Give up on/replace this unproductive Hasya sapodilla? Or stick it out?

[behlgarden]

Did you leave some leaves attached to the scion wood? When I received some scion wood in the mail, the leaves on top were left intact, but I removed them when I grafted it. Not sure if I did that wrong or not.

I removed all the leaves on my scion wood, I think this is normally done (that I know of...). but I wrapped it all with "Buddytape", which I find to be superior (stretchier, thinner yet stronger) than the less expensive "Parafilm tape".

The age of your Hasya tree may have some role in it's inability to set and hold fruits. From a 15G tree with lots of flowers that I planted, after 2 years; -even with my manual pollinations help from me-, it only produced one lonely fruit each year!  Now, it's on the 3rd year, only less than a handful of Hasya are hanging atm, while my 2 Alano branches have plenty, and I think they are self pollinating.  I can say that this Hasya tree had been my biggest disappointment...considering the price I paid and the amount of work/care I gave..., but things are looking better now, with my converting program ongoing...

Jeff, you are in a different league! Besides of your superior knowledge of caring trees, you also have much improved soil I noticed, and lots of sapodilla trees (9 or 10?) in a cluster that may also contribute the pollinations, (I only have 1 tree) on top of that you are in Florida, so lots of humidity too...Jealous! But thanks for your helpful inputs, I always value them...!

Why not multigraft most producive varieties on your established tree, and leave one branch as is of Hasya. you will come ahead next year.

[Cookie Monster]

Healthy looking tree doesn't always mean sufficient minerals for fruit set. Sometimes, failure to set can be a mineral deficiency. Not 100% sure that's the case with your saps. But would be worth trying to load them up on micros and high quality N-containing fertilizer. Since saps are tolerant of salt, you can really go wild with the N.

My haysa gets helena's 0-0-6, which contains a lot of micros (like 15% iron from memory + a bunch of others in high amounts), helena's 90% slow release 8-2-12 with sulfur + minors, and Har's special mix (overlap from nearby mangoes), and irrigation twice a week. It's just slightly less productive than my morena.

The Tikal we have planted out in the street will barf out a ton of fruit if I fertilize the heck out of it but is a shy producer otherwise, despite the fact that it's been in ground for about a decade.

Fertilizer is king.

Yeah mine is constantly fed with compost and fertilizer. Blooms a lot with no fruit set.

I do too.. Very healthy looking tree, lots of flowers but not a single fruit.

[Samu]

Why not multigraft most producive varieties on your established tree, and leave one branch as is of Hasya. you will come ahead next year.

Behl,
I agree, we had the same idea, I began this process since 2015, as I mentioned in my post above:

I've already started "converting" my Hasya tree to a cocktail one, by cutting the Hasya branch, one at a time then top work on the sprouts that will form.

Appreciate your suggestion, Behl!

I currently have Makok, Alano, Silas Wood branches and couple others on my Hasya tree. Doing it this way, besides saving yard space, hopefully will also help with cross pollinations and supply me with continuous fruits throughout the year, even at just a couple of fruits a week...

[simon_grow]

I posted this in another thread but feel it has relevance here as well:

I’ve been reading many of the Sapodilla threads on this forum recently and have noticed that many members have fruiting issues with Hasya Sapodillas. Many of the members report that they have healthy trees that are relatively large and established yet they get very few to zero fruit from their trees each year.

Cookie Monster is one of the few members that gets good fruit set but he’s very experienced and has an excellent fertilizer regimen. I Believe Cookie Monster also reported that his Hasya fruit has very few seeds, like 1.

Samu reported that his tree hasn’t produced well, even with hand pollination.

Cookie Monster has multiple varieties so his tree likely gets cross pollination from the other varieties but even with cross pollination, if the fruit only has about 1 seed, it seems plausible that Hasya may have incomplete pollination issues where the pollen isn’t fully functioning or the female portion isn’t fully functioning. Whatever it is, it appears that having multiple varieties for cross pollination or properly fertilizing can be beneficial to Hasyas production.

While looking up YouTube videos, I came across this video where the guy uses a special hand squeezing technique to pollinate the flowers. Using this technique, he went from getting 7 fruit last year to 40-50 fruit this year. He does have another variety(Alano) planted in his yard so there is likely cross pollination but this technique may be worth trying out for those with a Hasya tree.

Notice that he doesn’t just squeeze any random flower but he inspects it to make sure the flowers are in the proper stage of growth. If the flower just opened, the pollen may not be dry yet, if the flower is too old, the pollen may have all fallen or blown off already.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zucYvt8cGVo#fauxfullscreen

Something else to consider is that if this technique does work, you will have to be able to reach the flowers in order to hand pollinate them. Hasya may be a variety that you want to prune in such a manner that the fruiting branches are always within easy reach.

Simon

[OCchris1]

I have done this and it works. Proper flower stage is crucial however. Good job posting this info Simon! Good luck everybody.

[Mugenia]

I have 2 haysa and 2 Alano sapodillas planted in a row. I will find out if they will cross- pollinate in about a year or two.

[Aotis]

Greetings everyone,

I know this is an old post but wanted to see if anyone has any updates?

I have attached a screenshot of a comment on a YouTube video in Vietnamese. In the video itself, the guy was just stressing about micronutrients with fertilization. The interesting thing regarding the picture I attached is from the comment. The guy said that he noticed on branches where bugs bore into them to feed would set fruit. So in the following year he would try something similar as to reduce the sap to the branch and he would have successful fruit set. So much that some branch would break. I did read somewhere that in order to increase fruit production, people would use salt water to stress the tree to prevent it from growing and to increase fruit set. The idea of stressing the tree isn't new (like girdling it) but may apply here.

[Mike T]

When in doubt chop it out. I chopped down 6 sapodillas of different varieties for bad productivity. All I have left are 2 krasueys that are everbearing and branches are buckling under the weight of fruit and have been all year. I have never seen fruit trees as productive. With my poorer types I tried nutrients, ph, adjustment and belting the trees around to no avail.

[gnappi]

My makok has been in ground since 2011 and for the last 3 years it has produced nicely without hand pollination or extreme efforts to fertilize it. I am in an area without bees or other pollinators so I assume it is self fertile.

Now my 2 caimito and soursop are on the short list for the axe and firepit.

[Guanabanus]

Have you checked on the levels of Calcium and Magnesium and Zinc and Copper for your unproductive trees?  Especially if you have deep sandy soil, you cannot expect species from the Yucatan region to thrive and produce without your adding lots of Calcium.  That does include Sapodillas and Caimitos and Canistels.

[Mike T]

My makok and sawo manila had a few fruit and being planted near the krasuey just seemed inferior in many respects in the same conditions.Comparing multiple crops of hundreds of pounds to trees that have 20 fruit a year of lower quality did it for me.There were ample cross pollination and the trees were all well nourished and healthy.

[Mike T]

I will take a couple of pix right now while there are still unpicked fruit.

[mangokothiyan]

My makok and sawo manila had a few fruit and being planted near the krasuey just seemed inferior in many respects in the same conditions.Comparing multiple crops of hundreds of pounds to trees that have 20 fruit a year of lower quality did it for me.There were ample cross pollination and the trees were all well nourished and healthy.

Is there any way to  get a grafted Krasuey in South Florida???

[Ulfr]

Mike did you try ‘tropical’ there? I have bkd111, tropical and krasuey between 1 and 2 years in the ground. Both krasuey and tropical flower like crazy. All are too small to fruit/let fruit at this stage.

[Guanabanus]

I had never seen nor heard of the Krasuey.  Very impressive!

Here in southern Florida, The Alano and Morena are very productive, and the Alano does also have a long season;  however, looks as though Krasuey has them beat, at least in your conditions.