Growing White Sapote in AZ 9B

[@hgf334]

One of the best KZbin videos I have seen on White Sapote to date. Thankyou for taking the time to explain the different aspects of growing this tropical fruit tree. I live in Perth, Western Australia and White Sapote is still not widely known here, I was fortunate to see the fruit on sale in one particular location and after eating some, thought it was well worth growing. I have seedlings growing in pots at the moment as I have not been able to find any grafted varieties.

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

Thanks! And you never know with seed--you may get one of the very best crops of fruit in a couple of years.

[@andrewtrushinski3848]

Beautiful tree. I have a sue bell coming up on two years in the ground. It has had fruit but it never fully developed, it just grew for a while and dropped off. The leafs on mine were curling in, maybe from underwatering; it's irrigated and I discovered the filter needed to be changed so not much water was getting through. Its changed now so we'll see. Interesting points about the grafting on established trees. Thanks for sharing the video.

[@purplethumb7887]

The Vernon is absolutely DELICIOUS! Excellent video!

[@thegr8stm8]

Hi Natasha... many thanks. Lessons learned. Will look for scion wood now while tree is small. We will put it in the ground replacing an Anna Apple. Building scaffolding now. Cheers and have an enjoyable 4th.

[@newbiegarden]

Gorgeous! One of my favorite fruit. Then again, I'm half hispanic so I've eaten it a lot. Great explanation of the fruit.

[@flutterby.222]

I'm re-watching this video as my white Sapote is declining. I forgot it needs shade in the summer for the first few years (I'm in Chandler AZ). I shaded it last year but thought it would be fine this year with a minimal shear ~20% shade, I was wrong. I put up some 50% shade cloth today (Jul 16th), better late than never. My Suebelle's been in the ground for about 1.5 yrs, it's about 3ft tall, 3/4" diameter at the base, it's foliage is very sparse, about ~70% yellowing, ~20-30% browning. It's about 4ft North of my North facing backyard brick wall, no natural shade until around 6:30-7pm. I'm watering every morning & evening between about 2-5gals (some days I water more & some less but I haven't skipped any days since mid June due to the heat). It's REALLY struggling. Hopefully the shade will help. Any other advice? 🙏

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

June is usually the worst month for white sapote due to the 110s and lack of humidity. This year, the weather was strange and July feels like a typical June. Even my tree that's been in the ground for 8+ years has some yellow leaves right now. You should be seeing some new leaves coming out as it's not unusual for it to cycle leaves around now. I shaded mine in summer with 50% shade cloth until it was over 6' tall and 5' wide and had a good canopy on it. They grow slowly so sometimes that could mean 4 or more years of shade protection, depending on the plant. To be safe, you'll need to keep shading it in summer until it's big and established. You've now done everything you can and it should bounce back with shade and once the monsoons kick in. I'm not sure how much this helps, but I do shower down my trees and the surrounding walls when it's very hot and dry like it's been once the sun is down. It cools them off.

[@nickvosnakis1345]

Thanks for sharing you knowledge of the sapote ,I live in Adelaide South Australia which has a mediterranean climate .I planted a sapote from seed, tree has grown and is very healthy but this year which its 14th year is the first time it produced fruit

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

You are welcome! 14 years is a long time to wait. Grafted trees tend to produce around year 4. Happy gardening!

[@sheri023]

When you head-off a tall branch, does it sprout growth the next year, if so, then do you cut those new little branches off also? Thank you for the sapote video, I knew nada about them.

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

You are welcome! Yes every time a branch is cut, it will encourage more branching eventually so heading back is an annual process every Spring

[@sheri023]

@@EnlightenmentGarden thank you, Natasha! Good to know.

[@johnvojacek8985]

I live in Arizona as well & was thinking if grafting a named White Sapote variety onto my seedling. Do you think I could graft it now? I was hoping it would continue to grow over winter & put on some good growth before summer. Just want to get your thoughts ... Thank you for your time.

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

I grafted mine in Spring only because that's when I could get scions but now is an optimum time to graft white sapote. They put on growth in Fall and Winter so your graft has the best chance to take and be supported during that time.

[@johnvojacek8985]

@@EnlightenmentGarden Thank you for taking the time to respond.😊 Love your videos !!!!!!! The Raspberry Latte Scion that I ordered from you has done well, looking forward to fruit in the future. Take care, John

[@edibletropicaltrees]

Have you ever tried White Sapote Max Golden. That's the one I feel has the best flavor.

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

No; I've only tasted what I have grown so it's been limited to Suebelle and Vernon. I've heard good things with other cultivars like McDill but at this point, this tree is what it is. I don't have the heart to cut it down and re-work with grafts and find the fruit is really tasty at this point.

[@edibletropicaltrees]

@@EnlightenmentGarden If you ever want cuttings of Max Golden, I have a friend in Phoenix that has a large tree, I got scions from to graft to my tree and I can get more.

[@gardenofluma9697]

Did you transplant it due to the winds or for another reason? I have one that I think gets too much shade since everything around it grew at a faster rate and shaded it out. It has bushed out a lot more this past year going into its 4th summer and I am seeing the leggy growth habit you described. The first couple years was virtually no growth.

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

Yes I moved it to its current location off the wall to shelter it from wind. In my experience, they fry up if not shaded their 1st couple of summers but do like full sun once mature. Now that yours is in year 4, it should start putting on more growth. Maybe prune back your other trees a little next Spring to give your white sapote more air and sun.

[@nguyenmyvt68]

Cảm ơn bạn nhé❤❤❤❤❤

[@mikeymccarroll]

Would that grafting advice apply to figs aswell

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

No. White sapote grows very differently than fig trees. It takes years to establish strong sapote tree scaffolds for fruit and does not respond well to pruning and is slow-growing. Fig trees are vigorous and can easily be grafted to at any age; young or old and handle severe pruning. For a fig tree, you ideally want to graft low and will need to watch out for any rootstock that branches near the graft and cut it off or it will out-compete the graft.

[@mikeymccarroll]

Yeah i am considering a franken berry fig tree and frankenhoney fig tree otherwise ill end up with out any room for any of the other fruit trees ive become interested in, thanks for the help im working on building a fairy slash food garden for my little girl thanks again much appriciated🙂

[@mikeymccarroll]

Forgive my grammar😉

[@rafiqa1621]

beautiful

[@-ssch]

How wide is this after 4 years or at maturity?

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

My tree was around 6' wide at 4 years in the ground

[@MrVikingDance]

Great video, just an FYI... Mexico is in North America, Costa Rica Guatemala are in Central America, South America includes countries like Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, etc.

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

oops...too much heat affected my brain :) Yes I meant to say they originate in Mexico and Central America (not South America). Thanks for watching!

[@sabujephera2680]

Is it seedling or grafted plant?

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

Grafted--it's a suebelle

[@rubenc7858]

Can you graft on a citrus tree?

[@EnlightenmentGarden]

I can't say from experience but search results on the topic say no; white sapote is too distant of a relative to make it graft compatible to citrus. Grafts are done on seedling white sapote rootstock. I have read that one can successfully do an air layer of white sapote

[@rubenc7858]

@@EnlightenmentGarden thank you great info on your vids

[@gippslandfires]

@@EnlightenmentGarden I just tried and it didn't work at all. Sadly. But, it was fun trying.

[@nguyenmyvt68]

Với nhiệt độ là 30 độ thì nó có trái không bạn

[@flutterby.222]

30 degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius? 30 degrees Celsius, which is about 85 degrees Fahrenheit sounds perfect, it will love it! 30 degrees Fahrenheit sounds pretty cold for a white sapote. At that temperature you might want to protect it if it's young.