First Black Sapote Flowers

[Future]

https://flic.kr/p/Guo7sv

 While inspecting some tomato plants last week I noticed flowers on one of my black Sapote trees. This tree also happens to be the smallest of my black sapote trees although it is the same age as the rest.  I quickly inspected the other larger trees and confirm they also have flowers. Interestingly the smallest of the trees, only 3 feet tall, has an abundance of flowers while the larger trees only have a few. I also checked my largest tree and this too also has a few flowers.  Original seed was planted in 2012 and was seen I saved from fruit in Australia. The quality of the fruit was high and also fairly large hence it would be good if they were true or close to true to type.   Time will tell!

This will be my first significant success growing from seed (aside from other fruits that produce rapidly from seed such as guava).

[huertasurbanas]

Congratulations! I didnt knew black sapote could flower at 3 feet tall, so cool! I hope your fruits will be good enought! I have only one of these, and it's almost 3 feet tall too

[PahoaJo]

Very impressive to be flowering in four years from seed. Congrats! My black sapote is about the same age, but I think it is grafted. It put out four flowers this year and they all fell off. 
Hopefully next year will be better.  That has kind of been the story with all my fruit trees so far.  The first time they flower, they have all fallen off, but the second year, success!

[Mike T]

If the seed was from me it was most likely Flying saucer or Mossman but I also sent out a few of the very small goose egg type.All these are high quality and can fruit at a young age.

[Tomas]

Very cool. Is it still growing in a pot?

Tomas

[Future]

 I rechecked the label for the plant and these were actually planted in 2013!  They came from Tropical Fruit World in Brisbane (the fruits are actually at the bottom rhs of my avatar photo). So 3 years to flower...they were great fruits.

[Future]

Very cool. Is it still growing in a pot?

Tomas

These are all planted in the ground.  Most are in cloth pots buried.  The largest is placed directly in the ground.  I find the plants to be ultra drought resistant and still have some that never made it out of gallon pots, ignored and still alive.  One day I will use black Sapote as a root stock...

[Mike T]

Tropical fruit world is well out of the tropics and I understand it has the standard black sapote varieties.

[Future]

2nd year flowering now.  Even tiny tree has flowers.  The big one is loaded.  Appears to have female and male flowers.  Has anyone hand pollinated black sapote?

[Finca La Isla]

We have a plethora of great pollinators here but we don't really get terrific fruit set on black sapote.
I have seen, in Oaxaca, very large trees just coated with black sapote.  That's the place where I've had the best of that fruit as well.  The climate is very arid there so no doubt black sapote is drought resistant.
Peter

[Future]

Other than the obvious - waiting - how do you tell if a fruit has set?

Yesterday I notice the first flower browning, and today even more.  I figured it hadn't set so pulled on it and the base of the flower stayed put, with a pea sized immature white fruit sitting in the middle.

Who knows what happens next?  Last year, all my flowers fell off at their stems.

[Finca La Isla]

That ought to be the start of a fruit.  Hopefully it stays put.  There's nothing else to do that I know of.  Knowing when to pick black sapote can be tricky.
Peter

[Future]

That ought to be the start of a fruit.  Hopefully it stays put.  There's nothing else to do that I know of.  Knowing when to pick black sapote can be tricky.
Peter

Thanks!

I looked again today and it seems bigger than yesterday....time will tell.  I am fairly certain no male flowers we open as this female was way ahead of all other flowers.  Maybe hermerphadite.

Chris of Truly Tropical has a YouTube video on black sapote.  She says nice the sepals lift off the fruit, it is time to pick...and wait until it is olive green mushy almost falling apart, forms a flat spot when rested on the counter ripe.

[Future]

It dropped.

[Future]

Recently Truly Tropical YouTube video indicate when female flower tips darken, it has been pollinated.  I have one that looks darkened...time will tell.n I also note ants frequenting the tree, tending to a few mealy bugs.  They might be pollinators...I don't see make flowers opening on thus tree so grafting onto it for next season may help.

[LEOOEL]

It looks like we'll be getting a second harvest in this year from my Black-Sapote fruit tree. It's great when quality fruit trees have more than one harvest per year. The tree is full of flowers right now. I'm watering it every day to attempt maximizing fruit production.

The first Black-Sapote fruit harvest for this year was around February. I got this only Black Sapote tree in my yard from Excalibur Nursery. The fruit are grapefruit size. The variety name may be Mossman, but not sure.

[michsu]

Haha got only one fruit.. but even last year had plenty of flowers.. this is 2nd year in ground.. i think it is because we got some more rain here in Sothetn CA this year so it was more humid?

[Future]

First fruits!

https://flic.kr/p/U6PpSy

These are ironically, on my smallest tree.  The big isolated tree has been dropping flowers for weeks.  There are two potential fruits on it also.  The ones in the link are the most developed on the three foot tall tree which I noticed a week or so ago had immature fruit that seemed bigger than an unpoliinated flower.  Now they are showing that was legit...

[Future]

Smallest tree is loaded now.  I will thin to no more than 6 fruits. One bigger tree has two fruits or so.  The biggest tree (by far) hasn't shown anything.  Will graft a branch from this smaller on to the larger.

[michsu]

Mine got a bit bigger too.. and other smaller ones coming out too...

Good luck Future.

June 14 picture