

[Tropical Bay Area]

I don’t have any green sapote but yes, those are definetly flowers

[NateTheGreat]

Beautiful brian! I'm surprised it's flowering so soon. Great job.

Julie that offer is very kind, and made me regret my negativity. They are supposed to taste like mamey but slightly better. I am interested in Pouteria viridis seeds as well, but not enough to pay the $10/seed going price I've seen.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Beautiful brian! I'm surprised it's flowering so soon. Great job.

Julie that offer is very kind, and made me regret my negativity. They are supposed to taste like mamey but slightly better. I am interested in Pouteria viridis seeds as well, but not enough to pay the $10/seed going price I've seen.

Where int eh bay do you live, live near San Jose, a]wondering how close you are

[NateTheGreat]

I'm in Walnut Creek. Here's my one and only P. viridis. Very grateful to the collector who hooked me up with it, whose anonymity I will respect. From my limited experience it does not seem as cold-hardy as some reports make it out, but it might be more so if it were more hardened to my climate. I prefer to start from seed when possible. The leaves had some damage at around 30 degrees IIRC, and I took it inside for fear of losing it. My two lucuma from the same collector seem a bit more cold-tolerant; I left one outside all winter up against the house under the roof overhang. I'm not sure if I should wait for the P. viridis to flush new leaves before repotting. Since it's my only one I gotta be careful.

[Tropical Bay Area]

I'm in Walnut Creek. Here's my one and only P. viridis. Very grateful to the collector who hooked me up with it, whose anonymity I will respect. From my limited experience it does not seem as cold-hardy as some reports make it out, but it might be more so if it were more hardened to my climate. I prefer to start from seed when possible. The leaves had some damage at around 30 degrees IIRC, and I took it inside for fear of losing it. My two lucuma from the same collector seem a bit more cold-tolerant; I left one outside all winter up against the house under the roof overhang. I'm not sure if I should wait for the P. viridis to flush new leaves before repotting. Since it's my only one I gotta be careful.

Where do you get lucuma? Hard time finding one

[NateTheGreat]

Where do you get lucuma? Hard time finding one

From here https://www.wildlandsplants.com/shop/p/pouteria-lucuma

Another source I've considered trying recently, but a bit too expensive for me: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-LUCUMA-SEED-Pouteria-lucuma-makes-a-FRUIT-TREE-PLANT-8b6/154336279897?hash=item23ef28bd59:g:lJwAAOSwYmVgLqHC

Keep in mind lucuma is supposed to take about 15 years to fruit.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Where do you get lucuma? Hard time finding one

From here https://www.wildlandsplants.com/shop/p/pouteria-lucuma

Another source I've considered trying recently, but a bit too expensive for me: https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-LUCUMA-SEED-Pouteria-lucuma-makes-a-FRUIT-TREE-PLANT-8b6/154336279897?hash=item23ef28bd59:g:lJwAAOSwYmVgLqHC

Keep in mind lucuma is supposed to take about 15 years to fruit.

Yes I’m so eager to get lucuma because it takes so long to fruit, I’m in elementary school so I can wait a while

[brian]

Beautiful brian! I'm surprised it's flowering so soon. Great job.

...

Is it typical for green sapote SEEDLING to flower after only a couple years and at a small size?  I am wondering if maybe I picked up a grafted one at Excalibur when I was there but I'm pretty sure I didn't.  I definitely have an email from buying a seedling green sapote from ebay Aug 2018 and I don't recall one dying.  The tree flowering in my picture does kinda look like it has a graft line so I am l doubting myself now that this is actually a seedling, but that's what the receipt says.  This site https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/sapote.html says they take ~7 years from seed to fruit?  Mine can't be more than four. 

[NateTheGreat]

Now that you mention it I did think it was odd one from eBay came with that white nursery tag around the trunk. It looks like it's flowering below the possible graft union? I'm reading it's often grafted on mamey. 12 years, 7-8 years, and 4-12 years to fruit reported from different sources, but similar ranges given for mamey. You should be able to tell by the flowers if it's green or mamey.

[Tropical Bay Area]

The flowering green sapote looks like it was grafted and the scion if from a mature tree. I can see a graft union slightly under the flowers

[brian]

I wish I could find a picture from when I received it, I don't think I took one though.  This one actually has two nursery tags because I had ordered one from TopTropicals around the same time that died almost immediately, so I put its extra tag on this one.

I'll take a closer picture of what I think is the graft line if it is grafted - it is right at the bottom of the flowers in that picture

EDIT - here it is


I'm just going to assume this is grafted, I don't remember where I got it, and I lost track of the seedling I have a record of ordering... rather than having some freak precocious green sapote.

[Squam256]

Hi Julie,

Just FWIW, I got P. viridis because it is supposed to be more cold tolerant than other Pouteria species, in particular P. caimito, the Abiu and P. campechiana, the canistel.

This winter in Tampa I lost several abiu seedlings at 41ºF. while my several green sapote seedings came through unaffected.  (My canistel was fine, too, BTW.)

Cheers!

Paul M.
==

Viridis isn’t more cold tolerant than canistel unfortunately . In fact it has about the same cold tolerance as Mamey.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Hi Julie,

Just FWIW, I got P. viridis because it is supposed to be more cold tolerant than other Pouteria species, in particular P. caimito, the Abiu and P. campechiana, the canistel.

This winter in Tampa I lost several abiu seedlings at 41ºF. while my several green sapote seedings came through unaffected.  (My canistel was fine, too, BTW.)

Cheers!

Paul M.
==

Viridis isn’t more cold tolerant than canistel unfortunately . In fact it has about the same cold tolerance as Mamey.

Hmm I’ve had the impression it is 3 or 4 degreees more cold hardy than mamey... hmmmm....

[BoBiscuit]

I planted my green sapote in 2018 and its about 5 feet tall now, holding onto half a dozen fruits. I got it from Plant O Gram and I believe its grafted onto mamey. Normally it doesn't look this beat up going into spring, but the drought and Santa Ana winds have been completely ludicrous this year, so most of my trees look bad. It does seem to be a hardy tree. The coldest temps it has seen were high 30's and the tree was unaffected.

I'm planning to graft scions from this tree onto some mamey rootstocks once the weather warms up, but I was hoping to get a little more than 28 bucks for it. 

[brian]

Is there a reason that mamey would be a preferred rootstock rather than grafting onto another green sapote seedling?  Assuming you had them handy.

I ask because I have a green sapote but no mamey, and I don't plan to get a mamey nor can I find them locally.  But I might be able to plant green sapote seeds and graft mature scion onto those.

nm, I found an answer to my question:  http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=19763.0

Sounds like green sapote scion on green sapote rootstock should be fine.

[NateTheGreat]

Wow! Gives me hope. Not sure if mine really saw 30 degrees, now that I think about it it may have been warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to find a scion next year when mine is big enough to graft. I think I'm going to repot mine today, seeing how fast the two of yours' have grown. Another thing I noticed about this species vs lucuma is the roots on lucuma are much more aggressive, coming out the bottom of the pots on both my plants. I checked the green sapote rootball once last year and it was clearly too early to repot. So if you had access to them, lucuma rootstocks might be good.

Btw do you two know what I can do to prevent malformed leaves like this?

[K-Rimes]

Wow! Gives me hope. Not sure if mine really saw 30 degrees, now that I think about it it may have been warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to find a scion next year when mine is big enough to graft. I think I'm going to repot mine today, seeing how fast the two of yours' have grown. Another thing I noticed about this species vs lucuma is the roots on lucuma are much more aggressive, coming out the bottom of the pots on both my plants. I checked the green sapote rootball once last year and it was clearly too early to repot. So if you had access to them, lucuma rootstocks might be good.

Btw do you two know what I can do to prevent malformed leaves like this?

As I understand lucuma is more cold hardy than green sapote. Both did fine last year in 9b outdoors down to 26f, but they're in the greenhouse this winter and absolutely flying. A mamey survived in my greenhouse too, but that's not really a feat.

[brian]

 Nate I don't know much about sapotes but in general I think malformed leaves are commonly causes by insects attacking the leaf buds as they begin to open.  I usually spray insecticide on my trees new growth

[Squam256]

Is there a reason that mamey would be a preferred rootstock rather than grafting onto another green sapote seedling?  Assuming you had them handy.

I ask because I have a green sapote but no mamey, and I don't plan to get a mamey nor can I find them locally.  But I might be able to plant green sapote seeds and graft mature scion onto those.

nm, I found an answer to my question:  http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=19763.0

Sounds like green sapote scion on green sapote rootstock should be fine.

No issue with compatibility. In Florida I would say it’s two-fold: One issue is availability of seed stock. No shortage of mamey but not many producing green sapote trees in Florida, and green sapote season is relatively short compared to mamey.

On top of that, green sapotes don’t like a lot of water. They’re native to the highlands of Central America and don’t thrive well in really moist soil conditions even on mamey stock, so I could see this being worse on its own roots.

[K-Rimes]

Wow! Gives me hope. Not sure if mine really saw 30 degrees, now that I think about it it may have been warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to find a scion next year when mine is big enough to graft. I think I'm going to repot mine today, seeing how fast the two of yours' have grown. Another thing I noticed about this species vs lucuma is the roots on lucuma are much more aggressive, coming out the bottom of the pots on both my plants. I checked the green sapote rootball once last year and it was clearly too early to repot. So if you had access to them, lucuma rootstocks might be good.

Btw do you two know what I can do to prevent malformed leaves like this?

My lucuma does exactly the same thing inside the greenhouse where there are practically no pests. I think it's just kinda how they do. I've noticed that as the weather warms up and I have enough fertilizer on them that they form nice leaves again. All my malformed leaves are falling off.

[Squam256]

Wow! Gives me hope. Not sure if mine really saw 30 degrees, now that I think about it it may have been warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to find a scion next year when mine is big enough to graft. I think I'm going to repot mine today, seeing how fast the two of yours' have grown. Another thing I noticed about this species vs lucuma is the roots on lucuma are much more aggressive, coming out the bottom of the pots on both my plants. I checked the green sapote rootball once last year and it was clearly too early to repot. So if you had access to them, lucuma rootstocks might be good.

Btw do you two know what I can do to prevent malformed leaves like this?

The Lucuma has boron deficiency

[K-Rimes]

Wow! Gives me hope. Not sure if mine really saw 30 degrees, now that I think about it it may have been warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to find a scion next year when mine is big enough to graft. I think I'm going to repot mine today, seeing how fast the two of yours' have grown. Another thing I noticed about this species vs lucuma is the roots on lucuma are much more aggressive, coming out the bottom of the pots on both my plants. I checked the green sapote rootball once last year and it was clearly too early to repot. So if you had access to them, lucuma rootstocks might be good.

Btw do you two know what I can do to prevent malformed leaves like this?

The Lucuma has boron deficiency

Makes sense why fertilizer fixed mine then.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Wow! Gives me hope. Not sure if mine really saw 30 degrees, now that I think about it it may have been warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to find a scion next year when mine is big enough to graft. I think I'm going to repot mine today, seeing how fast the two of yours' have grown. Another thing I noticed about this species vs lucuma is the roots on lucuma are much more aggressive, coming out the bottom of the pots on both my plants. I checked the green sapote rootball once last year and it was clearly too early to repot. So if you had access to them, lucuma rootstocks might be good.

Btw do you two know what I can do to prevent malformed leaves like this?

My lucuma does exactly the same thing inside the greenhouse where there are practically no pests. I think it's just kinda how they do. I've noticed that as the weather warms up and I have enough fertilizer on them that they form nice leaves again. All my malformed leaves are falling off.

Do you think even though green sapote is a smaller known species, different variants still have slightly different qualities?

[BoBiscuit]

Is there a reason that mamey would be a preferred rootstock rather than grafting onto another green sapote seedling?  Assuming you had them handy.

I ask because I have a green sapote but no mamey, and I don't plan to get a mamey nor can I find them locally.  But I might be able to plant green sapote seeds and graft mature scion onto those.

nm, I found an answer to my question:  http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=19763.0

Sounds like green sapote scion on green sapote rootstock should be fine.

No issue with compatibility. In Florida I would say it’s two-fold: One issue is availability of seed stock. No shortage of mamey but not many producing green sapote trees in Florida, and green sapote season is relatively short compared to mamey.

On top of that, green sapotes don’t like a lot of water. They’re native to the highlands of Central America and don’t thrive well in really moist soil conditions even on mamey stock, so I could see this being worse on its own roots.

Yep! I'm using mamey for rootstock because I couldn't find any P. Viridis seeds to grow out. The second point I didn't know, but it's good news for growing this in our dry climate!
I'm going to start all the seeds I harvest from this round of fruit, and graft onto those as well. I really think this is worth growing around here. It seems to like the climate, has a delicious fruit, and doesn't take forever to bear.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Is there a reason that mamey would be a preferred rootstock rather than grafting onto another green sapote seedling?  Assuming you had them handy.

I ask because I have a green sapote but no mamey, and I don't plan to get a mamey nor can I find them locally.  But I might be able to plant green sapote seeds and graft mature scion onto those.

nm, I found an answer to my question:  http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=19763.0

Sounds like green sapote scion on green sapote rootstock should be fine.

No issue with compatibility. In Florida I would say it’s two-fold: One issue is availability of seed stock. No shortage of mamey but not many producing green sapote trees in Florida, and green sapote season is relatively short compared to mamey.

On top of that, green sapotes don’t like a lot of water. They’re native to the highlands of Central America and don’t thrive well in really moist soil conditions even on mamey stock, so I could see this being worse on its own roots.

Yep! I'm using mamey for rootstock because I couldn't find any P. Viridis seeds to grow out. The second point I didn't know, but it's good news for growing this in our dry climate!
I'm going to start all the seeds I harvest from this round of fruit, and graft onto those as well. I really think this is worth growing around here. It seems to like the climate, has a delicious fruit, and doesn't take forever to bear.

Are you selling seeds ? O.o

[BoBiscuit]

Not this year....I'll only get 6 seeds if I'm lucky!

[BayAreaMicroClimate]

My 2 green sapotes lost all their leaves this last winter but are both growing back and one with flowers. The year before this they did not loose leaves. 1 has been in the ground through 2 winters and the other is in 15 gallon pot. Both are grafted but I do want to grow a seedling out. All 3 of my lucuma did not defoliate so they are definitely hardier. All are seedlings but I’d love to buy a grafted lucuma!