Pouteria lucuma

[Fazendeiro]

As I wrote earlier the Peruvians taught me that I need to let the Lucuma sit until it has wrinkles. I did that with all Lucuma fruits I bought or bought already wrinkly ones. Even so there were big differences in taste which I think could be the cultivars because I never bought fruit at the same market while travelling.

But I'll keep that in mind and get a chance to buy Lucuma for the next time, I'll try that out.

People earlier in this thread were writing that the highland species was inedible because it was so dry - I really would like to compare it with the lowland one. But from the size description those I had were all softball-sized.

[K-Rimes]

Bringing this thread back from the grave to show off these stunner lucuma I found on the streets of SB. The owner of San Marcos Growers asked me to identify and sent photos of fruit on them. Lucuma for sure. These were planted between 2011 and 2017, don’t know what year.

[nattyfroootz]

Dayum!!! Thats so awesome.  You see any fruit on em or anything?

[K-Rimes]

Dayum!!! Thats so awesome.  You see any fruit on em or anything?

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No fruit or flowers noted, but Randy of SMG did send me photos of these trees with fruit on them. Very good sign for lucumas here in CA! I do think having two is a good idea, though.

[nattyfroootz]

So awesome to see, have you gotten a chance to go check them out? would be dope to get some scion from that. I might have to make a pilgrimage to check em out!

[K-Rimes]

Yep! Those photos are from yesterday. I can’t tell anything about fruit quality but certainly the trees are mature. You know you’re always welcome any time, come on by! Got a lot of rad new Eugenia from my Brazil trip sprouting too.

[ScottR]

Wow nice find Kevin, would like to see pic's of fruit that SMG-friend has would be interesting to see what size and color fruit they have. Could be worth grafting onto one of my tree's.

[Bush2Beach]

[FigoVelo]

I'm going to be needing scions from lucuma cultivars soon. I live in Sonoma County, smack on the boundary of zone 9a and 9b. I have 2 very happy seedling lucumas from Wildlands, purchased over the summer. I plan to plant one in my greenhouse and one outdoors. I could probably graft this year though it wouldn't hurt to wait, either.

Does anyone have suggested varieties to graft, given my location (light frost most winters)? And, where might I find scions?

I ate loads of lucuma in Peru in 2013. I was biking north along the coast and I discovered this fruit at a roadside fruit stand within an hour of leaving the Lima airport. I ate them daily, along with giant cherimoyas that could be bought for a dollar, until I reached Ecuador - then, like a light switch, no more lucumas except for one isolated fruit stand somewhere along the Avenue of the Volcanoes. I have no idea what varieties I was eating.

I also discovered mamey on that trip, and the best mangoes of my life.

Yum...

[K-Rimes]

Here is a photo of the fruit, looks like nice size for sure. Shame we can't see the ripe color! I will be keeping an eye on these trees for the next year and try to see if I can get some info on fruit size, quality, color, etc. It is a street planted tree and very public. I'll ask the owners about it if I see some action there as well. If they don't know what they are and their importance, I'll be sure to get them up to speed!

[ScottR]

Cool Kevin, looks like a big green fruited variety they will get bigger then just drop with green skin but the main fact to know is it dry flesh or moist hope it's a moist one!!
Thanks for posting

[elouicious]

Sweet!

I think they hang on the tree for 2 calendar years which might explain the minimal fruiting

[ScottR]

No, the fruit sets in mid year to fall then following Jan-March fruit ripens and falls when ripe but fruit is still good keeps shape most of the time. So, really only takes about a year overall to set and ripen.

Sweet!

I think they hang on the tree for 2 calendar years which might explain the minimal fruiting

[elouicious]

No, the fruit sets in mid year to fall then following Jan-March fruit ripens and falls when ripe but fruit is still good keeps shape most of the time. So, really only takes about a year overall to set and ripen.

Sweet!

I think they hang on the tree for 2 calendar years which might explain the minimal fruiting

Thanks for the correction Scott!

I know Mamey hangs for around 18-24 months and thought Lucuma was the same

still- a full calendar year for the fruit to ripen might cause some issues

[MasOlas]

Lucuma makes a great ice cream. I've also had Alfajores with a Lucuma filling. 

[seng]

I got rid of my lucuma.  Too sweet.  Fruits hang 1 year. 

I also got rid of canistel.  Have lot flowers, but not fruits over a decade.

If I feel like eating them, I go get purple yam and steam.  Taste very simular.

[nattyfroootz]

I got rid of my lucuma.  Too sweet.  Fruits hang 1 year. 

I also got rid of canistel.  Have lot flowers, but not fruits over a decade.

If I feel like eating them, I go get purple yam and steam.  Taste very simular.

haha wild! Well i guess thats good to hear though, hopefully the fruit can take our colder wetter winters up here on the northern end of the central coast.

[FigoVelo]

I got rid of my lucuma.  Too sweet.  Fruits hang 1 year. 

I also got rid of canistel.  Have lot flowers, but not fruits over a decade.

If I feel like eating them, I go get purple yam and steam.  Taste very simular.

haha wild! Well i guess thats good to hear though, hopefully the fruit can take our colder wetter winters up here on the northern end of the central coast.

Try the southern end of the CA North Coast! I think it would be interesting to see a map, built with volunteered Google Maps pins, of places in the United States, or even the whole planet, where P. lucuma has fruited successfully, producing fully ripened fruit. I'm not quite sure how to even start such a process, however.

[Bush2Beach]

I think right now the pin for California is stuck on Nipomo as the farthest point north.
There is not any known fruiting Lucuma trees's north of there.
 I can't think of any nor cal public gardens that have any planted even.
hopefully the big grafted girls Papaya tree let go of can quit dropping their fruit prematurely.

So cal there is a handful of know fruiting tree's fullerton, quail gardens , papaya tree's and Ben's , that's what makes Kevin's discovery so exciting really.
The known tree's are mostly dry kind and the desire is more non chalky Lucuma, so hopefully we have a couple winners.

[K-Rimes]

I think right now the pin for California is stuck on Nipomo as the farthest point north.
There is not any known fruiting Lucuma trees's north of there.
 I can't think of any nor cal public gardens that have any planted even.
hopefully the big grafted girls Papaya tree let go of can quit dropping their fruit prematurely.

So cal there is a handful of know fruiting tree's fullerton, quail gardens , papaya tree's and Ben's , that's what makes Kevin's discovery so exciting really.
The known tree's are mostly dry kind and the desire is more non chalky Lucuma, so hopefully we have a couple winners.

There is another absolute HONKER of a tree here in SB, like 2-3x as tall as the ones I posted, towering over house... It only flowers, doesn't fruit. It needs a friend and I think I'll try to graft it this year for the guy. It is off of the 154, but pretty cherry south facing spot by a big house.

I will be paying close attention to the trees I posted above!

[aaronn]

Tim kindly gave me a couple of the seeds from the original post, which I planted. Both grew well and just recently I noticed a fruit set on one!

This post from earlier in the thread appears to be in Vallejo, CA. I mean, maybe the members info was updated since posting? But this is promising for Bay Area folks.

[FigoVelo]

With just two rootstocks to play with, I'll need to wisely choose my cultivars (though I could diversify later as the branching multiplies).

What would be the best way to learn about cultivars? I have seen references to Seda and Palo. What's available in the US? 

Thanks...
Alastair

[Roman]

With just two rootstocks to play with, I'll need to wisely choose my cultivars (though I could diversify later as the branching multiplies).

What would be the best way to learn about cultivars? I have seen references to Seda and Palo. What's available in the US? 

Thanks...
Alastair

Hi Alastair,

I think that "de seda" (moist type, literally translated as "silky") and "de palo" (dry/"mealy" type, literally translated as "woody") are phenotypes of lucuma rather than actual named cultivars, but could be mistaken on that (I'm an amateur and noobie at growing exotic/tropical fruits, and have no education in botany so I might be using the term "phenotype" incorrectly here).

I made an online purchase of a couple lucuma seedlings from Nate @ Wildlands in June 2023 and I think he had scions of a named cultivar called "Pecan Pie" around that time. Slightly tangential, but the seedlings are doing great in my climate even though the weather has been really chilly, wet, and "blech" around my neck of the woods in the Sacramento area -- they've actually been pushing a tiny bit of new growth. I've been pretty impressed by their hardiness for something that I thought would be more sensitive than has actually been the case.

Pivoting back to named cultivars, I recently read a writeup I found online about lucuma and it seems that Peru and Chile have a lot of actual named cultivars (‘Calzada’, ‘Yema de Huevo’, ‘San Hilarión’, ‘La Molina’, ‘Amarilla 1’, ‘Tercer Mundo’) but I'm not sure how one would obtain scionwood of those barring traveling to South America, collecting the scionwood themselves and going through the process of importing with the proper paperwork and inspections.

[gozp]

With just two rootstocks to play with, I'll need to wisely choose my cultivars (though I could diversify later as the branching multiplies).

What would be the best way to learn about cultivars? I have seen references to Seda and Palo. What's available in the US? 

Thanks...
Alastair

Hi Alastair,

I think that "de seda" (moist type, literally translated as "silky") and "de palo" (dry/"mealy" type, literally translated as "woody") are phenotypes of lucuma rather than actual named cultivars, but could be mistaken on that (I'm an amateur and noobie at growing exotic/tropical fruits, and have no education in botany so I might be using the term "phenotype" incorrectly here).

I made an online purchase of a couple lucuma seedlings from Nate @ Wildlands in June 2023 and I think he had scions of a named cultivar called "Pecan Pie" around that time. Slightly tangential, but the seedlings are doing great in my climate even though the weather has been really chilly, wet, and "blech" around my neck of the woods in the Sacramento area -- they've actually been pushing a tiny bit of new growth. I've been pretty impressed by their hardiness for something that I thought would be more sensitive than has actually been the case.

Pivoting back to named cultivars, I recently read a writeup I found online about lucuma and it seems that Peru and Chile have a lot of actual named cultivars (‘Calzada’, ‘Yema de Huevo’, ‘San Hilarión’, ‘La Molina’, ‘Amarilla 1’, ‘Tercer Mundo’) but I'm not sure how one would obtain scionwood of those barring traveling to South America, collecting the scionwood themselves and going through the process of importing with the proper paperwork and inspections.

As for Pecan Pie variety from Papaya Tree Nursery, its probably a renamed variety.
If anyone can shed knowledge whats the real history of it. 

[ScottR]

Pecan Pie variety came from Papaya Tree Nursery originally and the story is that David Silber who started nursery got into Lucuma and contacted a professor of Ag in Peru and he sent David scion wood of many varieties to try out in Ca. I think "Pecan Pie' was one of the better varieties that he propagated. Another person who introduced Lucuma to Ca. was Alfredo Chiri a member of Orange County Chapter CRFG.
https://ocfruit.com/Lucuma.php