The Tropical Fruit Forum

I have one planted in full sun and one in part shade since they were 1 year seedlings. The one in full sun has outgrown the part shade seedling.  Direct sun on our hottest days has no effect and has never exhibited symptoms of sun burn.

I have tried two now, one seedling, one on mamey rootstock. Both did very poorly with the brunt of the summer and early fall sun in the Zone 9B Inland Empire heat, granted there is a wooden fence behind them which magnified the heat (mangos sure love it!)

The one other seedling I have in a more shaded area has done much better. We will see how it does in the cooler winters we get here, had snow on the ground last year

Likewise, I have a ton, fresh --- let me know.

There is a 50+ year old tree in Redlands, CA. It currently is loaded with fruit.

The owner has offered to let people pick from it for free, provided they set up an appointment with her. The tree is simply overloaded with fruit.

Search for "Plants Traders Inland Empire" on Facebook, join the group, then once accepted search for "sapote." You'll find the posts where you can contact/direct message the tree owner easily.

This is the Mary Ln. variety I found a few years ago in an empty field. Many of you have started grafting them. This is a smaller size fruit, but the taste is like a Carmel Pawpaw, very smooth, no bitterness.


Mary Ln.

Great sounding fruit. I am interested in trying to graft it on my current sapotes.
Could you share the location of the tree? Private message is fine too. Thanks!

I have many California Coffeeberry seedling trees (California Buckthorn aka Frangula californica aka Rhamnus californica).

I have eaten the berries - and also made a "coffee" like drink from the seeds in the past. There are mixed reviews of the fruit online, beware. It is a very attractive tree though when full grown with berries.


$5 each. Local pickup. Redlands, CA. Singles, doubles in containers and more.

I have two small plants of this -- one died this winter, the other has nearly died but appears to be making a comeback. These were purchased from a Florida seller. I'm in zone 9b, Inland Empire CA area.

Hi all, zone 9b, Southern California here.

Last week, temperatures dropped briefly into near freezing, around 33 to 34° f. There was also quite a bit of wind.

Immediately after this, my grafted black sapote, approximately 3ft tall, had its leaves turn black, shrivel up, and many of them fall off. The underlying trunk and many of the larger branches look okay. I'm rather discouraged by this as a tree has been a champ and didn't seem phased at all by cooler weather, and I also have protected it with a bag during the cold front, but alas to no avail.

Any suggestions on what I should do with what remains? Throw it out? Wait and see if it grows back? Bail on the black sapote in future and plant something else? It handled the summer heat without any issue, put on a ton of new growth... But this cold was only near freezing for a couple of hours and seems to have done it in.

Thank you!

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/2-shot-at-plant-nursery-in-fallbrook-san-diego-sheriffs-department/3165126/

Very sad. Atkin's Nursery in Fallbrook, CA

Hi all -- if anyone is looking for persimmons in SoCal, especially the inland empire region, consider checking out the massive bare root collection of trees at Cherry Valley Nursery. They had Giant Fuyu, Chocolate, Coffeecake, Haichiya, regular fuyu, all around 5-6ft tall, about $50-$60. No matsumoto but I was still happy to find the above ones.

Not a tax professional, but I have looked into this when deciding to operate a small farm on land that includes my private residence. CA had two exemptions that could lower your property tax through ag use, neither of which your property likely qualifies. Williamson Act requires 100 acres of land and Urban Incentives Zone Act cannot have improved land. Both cases require demonstrated sale of ag goods (fruit).  I’m my case, I run my orchard through my corporation for federal tax benefits among other considerations but that opens you to a number of other oversights including demonstrated profitability and S-Corp annual renewals.  To Brad’s point, in the end big brother gets his due and there is no cheating the system.

Thanks, I appreciate your insight. I'm not surprised it seems much more difficult in California to do so. I heard about the topic in a discussion about land in Montana, where it appears the rules are much more feasible. Found this list, looks like Oregon might be even easier:

https://www.livewaterproperties.com/what-does-it-take-to-qualify-as-an-agricultural-property/

I have heard that in certain states there are significant property tax advantages to having your fruit tree orchard be under some sort agriculture or homestead designation. Has anyone looked into this in California? (Ag Exemption or something similar?)

We have an old magnolia tree that is on its last legs. It's in our front yard, and my wife would like to replace it with a crepe myrtle, in our zone 9B Southern California area. Her choice is mostly based on the aesthetics with having green leaves and colorful flowers in the summer.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a fruit tree that would tolerate our climate, has to survive significant sun exposure, be evergreen, and have a bit of curbside colorful aesthetics for the summer or springas an alternative?

I have two pawpaws in my yard that were just planted this year and are very young trees and ngl this thread has made me debate replacing them with something else 

As the thread author, sorry! But I think the information is useful. I have deliberately chosen not to plant fruit within this particular group partly due to these concerns and partly because I'm mostly out of space!