I grow fig and olive in large containers, they are over winter in a greenhouse, or indoors. I adore sapodilla and tried to plant some seed I acquired but none germinated.
I don’t have a ton of money to spend but I’d like to try to find one or two to pot, or seeds to try to germinate- the only bare root/trees I’ve found of any kind are above my pay grade.
my questions are if anyone knows a good, inexpensive source for seedlings or seeds- and also if anyone has these as container plants? dwarfed trees, the way figs are kept and olives can sometimes be kept?
fruit is the goal of course, but I’m uncertain if that means I need more than one tree.
since they aren’t hardy to my climate they would be greenhouse plants and could always go in the ground in there- temps don’t go below frost in there at all, and the ground stays well above freezing as it’s a sunken greenhouse.
in addition I’m sure there are varieties. I’ve only had two, both tasted like caramel or brown sugar when ripe. one was very soft, the other more grainy, like a pear. both were delicious and I wouldn’t mind either sort, but what cultivars are there?
I think you can buy a small grafted sapodilla plant I suggest ALANO, for about $30. I recommend doing so because a seedling may want to grow for 10+ years and achieve a large size before fruiting, Alano is a dwarf sapodilla variety fitting well to living in a pot.
I will check it out, thanks! yes a dwarf variety would be good. I can always plant in ground in the greenhouse too, and prune to suit. I’ve got olives in ground in there already.
I was just reading up as i have not been into tropical plants for like 5 years, and some say hasya is more precocious. Anyhow that link i editted out was not as i first read it. I used to buy grafted plants from Lara Nursery for such prices mail ordered. maybesend them an email if you want to or sift through to internet.
I grow Silas Woods. I have nothing to compare it to and have never eaten any other sapodilla. That said it is easily one of my favorite container fruits. It is slow growing but problem free. I got 2 fruits off of it so far (year 4 in a pot), and they were very delicious.
I also have Silas woods. It is the most dwarfed variety that I am aware of, also some reports of it being the most cold hardy; however I’d wager that isn’t likely. I doubt any cultivar is noticeably more cold hardy than another.
I’m in Miami currently and could pretty easily collect some random seeds if you want to grow them as rootstocks or something! I think I saw a tree a block away with the telltale brown splatters on the street below.
Just walked around the neighborhood and no luck with the tree I’d seen. It does appear to be a sapodilla, but no fruit on it and no sign of seeds below. The pavement mess was from a nearby strangler fig. Here’s the tree:
I walked around a little more and spotted a tree in someone’s yard with a few fruit on it, but no sign of any fallen fruit or seeds from rotten fruit outside their fence:
I’ll be walking to get lunch in a minute, though, and I’ll keep an eye out for any other trees overhanging the street or sidewalk. (Off-topic)… while walking around with eyes to the trees, I saw that it looks like it’ll be a good year for mangoes here. This appeared to be a volunteer tree growing next to someone’s yard waste pile at the curb:
Couldn’t find any fruit, and haven’t seen them in the markets here either. Sorry for being so sure I’d find some! We fly back this evening, so guess no luck this time. This was a beautiful sapodilla tree, though:
+1 from my research folks recommend Hasya and that’s what I got recently though Alano is also recommended.
I plan to put mine into the ground though, but have considered getting one more for a pot. I have too many potting/planting projects in parallel right now so that idea is on hold
I’d plus one the idea of getting an older plant as well.
Just got 1.5oz of seed from Sheffield’s, and followed their germination instructions (soak 24 hours first). They all floated at least initially, which I’m pretty sure is normal for sapodilla but still I’m a little nervous about that. I’ll feel better if they sink after soaking.
I was able to get one small one potted over the winter but it’s been in a slightly nicer pot in the window ever since, I don’t expect growth until warm weather and am a bit nervous to put it in the greenhouse (it was hard to find one that wasn’t expensive as hell)
I know your steady winter temps are lower than mine, but mine has been in my greenhouse (ripening fruits) with the low in the greenhouse being 36. It seems very happy, even growing slightly. Mine is “Silas woods” for whatever it’s worth seems to be the “most cold hardy” variety as size and cold were the two criteria I was looking into.
My seedling sapodilla took temps down to below freezing (and possible a light frost but unsure if it had any on it specifically) with no damage. It has slowly been putting out new growth nearly every week except the coldest, rainy week. It is in ground though. About 2.5 feet tall right now.
It was highs of low 50s for about a week, but only below freezing once for a couple of hours. So consistly that low not sure how it would do.
