For the love of white sapote

[bradflorida]

Against better judgment, I purchased 2 white sapote trees recently. A couple of weeks ago when I visited Excalibur, I saw some fruiting white sapote trees and sampled the sue belle fruit.  It was very nice - moderately sweet and a hint of lemon/citrus. So I purchased a sue belle tree.

Today I visited treehouse nursery and I saw a row of small Redlands white sapote trees, some of which already had a few small golfball sized fruits on them.  That is how the second tree came into my possession.

However, I have not found much consistent information about the fruiting of these trees in my area.

For instance Charles Boning (in his Florida fruits book) shows the white sapote to be fruitful in southern Florida and recommends it.

A local grower on pine island who used to manage treehouse stated that he has never seen white sapote do well in the area.  He feels that the trees set deep roots and that the trees dont do well in areas where the water table is high, such as coastal areas.  But the current owners of treehouse say that the white sapotes fruit well here and that they just harvested a bunch of white sapotes which they are using for the seeds for rootstock.

Most people on this forum in southern Florida seem to have a hard time getting white sapotes to fruit. However, I have now seen mature fruiting trees at Excalibur and young fruiting trees at treehouse in Bokeelia.

Perhaps with my small yard I should just play it safe and plant both white sapote trees in the same hole

Any thoughts on the variability or discrepancies?

Brad

[fruitlovers]

Hey Brad, we can grow white sapote here, so i'm sure you can grow them there. It's a widely adaptable tree. Though i notice they do a lot better here in Kona, dry side of the island. It's quite a bit hotter in Kona than here, so temperature doesn't seem to be the problem. I think in higher rainfall areas they are more prone to disease: molds,  fungus, etc. So it's all a question of how much you like the fruit and whether you're willing to make the extra effort to push the boundaries? Mine are fruiting right now, thanks for reminding me i gotta go out and pick some.

[fyliu]

Yes I think they may not like too much water. One of mine planted next to the lawn turned yellow and died, another one planted in the corner is turning yellow and going too. Even in Southern California white sapote shouldn't be watered too much. They are pretty drought-tolerant and can grow on a sandy hillside.
Now I have only 2 large seedlings and one fruiting store-bought tree remaining.

[gnappi]

Most people on this forum in southern Florida seem to have a hard time getting white sapotes to fruit. However, I have now seen mature fruiting trees at Excalibur and young fruiting trees at treehouse in Bokeelia.

Perhaps with my small yard I should just play it safe and plant both white sapote trees in the same hole

Any thoughts on the variability or discrepancies?

Brad

In the fall of 2010 I bought an SES2 White Sapote at Excalibur at a fairly high price. It's been in the ground since then and while it's healthy and has grown slowly and is nicely shaped, I still wait for it to  bloom.

Until the tree produces I'll wait to pass judgement on it. Even if it doesn't fruit much, it's an attractive gnarly looking tree. Long term whether or not it gets to stay in the ground may depend on its ability to pay me back for its cost in fruit :-)
 

[bradflorida]

Thanks all!

[bradflorida]

Makes me wonder why less people have had experiences with white sapote trees. Perhaps the flavor is not the popular, therefore not inspiring more people to plant white sapote trees.

[BMc]

We have a cultivar sold here as 'Dade', which I had assumed came from South Florida. It performs well in the wet if cross pollinated with another that tolerates wet cycles, which seems to be lemongold, ortego and golden globe. They all seem vigrous and fairly fruitful if treated like avocadoes (planted on mounds or slopes) even a few feet from quite boggy patches.