The Tropical Fruit Forum

My 'Hana Fuyu' pushed new growth mid March. My 'Hudson'/ 'South Florida' started pushing growth in early March. It never looked this good (soil amendments and dependable irrigation).  It's currently holding 2 flowers. Scratch the bark gently. If green its alive. Just still sleeping.

I ordered some cutting recently and wasn't able to properly process them after a week they've been delivered. Luckily the seller wrapped em in damp paper towels and used rubber bands so they clung to the cuttings. They sprouted but more impressively- rooted(!) in the packaging. Long healthy fibrous roots. So as long they cutting are damp and don't dry they should be viable.

LZ no blooms. Tog Bi Con...partial (80%).

A bunch of them started to soften up allot yesterday evening compared to when I received them on Thursday. Pictured is the softest. The skin got wrinkly and looked like a boiled whole egg that was shelled and then fried. It fit nicely in the hand and was easy to cut. Smelled like a ripe mamey sapote- though the flesh looked slightly paler. First scoop, it was extremely sweet. Super sweet with a smooth flesh. No other flavors noted. It tasted like mamey sapotes I've had before that I thoroughly enjoyed. I ate half of the fruit and was pleased to find that the smooth flesh was consistent throughout. No unripened areas encountered or tasted. I attempted a brix reading using my 'economy' refractometer, but it would not register (> 30⁰). Overall, I'm very pleased with this fruit and think it would suffice as a mamey sapote substitute for my usda zone 9b FL (still have to frost protect).
Fruitguy (thank you) mentioned some great pluses I see with the this fruit.
1. The size is perfect for an individual serving. The fruit was intense for me. I could only eat half  .
2. The ripening indicator. Green Sapote skin gets some orange patches when its ripening- a big plus versus scraping the skin of the mamey sapote.

A couple more fruit to go . Thank you Lara Farms. Seemed like they picked it at an optimal stage and time.

So I ordered some green sapote fruit (5lbs) from Lara Farms and I was expecting 2 or 3 but got like 11 lol. They are about tennis ball size. I've been wanting to try this fruit forever as most accounts contrasting them to mamey sapote....tasters of both prefer green sapote (and I fine mamey sapote delicious). So my question is what's the best way to counter ripen them? Covered/uncovered but breathable? The fruit I received have some patches of orange (ripe?) with green but are hard to the touch.

'Yehuda' and 'Turkey' now. (FL 9B)

Red or pink guavas for me. I've grown em most of whats available in FL and they are not as sweet as I'd like to be worth growing- plus I get that vomit vibes when eating it lol. I enjoy the asian white types wayyy more as they are firm when ripe and the fruit size is almost double. There is a white 'pear shaped' type that I really love but its production is sparse. Starwberry guava (Psidium cattleyanum) is where it's at. Beautiful lush ornamental tree, evergreen in my zone, with delicious bit sized fruits that are enjoyable at various stages of ripening.

Old thread but information related to loquat var 'Pupello'.

I have a plant obtain from JF&E that's been in the ground maybe over 1.5 years. First time it held fruits till they ripened orange. Tasted very sweet- almost syrupy, with no acidic component. "Sweet tangerine or citrus" flavors I got with other cvs didn't come to mind when I tasted these last week. Just syrup. Fruits were on the small side though. Tree is barely 3 ft tall.

^^^ Good nursery. Bought from her a couple of  times. Very responsive on FB messenger.

Keep em. They are salvageable and will bounce right back if given shade at that young stage. I have 2 in ground with irrigation, not getting any direct sunlight that were burnt to the ground from back to back days of frost this year from 3 ft tall. I thought they were dead but they bounced right back at almost 1.5 feet with wide dark green leaves.

How much direct sunlight do they get? Give it some dilute (~ 1/10 strength) liquid fert with micros and observe for a month. I transplanted a large yellow type trunk that was severely root pruned to a new location and it took 4-5 months before it  leafed out. Is the bark still green when scraped? Potting up might induce some vigor.

Psidium cattleyanum. I have a 12ft tree that's into it's second week of fruit ripening right now. It did not even flinch with the back to back sub 25 degrees F my FL 9B zone in early February 2022. Everything else that was exposed was fried unless during that time it was dormant. These are so flavorful and easy to eat! One or two seeds can be big versus the bunch so be careful when chewing. But most of all the skin isn't as off putting to me like Psidium guajava. Just get a handful and pop em in your mouth like peanut M&Ms.

Julie .