The Tropical Fruit Forum

Kaz, I suspect in your climate you could use mamey or Canistel as rootstock. But don’t quote me on that.

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

K-Rimes: Can you say what caused the trees you named to die? Did they decline slowly, or die abruptly of, say, frost? If frost, do you remember the temps that did them in?

Considering my latitude and climate zone, I am wondering if I should even bother giving space to mamey. It seems green sapote is a perfectly good stand-in with greater frost tolerance. (I have never eaten green sapote but I trust the reviews I've read.)

I wish I could find the paper now, but a while back I read some published research (or maybe a thesis) about a food forest leftover from the Mayan times. The forest, still growing, had attained a self perpetuating alternative stable state, reinforced by feedbacks including selective foraging on prime fruits, which resulted in reseeding. The feedbacks prevented invasion by the surrounding jungle. I have included the key terms in this post, so maybe some googling will find the paper. Anyway, maybe if you leave your trees to nature, they’ll win.

Definitely no swollen buds. So it’s stalled out AND limp. EDIT: Well, I shouldn’t say definitely no signs of new growth. Those buds you see have been that way for like 2 months.

Hey y’all. A small grafted avocado of mine is in distress. Can anyone help? The tree has been in this raised bed for about 4 months, not growing (winter break?) but looking good nonetheless. About 3 days ago, its leaves began to droop and lose turgor pressure. It has developed a few brown spots, too.

I grafted the tree about a year ago. It’s on hass seedling rootstock. Soil is very loose and rich in organic matter, plenty sand, and a little clay. Rainy winter, but soil is not waterlogged.

Ideas?

Thanks,
Alastair

11 years ago. Can't remember.

I found this in my photos, too. What is it? Doesn't appear to be a Pouteria. And I'm pretty sure it's not just a Chupa with the pit visible. Any ideas?

To clarify on my last comment, these "chupa" fruits were okay but definitely not great. I bought them if there were no cherimoyas or mangoes available.

Hi everyone. I want to know what fruit this is. I bought them frequently at streets stalls and markets in Ecuador in 2013. I foolishly took few photos and even removed the pit before taking the interior shots. (I can't even remember what the pits looked like.) The flesh was stringy, maybe with a papaya-like flavor. The skin was greenish brown. Note the nub at the end of the fruit, as well as the longitudinal striations radiating from the nub. I don't think this is a mamey sapote. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Alastair

Gross? Can you elaborate?

Hi all,
There seems to be increasing interest in white sapotes, as I think there should be. It's one of my very favorite fruits. I very near Sebastopol, Sonoma County Calif. and have planted 11 white sapote trees outdoors (and 1 in a greenhouse).

But I am becoming more and more doubtful that these trees will ever be very productive. The largest of my trees keeps aborting its blossoms. I have heard similar stories from others, plus stories of trees dying back badly in cold snaps. In fact, I have never heard any verified accounts of large and consistently productive trees north of the SF Bay watershed. There is (or was) reportedly an orchard of white sapote near Chico, Calif., but I don't know if the trees were ever productive.

All the accounts I've heard of wildly productive white sapotes come from SF, Richmond, Fremont, the Peninsula, other bayside cities, and south.

So, does anyone know if there any large and productive trees -- OUTDOORS -- in Sonoma County? Napa? The cities of Davis, Woodland, or Sacramento?

I've put too much work into these trees to back out now but I wonder if they might wind up being fruitless conversation starters.
Alastair

I’m putting it in the ground now, full sun. Should I set up a shade structure? If so, how long should I keep it in place?
Thanks.
Alastair