Trompo Canistel Growth Rate

[quesofreshcoh]

Hi everyone, I purchased a grafted Trompo Canistel earlier this year and planted it around mid-May. It produced one growth flush and is still only about 2.5 feet tall. I think it's getting ready to produce another flush, but I wanted to know if anyone else has a slow-growing one or if it's just me. I know some people say their Trompo grows pretty fast, but I feel like even my Hasya Sapodilla is quicker (although it's mostly suckers at this point, and I will probably pull it and put a jaboticaba or an alano sap in its place.) Does anyone else have a recommendation to get the canistel to grow somewhat quicker? I fertilized and it took it well, but I don't know if I just have a slow one. I know it's only the first year so I probably shouldn't be worrying much, I am just curious to hear what yall's experience is!

[JF]

Trompo is a fast grow it will out grow yr Haysa within two year and start producing hundreds of fruits after 4-5 years ..... at least in Orange County California. With regards to what to feed it, I used bioflora and cottonseed for the first two years and now just mulch it heavy after every year. Look at my instagram I have pix of the fruits and tree.

[Johnny Redland]

I have had the opposite experience. My Trompo is a VERY slow grower. Bought the tree as a 7 gal about 5 feet tall 3 years ago. It’s about 6 feet tall now and a bit thicker.  But yes, it produces heavily

[Epicatt2]

Queso,

I moved my 'Trompo' from a 3 gal pot to a 7 gal pot in June and it grew lot of new leaves and flushed dozens and dozens of buds.  It didn't set any fruit this blooming but I consider that was due to the move up and it still getting itself established in the new pot.

I did get one fruit last year out of another big flush of buds.

I'll leave it in the 7 gal pot for a few more months and then put it in the ground in a sheltered situation to protect it from the cooler weather.

I have another seedling canistel bought in a 2-inch pot in Feb. this year.  It was ten inches tall when I received it and needed to be moved up so it went into a 3 gal pot and now its quickly closing on 2 feet tall.

Seems like my canisteles slow their growth down once they've become rootbound in their pots.  That's just my experience with them but it may not hold true for everyone.

I'm guessing that next season the 'Trompo' will start making me some fruit.

So Queso, give your 'Trompo' a little more time to get well established and be sure to feed it weakly weekly.  That should help it, too.

OK – HTH

Paul M.
==
PS–FWIW – I also bought a Lucuma (a close canistel relative) in a 2-inch pot in Feb this year and moved it up into a one gallon pot.  It was about seven inches tall and now it's about 16-inches tall and continuing to grow fast.
==

[CarolinaZone]

Trompo is a fast grow it will out grow yr Haysa within two year and start producing hundreds of fruits after 4-5 years ..... at least in Orange County California. With regards to what to feed it, I used bioflora and cottonseed for the first two years and now just mulch it heavy after every year. Look at my instagram I have pix of the fruits and tree.

Cottonseed and bioflora? What are those? I never heard of them.

[quesofreshcoh]

I have had the opposite experience. My Trompo is a VERY slow grower. Bought the tree as a 7 gal about 5 feet tall 3 years ago. It’s about 6 feet tall now and a bit thicker.  But yes, it produces heavily

That's good then, I really should have sprung for the 7 gallon. I hope next year it picks up. I am gonna continue fertilizing with some citrus tone because all my plants have responded well to that. I was worried it would be a slow grower but as long as it produces heavily, I am okay with that. It's the fruit I'm after anyways, but it would be nice for it to fill in quickly. There's a saying that the trees that are slowest to grow produce the best fruits!

[brian]

My only canistel is Bruce but it has been a slow grower so far for me, compared to citrus, cherimoya, jackfruit trees in same environment.

[pineislander]

I have 2 Trompo 3 years in the ground and they have been slow. I let one hold a few fruit but have decided that may have slowed it down and will remove this year. I really like this fruit two at a time are all I can eat they are very hearty & filling.

[Rex Begonias]

My Trompo I planted out from a 3 gal 1.5yrs ago and it looks OK, but also barely grown.  I was wondering this as well, and glad to see I’m not alone.

[brian]

I realized this past week that my canistel's root collar looks a bit rotted, but still alive.  I have all my in-ground trees set up with drip irrigation, but because this one has been a slow grower I think it can't absorb all the water, and because I had my greenhouse filled with containers over the winter I wasn't able to see its injury until now (when I moved the containers outside). 


HOWEVER, I think it is flowering for the first time now.  At least, these look like tiny flower buds to me?

[Finca La Isla]

Those don’t look like canistel flower buds to me. The flowers come on their own stems protruding from the foliage rosette much like sapodilla.
Peter

[cbss_daviefl]

This is what the flowers look like.

[brian]

Any idea what they might be?  New lateral branches forming? 

Or, do you think this is not actually canistel?  I still have the nursery tag, came from TopTropicals.




they kinda look like these pictures of canistel I found on growables.org

[Finca La Isla]

Perhaps they are flowers.  At first I didn’t see the stems but now I believe they could be.
Peter

[brian]

Definitely flowers, and a ton of them.  I hope at least one holds.