Suggestions? - white sapote trees in melbourne

Tran says...
Don't worry about that Damian. They should be fine. It takes time to adapt to the new environment. I remember mine was like that when I first had them. We eat and throw seeds in the garden and the seedlings survive well over winter until I pull them out.
By the way, I left one of the seedlings going and after 6 years I have discovered it is having flowers hopefully it will fruit, will see if the fruit is the same as its parent.

Tran says...
Hi Vanl,

I would suggest you give it some potasium fetilizer according to instrutions in the bag or some citrus food around the canopy line and water after that and see how you go.

Please note that if it is vigorous it could mean too much nitrogen or water so it may not produce any flowers just leaves instead so you may have to reduce that.
Mine I bought from Perry in SA They fruited in the second year.

fruitist says...
Mulch well. They have masses of fibrous roots. Can smother other trees with their roots.

Tran says...
I have 2 trees, one is ortegon on pike (one pike branch only), the other is venon. The pike branch has given me huge fruits but not in the last two years due to last year I trim some of the long arm off. I was told that pike and venon are alternate bearers. It is true with venon but I am not sure about pike. My ortegon and venon have lots of young fruits at the moment. I rarely water and I give them twice a year citrus fertilizer but mulch heavily.

Phil. says...
Have you tried Adrian and Marilyn in Glen Lyon, near Daylesford? I got a Vista graft from them and from memory they had Vernon and Ortego available as well. Worth a drive out there just to see their setup.
5348 7532

Pictures - Click to enlarge
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Ellen says...
Hi Phil

when the fruits ripe ready for eating, can you please pick one, cut in half and take a picture at close up, so we can see what it's like on the inside of the fruit. Thanks Phil .

Rob says...
Has anyone had any success growing a lemon gold white sapote in melbourne? I have one in a pot about a year old that has its first fruit on it:)

amanda says...
Hi J, 2m is not a lot of space?....probably depends on your soil type (if it's rich n fertile), how much pruning u want to do, and if the sapotes are going to shade out the citrus? The sapotes are going to grow very big unless you plan on pruning them back?
I would agree with fruitist about the root system - my two Lemon Golds put down a heavy duty root system faster than any other fruit trees I have.
U can do it - but u may have a challenge on your hands...just make sure the citrus get their sun or u won't get a lot of fruit from them...

amanda says...
Hi J - they are ideas worth trying for sure. Another idea is "root pruning" in situ - which has been the method, in Italy, of keeping tree roots more confined (u just get a shovel and slice into the ground as far as it can go - maybe in a line between the sapote and citrus trees?)
I am planning on doing this shortly - except deep ripping with machinery - in the ground between my orchard and 4 hungry gum trees about 20m away (as gum tree roots can travel up to 50m)

By deep root feeding do u mean a polypipe or such embedded down into the ground? I think that's a great idea! Do it for the citrus too if u can - they will love it as they as they are greedy trees.

I don't know about the pot in the ground...most plastics will become brittle over time and break with the pressure of the root system I would have thought? Worth a try tho'.

Mangoes are often grown very close together up north and then pruned to form a hedge (hedge-row?) so they spread out within the row but not between...makes picking easier etc.

Another thought is a root barrier in a line between the two - a bit of work but only has to be done once..?

I am really impressed with my sapotes...a wonderful strong tree and I don't have any pest problems with them at all.

amanda says...
Hi J, the sapotes should be fine - it get's down to to 4 oC here in Autumn (as no cloud cover) - they are not at all bothered by it.
I always plant my trees in autumn and winter - including citrus - so yours should be fine also.
My subtropicals were planted at all sorts of times...(oops..)
Do u get frost - is this your concern? Where are u BTW?

amanda says...
Hi all - do white sapotes fruit on new growth or old growth?

amanda says...
Ta Jujube...i was thinking about J having to prune them so much....

Phil@Tyalgum says...
Often white sapote trees don't self pollinate. If you know what variety it is try and get another which is a good pollinator, Ortego and Lemon Gold prob the best.

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Jason says...
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/my/l/310/white-sapote-pike.jpg

http://toptropicals.com/pics/garden/2004/4/4916.jpg

If you compare it to those two above the first being Pike which isn't self fertile and a second unknown one which probably isn't either you can see the difference (fatter fruitlets and less pollen or no pollen on the female only types)

Rob19 says...
Does anyone have any information regarding Sheffler?

I've read it's more productive than Rainbow and has a coconut flavour. Has anyone seen it/tasted it or know of availability in Australia?

Markmelb says...
Update on my Suebelle - first fruit fell into hand and tested ready with toothpick - was incredibly nice - no grittyness or skin bitterness like my Pike - mild sweet flavour not as strong as Pike/Pyke but my first taste recently of the first Hawaii Supreme was equally nice - maybe even sweeter more tropically tasting than Suebelle so will continue with HS now ive tasted it - may even graft HS to Reineke next spring if Reineke fails to flower again.Suebelle was definitely easy to eat with little aftertaste.

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Picture: 1	Picture: 2	Picture: 3

ivepeters says...
Linton
Unfortunately your correct regarding large seeds and little meat leftover, same with mine.

ivepeters says...
Although, size might improve with age, hopefully someone can chime in with an old established tree. Mine is still only 1.5m tall, does produce a large amount of fruit for it's size. Like you said, might be valuable as an allround pollinator.

ivepeters says...
Mine has started flowering again, will be removing most fruitlets & leaving only 6 to form fully, since only 1.5m tall, to see if it makes a difference in relation to end size.

Chad, can always graft a different variety onto it.

Aaron Siemienow1 says...
I live in alb/wodonga and wish to plant a solitary sapote. But can plant 2 at the expense of not planting a cherimoya.
has anyone had any kampong that no not have large seeds, and a reasonable amount of meat on them?
Ideally I want to plant just 1, but if i plant 2, what are grest tasting variety that will crop reliably in the Victorian climate?
And does anyone know where to get them as dalys do not have any! :(

Markmelb says...
I planted 3 in a hole to save space if you look at my edible page - Suebelle is flowering now - had one tasty fruit last march - see pics above too.

Markmelb says...
It is around and BAAG nursery could have some in future - mines not ready yet to propagate from - trying to get some height as its a slower more compact grower and is self fertile also,

Peter91 says...
I'm currently growing Mac's Golden Aaron, it hasn't flowered yet but grew to 1.5m+ in it's first year and seems extremely hardy, hoping for flowers this year.

If all goes well for me this year should have some Vernon, Golden Globe, Chris, Denzler, Ortega and Kampong fruits to report back about.

Hopefully Lemon Gold, Reneicke and Mac's Golden next year.

Peter91 says...
No frosts in my area Aaron, or rarely if that, it can get pretty cold some winters though. I don't protect my sapotes, yours will probably drop all their leaves first winter, but will make a full comeback next spring and climatize to your area becoming more hardy...It's pretty hard to kill a white sapote.

If Daleys have none i'd recommend contacting Perry's fruit and nut here and asking for a Vernon, as good quality fruit apparently and can be used as a pollinator.

Second variety i'd probably go for a Chris, Golden globe or lemon gold from Daleys.

Rainbow is good if you can manage to find one.

Fruitylicious1 says...
Hi Linton

I just harvested my kampong white sapote here in Wyndham Vale and it was perfectly ripe. I left it on the tree until it turned slightly yellow and monitored the softness test by hand. I picked the fruit when it was medium soft, not too soft or it will get mushy. Just like lightly squeezing a perfectly ripe avocado. Mine is a different cv from yours but they might have similarities with texure when the fruits are right to pick.

Linton says...
Thanks for your suggestions which I will try. I have also received a few other recommended techniques to determine ripeness. These were from other sources which are totally different so I will try all methods to see which works best. Cheers!