Author Topic: To all the people who bought Pouteria viridis seeds- Dont be Dumb Like Me!  (Read 1146 times)

elouicious

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So I have noticed people have recently taken a particular liking to Pouteria viridis, perhaps understandably, I was recently able to taste fruit from the tree at San Diego Botanic Gardens and it is like a sweet Mamey (Pouteria sapota) much better for eating out of hand

Now on to the advice, I was fortunate enough to receive one of the Pouteria viridis "alba" seeds from Raul through Andreas some months ago, unfortunately I was not familiar with sprouting seeds of this species and likely killed the viable plant I had growing-

This inspired me to make this post after learning from my mistake and practicing with new seeds from the fruit at San Diego Botanic Garden

When the seeds eventually sprout they will look like this-



The seeds, upon germinating, open in three segments, the top two appear to rise above the soil line and go brown, this is when i dug up my "alba" seed and noticed that only one third of the seed looked viable, removed the (apparently) rotting portion and replanted the good third. This resulted in killing the plant,

here is a closeup of the segments looking dark brown and rising above the vermiculite-





TL;DR- the seeds are going to rise above the dirt and look dead, dont F*&$ with it

W.

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It germinates the same as mamey sapote. Those seeds have fleshy segments (the seed's endosperm, I think) that stay attached to the plant and presumably provide nutrients. They stayed attached to my mamey sapote plants for roughly a year before they dried up and fell off of their own volition.

I quit experimenting with newly germinated seeds after I tried splitting up some polyembrionic mango seeds. I ended up killing all the seedlings.

A question I do have is why is there suddenly so much hype around Pouteria viridis? Is the green sapote better tasting than the mamey sapote? I think I have read that it is more cold-hardy than the mamey sapote, but seemingly not by a great deal, unless I am underestimating its hardiness. I am not arguing that people should not grow it; I am just wondering whether it is something I should add to my collection. Space is a little tight right now, and I already have two mamey sapote plants (plus one extra one for sale) and three Pouteria glomerata seedlings. Is it really worth adding a green sapote to my Pouteria collection?

brian

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I haven't tried green sapote yet but I got to try a few mamey and really liked them.  When I got around to buying sapote plants I saw green sapote was described as even better tasting, and more importantly to me, smaller fruit than mamey that I can eat in one sitting. 

I haven't actually tried it yet.  I got a grafted one that has flowered but not fruited yet.  At least one person recently commented that it tastes identical to mamey, which is fine with me. 

« Last Edit: October 21, 2021, 11:21:13 PM by brian »

elouicious

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A question I do have is why is there suddenly so much hype around Pouteria viridis? Is the green sapote better tasting than the mamey sapote? I think I have read that it is more cold-hardy than the mamey sapote, but seemingly not by a great deal, unless I am underestimating its hardiness. I am not arguing that people should not grow it; I am just wondering whether it is something I should add to my collection. Space is a little tight right now, and I already have two mamey sapote plants (plus one extra one for sale) and three Pouteria glomerata seedlings. Is it really worth adding a green sapote to my Pouteria collection?

I recently tasted fruit from the tree in San Diego Botanic Garden, here is my 2c

  • Sweeter than Mamey
  • Smaller than Mamey
  • Probably more cold tolerant (tree in SD must have been 50 years +)
  • There is a disease in Mamey trees that makes the fruit not ripen properly, not sure if it is in viridis

I have seen a viridis grafted onto mamey to increase the speed of growth, if you want to keep 1 tree I would be happy to send cuttings in the future

JakeFruit

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...
I quit experimenting with newly germinated seeds after I tried splitting up some polyembrionic mango seeds. I ended up killing all the seedlings.
...
I break them up all the time, my trick is to let them harden-off their first set of leaves, then use a bucket of water to reduce viscosity. Put the roots/seedlings into the water (I try to keep the leaves above the water to prevent accidentally damaging them), swirl (as one) a few times to free any dirt or other clingy/non-root matter. Then just gently jigger and tug at the ball. You'll find some easily separate; once those are out of the mix, the rest gets easier. Patience will reward you, go slow and examine the roots like you would if you were untying strings in a big knot-ball.

My advice would be to dispose of the runts; my first few seasons I tried to nourish them along, but they never panned out (weird growth habits and more prone to disease).

nattyfroootz

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I love runts. I pick and make sure to grow out my runts in field trials.  We humans have an obsession with picking vigorous plants, yet we may be missing more desirable characteristics by being blinded by one objective.
Grow cooler fruits

www.wildlandsplants.com

W.

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I probably tried to separate those polyembryonic mango seedlings too soon. I might try growing some again the future, but I will probably always retain a leeriness of messing with germinated seeds.

Like nattyfroootz, I do not weed out runts. I try and keep alive anything that germinates. Sometimes they end up dying anyway but not due to any lack of care or deliberate weeding out. Who knows what qualities those runts will have? They may be natural dwarfs that produce great tasting fruit. Or, they could end up never doing much of anything. That is always the chance with seedling plants.

JakeFruit

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I love runts. I pick and make sure to grow out my runts in field trials.  We humans have an obsession with picking vigorous plants, yet we may be missing more desirable characteristics by being blinded by one objective.
This human is specifically obsessed with healthy rootstocks for grafting onto. If I was looking for new varieties from seed or had a field to test in, it would be a different story.