Black sapote

Virginia starts with ...
Black sapote fruit: How do you know when to pick the fruit from a black sapote? Allow to ripen on the tree, pick green when fully grown, do they drop off when ready?

Virginia says...
Kath, thanks for your response on my black sapote. It's been bright green for (it seems like)months. How long does the ripening process take? Where is Cawongla? Regards, Virginia

Anonymous says...
It would be interesting to hear how far south someone has managed to fruit black sapote . I saw one at Lapstone in fruit (Blue MTs West of Sydney)

Correy says...
You can get them from Tropical Fruit World they are in NSW.

I asked 3 fruit shops in Brisbane about Black Sapotes who had never heard of it so they got the manager who had heard of them but said they had never sold them and wouldn't be getting them in.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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Donna says...
Hi Correy
I have 2 Black Sapotes - I bought them in May at a little fruit & vege shop at the Ettamogah Pub (next doorish to the Peanut shop)they had a few seedlings/babies of unusual plants - they ARE babies but growing well in pots.

LOLO says...
HI I WOULDN'T KNOW OF ANYONE THAT SELLS IT IN NSW BUT I DO KNOW OF SOME1 UP HERE IN DA TOP END N HIS GOT HEAPS N DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THEM...IT'S JUST A SUGESTION

CHEERS!!!

Charles says...
TAss1 Trees has them I think. Open weekends in Swan Valley, not cheap though, the equivalent of getting them over from Dailies your self and adding 20% i think.

Christopher davies says...
I have a black sapote tree around 5m full of large fruit but have had no luck getting them to ripen on or off the tree ?

Hayden says...
Hi, does this tree need full sun or part shade. Will it grow I'n a large pot? I know you can get them from whey nursery for $30 but they are seedlings. Does anyone know how long they will take to fruit?? Thanks.

John Mc says...
I probably bought trees from the same batch of seedling trees from Wyee. They have been in the ground about two years and are flowering, A couple of fruit have stuck and are like DARREN's, the size of large plums.

JFMANGLYCHEE says...
Hi, U can get black sapote at fruit shop called fruit for life in the westfeild penrith plaza NSW, they sell them there a month or so before x-mas every year for the past 4 yrs ive seen them there, Very yummy when fully ripe, they almost look like u need to through them in the bin but that is the best time to eat em, supper soft n sweet
Cheers Ryan

Mike says...
Never let them drop as they are like soft vegemite and splatter.They often have huge crops and sometimes a second smaller fruiting takes place.Mine fruited a few months early this year with the last 450g fruit consumed this week.

Mike says...
When you pick them they are white and crunchy inside and stain dark like some bananas or avos when cut.I haven't seen many stringy ones unless picked too soon.A tree at kamerunga that the council chopped down had huge 1kg seedless fruit that were great.The older trees that are in back yards in NQ are mostly seedling and are high proportion are very good.

jason says...
Visited Rusty's Market in Cairns and bought black sapote at $3 a kilo. Went outside and, a few metres away, a tree loaded with sapotes in the main street, unrecognised and ignored by passers-by.Strange,no?

Mike says...
The tree is on sheridan street between the police station and rusty's and is loaded with small fruit for months at a time.

YH says...
I bought a Daley's tree ('Mosman') from Hargraves in Dural in 2013. It is really vigorous and I have had to prune it seriously to maintain a manageable size in my backyard. I had some fruits last year but did not get to eat any. I threw away as they looked rotten. I have about 15 this year, the largest being about 9 cm diameter. I am not sure whether they are susceptible to fruit flies, so I've wrapped the largest ones in old socks and have been spraying the rest with eco-oil when not too windy or raining. After Looking at the earlier posts, I think I might harvest 1 or 2 and bring them in. I am in southern Sydney in the Shire.

YH says...
I have only one tree, so I don't think you need a pollinator. We do have more fruits coming on since my last post, and have eaten a few. I also stopped bagging the fruits as it does not seem to make much difference (yet) although fruit fly is a major problem here. A few small exposed ones were sun burnt on one side after the last heat wave. I brought them in, and they also ripened satisfactorily after 10 to 14 days.

We use a complete Citrus fertiliser twice a year, plus regular chicken poo pellets ('Dynamic lifter'). It also get a bucket of water about once a week.

Our tree is in a 2.4m x 2.4m x 1.2m high ecopine planter box which sits on a clayey corner of the block. It threatened to topple over with the bad weather we had been having here and I had to crosstie the tree to some star pickets. It seems to me that the root system is not very extensive or very deep. I believe that regular heavy pruning might be needed to allow the root system to cope with the top growth which can be very vigorous.

Regarding pruning - All my trees tend to put on a lot of vegetative growth, and I prune regularly (some rather savagely) after the fruit season to keep them under a certain height, to maintain the shape (particularly persimmons) and to open up the structure (particularly citrus). I pruned my 5 feijoas to almost bare last season and they are heavy now with good sized fruit (although how much will be edible is a different matter because of the fruit flies).

Dragonfly says...
I found it !

Good old google images.

It's a Babaco.

Dang, all this time I thought I had a black sapote.

It's growing in a pot in the lower Blue Mountains. A very hard tree. Moving it to Cowra NSW soon.

Figbarron says...
You wait until the calyx rises off the fruit as explained in Kaths video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMvIlsQT_LY

Danielle says...
We always pick fruit when the Calyx (leaves attached to top) lift off the fruit a few mm. See photos. Ours look worse for wear on outside but are perfect inside.

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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denise1 says...
After picking they can take from one day up to two weeks until ready to eat, according to your conditions. They are ready to eat when you can just about poke a finger right through them.I havent tried them dehydrated, you may need to mix it with another fruit.

Wira_id says...
Hi guys, i need help.. So this is the pict of my black sapote, and i dont know when can i pick it up... Please tell meee 🥺

How can i know it

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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bspargo says...
the ones I've eaten have gone quite brown and are soft. It feels mushy. I believe they pick them a little unripe once the 'calyx' has lifted, then let them ripen some more off the tree. I've only eaten when up in QLD. Although I got a tree from Daley's this year and will see if I can get it to grow here in Sydney.