Zone Pushing the Sapote Family

[Bush2Beach]

Agreed.
No one has enough fruit coming in on even a handful of tree's though to follow the way, I think it's only a matter time though . Everyone should planting lots of seeds and keep sourcing from as many different tree's as possible to find one that does great and fruits prolifically. Glad to see good moist type Lucuma scion going around the last couple of years.
Both of these fruits have to sit on the tree for a year, so they have to hold over whatever winter brings their way and ripen through it.

Green sapote and lucuma seem to be the only reasonable sapote candidates for CA, imo, unless you're down in SD.

[FigoVelo]

Jonah, do the moist-fleshed lucuma varieties have names? I’d like to be sure I get the best ones eventually.

[Bush2Beach]

I have not seen the one's you mentioned in message. The only cultivars I have heard of are the ones from Papaya Tree.
there is a tree at quail gardens, 1 at fullerton and 1 at Ben Poirer's and those are the 3 accesible fruiting Lucuma in CA I know of, but none named varieties.

Jonah, do the moist-fleshed lucuma varieties have names? I’d like to be sure I get the best ones eventually.

[nullzero]

I grafted Pecan Pie lucuma and its flowering now reported to be a moist type. Funny enough my rootstock was a seedling from Exotica nursery and its now flowering as well for first time.

[K-Rimes]

I will keep an eye on the local lucuma trees I found in Goleta to see if I can get a fruit sample. I do know that Jack in Nipomo has a good lucuma which I was happy to eat out of hand, I'd call it moist, or at least close to canistel. ScottR has a drier one. I think same seed batch?

[Pouteria_fan]

Redlands, CA Zone 9b checking in here:


Last year, my black sapote totally defoliated with winter, lost a ton of healthy growth, and looked dead. Thanks to the advice of folks here, I kept it, and it recovered, has survived this winter. Really doesn't like weather below 40F. I used much more aggressive covering this winter, most of the season, and only had one dead leaf. Hopefully it is tougher now.


Canistel, two years old, from seed. Doesn't seem to get fazed by the cold weather, but isn't very fast growing either.


Green Sapote, seedling, from Hawaii seller. It has survived two winters now, and keeps putting on growth. Still small but robust. MUCH better than the waste of money one I purchased on Mamey rootstock a few years ago, that one is now dead.


Lucuma, from seed. Growing robustly, kept growing during the winter, and looks the best out of my my sapotes. It's about 1.5 years old at this point, probably 20" tall?


I have many white sapote seedlings, and several trees in the ground. They did not seem to need any covering for the winter, and seem definitely suited for this climate. (Didn't include photos).

Keep the posts coming! And if someone has green sapote seeds available, let me know

[JSea]

I'm growing lucuma and green sapote fairly well, although no fruit. I have a grafted lucuma that is flowering now, although I don't think it will set any fruit for a few years until it's bigger.

Lucuma is much hardier in our climate and rarely seems to experience any issues at all. I have lost almost no plants over the last few years.

Green sapote seems much weaker, and I lost a number of plants, but a few are doing well, including one grafted onto lucuma rootstock (it has yet to spend an entire Winter unprotected though).

Canistel is absolutely not suited to our climate at all, and I lost all plants that were kept outside in the same conditions as lucuma. Even the one that I bring into a greenhouse to overwinter, basically doesn't grow during Summer due to low heat.

Black sapote, I have one seedling that now survives fine outside. It defoliated the first few years, but seems to be okay now over Winter.

White sapote grow quite well locally, and there's some mature trees locally. I haven't planted any out yet, but am looking to select some new varieties. Some of the varieties have difficulty ripening due to low heat.

[SDPirate]

Neat thread.  I am growing out a handful of Pouteria myself.

Pouteria/Planchanella Australis is a very easy to grow tree here and grows quite rapidly.  The pic below is from over 6 months ago and it is in a bigger pot now but could use a even bigger pot or go into the ground very soon.  Did not even wince during winter and can handle up to mid 90s on the hottest part of summer in direct sun with no issue.



Pouteria Hypoglauca seems to be fine though that is recent addition to my collection.  There is a fellow in my neck of the woods that got that one to fruit here so should be okay.



Pradosia Lactescens cv. Gigante.  Think I had this one since December.  Zero issues with the cold, no bad looking leaves or anything.  Will see how it does when summer sun turns up the heat.



The only Pouteria that is not looking best is Green Sapote, it is kind of raggedy looking after winter and is just starting to bounce back.  I have a small Mamey seedling that I left outside unprotected like a month ago and has some small discolored blotches on leaves I believe from chilly weather.

[Rauf]

According my experience black sapote becomes dormant, loose leaves like  persimmon during gradually cooling winter and doesn't suffer  even from freezing temperatures ( 26-28°F ) at all. White sapote in contract to this despite of supposed being cold hardy completely loses leaves and has some  dieback on small branches at the same location. Canistel and Ross sapote can't withstand the winter even in my unprotected greenhouse, they died ( interestingly, I have one canistel seedling which grew from seed in 2022. In winter 2022-2023 it died like others in greenhouse, but resprouted in May, is very weak,  I put it indoors, still only 2",  alive, but doesn't want to grow, does anyone see something like that?).
As I understood, green sapote and lucuma are very cold hardy, I'd also be happy if someone could sell me a couple of seeds-)

[Pouteria_fan]

Partly based on this thread, I became interested in another sapote, the cinnamon apple.

It seems to be very difficult to find, but I lucked out and got one through Facebook.

I also went down to Exotica. They currently have two. The owner stated one he did not want to sell, it was about four and a half feet tall, supposedly 8 to 10 years old. Nice leaf structure.

The second would he offered to sell did not have as many leaves, was around 3 and 1/2 ft tall, and was reportedly around the same age. So if you are interested in another sapote, and don't mind going to San Diego, take a look!

[Bush2Beach]

There are a few big fruiting Pouteria Hypoglauca tree's at fruit and spice. I'd imagine most of the seeds and seedlings going around are most easily collected and distributed from these tree's. It's pretty good!

Partly based on this thread, I became interested in another sapote, the cinnamon apple.

It seems to be very difficult to find, but I lucked out and got one through Facebook.

I also went down to Exotica. They currently have two. The owner stated one he did not want to sell, it was about four and a half feet tall, supposedly 8 to 10 years old. Nice leaf structure.

The second would he offered to sell did not have as many leaves, was around 3 and 1/2 ft tall, and was reportedly around the same age. So if you are interested in another sapote, and don't mind going to San Diego, take a look!