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Topics - Archer

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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Black sapote never fruit sets
« on: August 12, 2019, 11:16:14 PM »
I have a black sapote that I've grown from a little seedling.  My wife got it on ebay so I don't know very much about it.  It's about 8 feet tall with a pretty sturdy trunk.  It's covered in buds right now with a few blossomed.  Seems extremely happy.

So my issue is it's been blooming every year for a few years but no fruit.  Last year I inspected a few of the flowers and compared them to an image online.  I believe I've only found female flowers.

Here's a photo of a blossom and one next to it where the pedals turn brown and I pulled them off to show the internal structure.  I believe this is a female flower.



I don't have a second tree so there's nothing to cross pollinate with.  My understanding based on very thin information online is these trees are either solely male or have both male and female flowers.  However, I read this article which has vague wording that might suggest some trees have flowers which each are both male and female.

Can anyone straighten me out on this?

I've also read that most black sapotes that are sold are self-fertile but there's no way to know for sure if mine is.

Another concern I have is pollinators.  We've got plenty of bees, but can bees actually get into these tiny flowers?

I don't really have room for a 2nd tree but I could put one in a container.  If I can source a mature male tree just to put next to it to pollinate I could at least rule out the flower sex issue.  But that may be difficult.

Any advice appreciated.

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