Butterscotch sapodilla questions

[Julie]

I have a Haysa sapodilla and want to get a second sapodilla as a pollinator.

When does Butterscotch flower - would it be flowering at the same time as Haysa?

When does Butterscotch have it's fruit maturing?

For those who have Butterscotch sapodilla - how does it taste compared to Haysa?

[achetadomestica]

I have a smaller butterscotch and it is flowering now

[Julie]

Thank you, that's helpful, my Haysa is flowering now as well

[brian]

Do sapodilla require a pollinator?  I only have one and that didn't occur to me until now. 

[roblack]

BS is flowering now, and Silas Woods off and on all year. You can hand pollinate by lightly squeezing flowers, just after they open a little bit.

[Julie]

Do sapodilla require a pollinator?  I only have one and that didn't occur to me until now.

My understanding is that Haysa can produce as a single tree, but the amount of fruit you get will be much more if you have another sapodilla tree nearby.  My Haysa tree produced one fruit without another sapodilla in my yard so far.  In a greenhouse not sure how this would apply - at least you would need insects to enter the greenhouse, or do hand pollination.  I know some trees can self pollinate if you shake the branch - not sure.

[Julie]

BS is flowering now, and Silas Woods off and on all year. You can hand pollinate by lightly squeezing flowers, just after they open a little bit.

How was the taste of the fruit Rob compared to other sapodillas?

Does your butterscotch sapodilla produce fruit in winter or in summer?

[brian]

My understanding is that Haysa can produce as a single tree, but the amount of fruit you get will be much more if you have another sapodilla tree nearby.  My Haysa tree produced one fruit without another sapodilla in my yard so far.  In a greenhouse not sure how this would apply - at least you would need insects to enter the greenhouse, or do hand pollination.  I know some trees can self pollinate if you shake the branch - not sure.

Thanks, I will have to check and see if my Tikal sapodilla is known to be self-fruitful or not

[roblack]

Our tree is still small, about 5 - 6 feet. Past fruits did not make it to ripening, so I have yet to try. Unless a bunch of people are lying to me, it is probably the best sap any of us will have had.

[sumognat]

I have had a Butterscotch in the ground for the past couple of years. It was small when I planted and it is approaching 6ft tall now, but still has a spindly trunk. It flowered last year (no fruits) and flowered this year again, but didn’t set any fruits. It seems to be dropping off in its flowering now. I think the tree is still too young to support a full size fruit.  I tried squishing flowers and it didn’t work for me.

I recently bought 7g Thomas and Hasya varieties to help with pollination. The Thomas and Hasya are flowering now. Seems a bit later than my Butterscotch. Neither of those have set fruit either, but I think they are still too small. The trunk circumference is similar to my BS.

I also picked up a 7g Alano and a tiny Silas Wood, so I think my sap collection is now complete. 😂

I have not tried anything other than Alano.

Julie - how big was your Hasya when it set fruit?

[Honest Abe]

I have a 5 foot butterscotch sap in ground for bout a year and a half plus now. I don’t have a bother sap and it’s been holding a fruit and flowering non stop for a month or two now it’s not ready to pick and the other flowers a havnt set fruit. My buddy has one and it has already fruited at same size. He has had better fruit-set and he attributes it t directly to having another sap close by in his yard.


Good luck, he says it tasted great by the way and totally different.

Off topic, tasted one from Alex today called “gigantia” and it was excellent and HUGE.

[roblack]

Think BS has set:





...there is a nice sized Silas Woods tree within 30 feet or so, which is almost constantly flowering and fruiting.

[Julie]

I have had a Butterscotch in the ground for the past couple of years. It was small when I planted and it is approaching 6ft tall now, but still has a spindly trunk. It flowered last year (no fruits) and flowered this year again, but didn’t set any fruits. It seems to be dropping off in its flowering now. I think the tree is still too young to support a full size fruit.  I tried squishing flowers and it didn’t work for me.

I recently bought 7g Thomas and Hasya varieties to help with pollination. The Thomas and Hasya are flowering now. Seems a bit later than my Butterscotch. Neither of those have set fruit either, but I think they are still too small. The trunk circumference is similar to my BS.

I also picked up a 7g Alano and a tiny Silas Wood, so I think my sap collection is now complete. 😂

I have not tried anything other than Alano.

Julie - how big was your Hasya when it set fruit?

About 8 feet, but it only produced one fruit.  Now this year it has a gouge in the trunk so not sure how much fruit it will produce.

Rob - that doesn't mean the fruit has set.  You need to wait and see if any baby fruits start to form.

[mikesid]

 I had 10 x 15g Butterscotch growing next to each other and got 3 fruits total from them. I sold all except one and planted it and put an 'Excalibur' sap next to it in ground and its fruited a couple times and now has 6 fruit on it. I've heard from another person growing Butterscotch that they had same issue until they planted another sapodilla near by.

[sumognat]

Rob- I hope they are pollintated, but my blooms looked like that (and I thought they were pollinated), but they all dried up and fell off.

Julie - Thanks, that's helpful!  I still think my tree is too small to hold fruit and it probably didn't help that I didn't have other saps in the yard until this month.  Saps are tough trees and your tree will be ok.

Mike - That info is helpful, too--thanks!

[Julie]

Exactly.  This is why I'm adding another sapodilla, and I want it to be a top tier fruit one.

[Seanny]

Which varieties bloom same time as Butterscotch?

[JR561]

Mine is about 6ft and is planted next to Excalibur and thomas.

Seems to be setting a bunch of fruit but reading some of these comments Im hoping for the best.

[sumognat]

For people planting saps "next to each other" for cross pollination...how far is "next to each other"?  I have my trees spaced 20ft apart and hoping that's close enough.

[DocTropical]

Hi everyone. New to the forum and to sapodilla horticulture in general.

I recently purchased this grafted butterscotch sapodilla. As others have mentioned, it has been flowering for the past several weeks—I tried hand pollinating multiple flowers but am unsure if fruit set. My flowers look exactly like the ones posted by roblack.

How old would you estimate this tree to be? Should it be able to produce fruit this year? It’s in a 25 gallon container, for reference.

Thanks!

[sumognat]

At that size, it should definitely be able to produce. No idea on age, my BS has been in the ground since 2021 and was maybe 1.5ft tall when I bought it.  The width of the trunk is probably 1/3 the size of your tree. They grow slow, especially in the beginning.

[CarolinaZone]

Mine is in a container. There is another sapodilla in a container in my yard. They both have had little furits but none have matured.

[DocTropical]

If you cross pollinate one variety of sapodilla with another (e.g., a butterscotch next to an Alano), does this change the nature of the fruit? Sapodillas are supposed to be self-pollinating, from what I’ve read.

Anyone know if self-pollination with a paintbrush leads to superior fruit set/yield when compared to pinching/rolling each flower?

[simon_grow]

If you cross pollinate one variety of sapodilla with another (e.g., a butterscotch next to an Alano), does this change the nature of the fruit? Sapodillas are supposed to be self-pollinating, from what I’ve read.

Anyone know if self-pollination with a paintbrush leads to superior fruit set/yield when compared to pinching/rolling each flower?

If you cross pollinate, it should not change the taste of the fruit. Cross pollination can improve fruit set and there is a chance there will be more seeds which may or may not increase fruit size but the flavor will not be affected.

I’ve only got one small Alano tree planted in ground and it’s multigrafted with Thomas and I plan to also add BS to it but currently waiting for my BS to get a little bigger as it’s only in a one gallon container and about 9 inches tall.

Simon

[Johnny Eat Fruit]

I have a small butterscotch sapodilla tree and it is flowering now in my greenhouse here in SoCal but I don't expect any fruit.

I purchased my small tree in May 2022 which was described at the time as a (3) gallon but arrived very small with an underdeveloped root system with a pencil size lower rootstock that was 18" high (see 1st Photo). A year later it seems to have grown well. Looking forward to trying the fruit in 2-4 years. Plan to move it into a larger #7 pot later this summer.

For the time being, I will graft the butterscotch sapodilla onto several existing sapodilla trees I already have in the ground. Will give updates as time progresses. 

Johnny

Butterscotch Sapodilla 5-23-2022


Butterscotch Sapodilla 5-21-2023