My sapodillas!

[Zafra]

I just have to show off our trees loaded with saps! We bought this house/property last year and one of the first things we did was cut way back 2 of the 4 ginormous sapodilla trees. This year the crop is off the hook and the fruit - if you are PATIENT and don't pick too soon - is just sublime. Lots of variety in size, from smallish to huge.

[mangokothiyan]

Looking great!! What variety is it?

[Zafra]

Seedling! We are incredibly lucky

[Coach62]

Thanks for the pics. I have 2 trees that are fruiting for the first time this year. How do you know when to pick them? 

[palmcity]

Thanks for the pics. I have 2 trees that are fruiting for the first time this year. How do you know when to pick them?

If you only have a few and don't want to risk loss most people:
Lightly scratch the brown skin of a large definitely unripe fruit and it should be green. Once you think it might be ripe start an every other day lightly scratching the skin as you think the fruit may have ceased growing and eventually it will appear a yellow tint under the brown and this is when most would pick and if still hard put in a bag or box and put in hottest utility room possible or in bag in sun and this should make it ripen. Check daily as one day hard and the next will be soft. Most eat when a little softness is felt. If you ever feel one soft on the tree... Pick it.

If you have plenty... walk to the tree and feel for softness as you do not want to scratch 20 sapodilla every day.  Check the tree every A.M. and P.M. for drops as they are sort of like a brown egg dropped from God to be treasured as divine sweetness similar to pears with brown sugar. (I usually rinse & cut in half or quarters & eat the skin along with the fruit)

[Zafra]

First, if it's starting to soften at all it's definitely ready. Next test, I poke the skin with a fingernail and often pick if no latex fills the hole (we don't market our fruit so I don't worry about aesthetics, and the little nail marks don't affect eating quality  - don't know what I'd do if we cared about looks!). I still might not pick if the fruit seems really hard, I try to wait for at least a slight change in hardness. Basically, I've learned of in doubt, wait. Picked too early they never ripen well, start to wrinkle without completely losing the latex, flesh stays a pale tan color. Ripened correctly, they soften without wrinkling, lose all the latex, flesh turns the color of dark brown sugar (which pretty much describes the flavor as well). Huge difference.
As for scratching the skin looking for a color change, ours don't turn tan until they're softening so that doesn't work for us.
Truly Tropical has a couple of videos about saps that talk about when to pick.

[Coach62]

Thanks to both of you.  I appreciate it very much.

I only have 2 small trees, the Silas Woods is very small so I won't let it keep too many fruits. 

I've bought several, only a couple actually ripened properly, they are one of my favorite fruits for sure.

[simon_grow]

Awesome looking tree and fruits Zafra, those are some good sized Saps.

Simon

[Zafra]

Awesome looking tree and fruits Zafra, those are some good sized Saps.

Simon

Thanks Simon! We really lucked out with this property in general, but the sapodillas might be the luckiest part. Here saps (they're called nísperos here) are strictly from seed, no named cultivars,  but our trees produce so much exquisite fruit I'm not even remotely tempted to bring down budwood.
Task for this year is to similarly cut back the other two trees to make their harvests similarly concentrated and manageable next year. Being seedlings these trees do shoot for the heavens!

[JF]

Thanks to both of you.  I appreciate it very much.

I only have 2 small trees, the Silas Woods is very small so I won't let it keep too many fruits. 

I've bought several, only a couple actually ripened properly, they are one of my favorite fruits for sure.

my Silas wood ripens between end of July to November. Alano and Makok June to September. Sapodillas are slow growers but after 2 years they take off and in 5-6 year production increases exponentially

[FMfruitforest]

I just have to show off our trees loaded with saps! We bought this house/property last year and one of the first things we did was cut way back 2 of the 4 ginormous sapodilla trees. This year the crop is off the hook and the fruit - if you are PATIENT and don't pick too soon - is just sublime. Lots of variety in size, from smallish to huge.

At what age did the sapodilla seedling start to flower?

[Zafra]

Sorry I can't tell you, these trees have been in the ground well over 10 years, maybe 20. We just bought the property last year so they started fruiting waaay before our time. Around here they say you can start hoping after 6 years, but 8 years is more likely.

[Coach62]

I just have to show off our trees loaded with saps! We bought this house/property last year and one of the first things we did was cut way back 2 of the 4 ginormous sapodilla trees. This year the crop is off the hook and the fruit - if you are PATIENT and don't pick too soon - is just sublime. Lots of variety in size, from smallish to huge.

At what age did the sapodilla seedling start to flower?

I bought my trees at FruitScapes in Bokeelia.  Hard to beat his quality and prices.

[nycteris]

Gorgeous trees!

Ever since my brother (who lives in Florida) wrote this post about his desire for sapodillas, I've been thinking of getting him a tree for his yard. He currently has a huge mango tree, but can't stand mangoes! (If you can believe that.)

Are sapodillas pretty easy to get started with? Or will it take a decade to have trees like yours?

[gnappi]

Thanks for the pics. I have 2 trees that are fruiting for the first time this year. How do you know when to pick them?

Like some of my other trees, saps ripen maddeningly S-L-O-W-L-Y and my first few crops I took to the scratch the skin method, but that left me with a bunch of fruit with unappetizing looking scratched fruit that looked like it was in a cat fight.

I took to giving the ones I could reach a gentle squeeze and tug. Ripe fruit give slightly in the hand or pull off.

For fruit higher in the tree, I shake the tree, what's ripe falls to the ground. Some may like them less ripe than using my second method of shaking the tree, but I'm not about to get a ladder out every day to test squeeze / pick saps.

[Coach62]

Gorgeous trees!

Ever since my brother (who lives in Florida) wrote this post about his desire for sapodillas, I've been thinking of getting him a tree for his yard. He currently has a huge mango tree, but can't stand mangoes! (If you can believe that.)

Are sapodillas pretty easy to get started with? Or will it take a decade to have trees like yours?

Different varieties grow at different rates.

My Silus Woods was very small, and started out slowly.  It's been in the ground just about a year and is blooming this year, assuming it holds the fruit.  I'll take pics tomorrow.  It seems to be starting a nice growth spurt the past several months. 

My Morena has only been in the ground about 6 months and seems to be off to a good start.

Bummer, what I thought were small fruit are actually blooms that are just now opening.  The buds look quite a bit like small fruit before they open.

[Kaelix87]

Out of curiosity, how much of a big difference are there in taste between the many varieties. Pretty much it's just brown sugar/maple syrup flavor right?

[nycteris]

Different varieties grow at different rates.

Thanks for the info! I'll do a little research on the growth rates and looking forward to the reply on whether there is variation in taste.