I am growing out some seeds (yet to sprout) to plant one out and graft mine into it to trial it with protection here. It won’t cost me anything so it’s worth a try
I haven’t got a single seed to sprout out of like 10 (fresh from fruit or from Tradewinds). The seedling I have I bought at a plant sale.
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I have this tree along with citrus in the same room sharing grow lights and I try to keep the humidity close to 50% but it varies between 40%-50%. Temperature varies between 65F to 75F. Interestingly the two tropical plants in the room (Sapodilla and Rose apple) have done better than the citrus putting out new growth.
Regarding pollinating I saw a few videos on YouTube where pollination was done by pressing the flower bud gently. So, I think it’s self fertile.
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They take a long time to sprout.
Sapodilla seeds have a viability of at least 10 years if not more. So dont lose hope.
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Most of them rotted or dried out. Couldn’t find the right watering pattern for them. Theres a few rolling around in my soil mix though. Maybe one day they’ll pop up in other pot like all these passionfruit do.
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yeah I couldn’t get any seed to start at all and had to buy the little seedling. it’s still doing well inside so I might just keep it as a houseplant until summer then get it in its container over by the roof corner where it is damp
what high heats can they take I wonder? it gets humid in the greenhouse in summer but it can get up over 120F
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I have had the little seedling growing and two others as well one from a seed! which grew.
I will be up potting into much bigger very soon as it gets warmer outside, they were in the house until now it is over 45F nights outside so I am hardening them to the sun now. once they are in full sun I will go to bigger pots. I think the tall one will do well it is Silas. the others are different varieties.
I’ll update to this thread!
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bigger guy is suffering; they drop and regrow leaves don’t they? or is something wrong
the others are fine. red/brown leaves. sunburn? fert burn? too much water, high 40s at night was too cold? anyone that knows I would appreciate
I might put in a bigger pot with better draining soil, sand?
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Mine always seems happy but it never gets that cold consistently. Our nighttime’s after March 1 are usually above 55. Now they are in the 70s typically. Mine takes lows of 37 all winter though and never seems to suffer, but daytime temps almost always above 45-50
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it’s every leaf, old and new. it looked like sun burn at first, I moved it to part shade.
I can’t find ANY good info anywhere online about leaf on sapodillas, whether they go dormant, drop leaves, etc. just posts about varieties and what dirt to put them in and temps.
I now have 3 of them, this is the biggest but isn’t growing and now this. I did pot it up into well draining soil in a bigger pot between these two sets of photos.
Mine has never had mass leaf drop. Like any evergreen they periodically lose some leaves but typically replace them as fast or faster than they lose them. Not sure, but I wouldn’t guess too much sun.
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I pulled them to repot and there was almost no new root growth on this one and one other. the new soil is a lot airier and better draining. I’ll give them some root specific fertilizer and see if that helps I guess.
I’ll be hunting for new plants all over again if I’ve killed them somehow. I’m determined with these, I love sapodilla.
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still the struggle continues, the smallest is probably dead now. big guy fighting whatever this is and the medium one is alive but in danger
still looking for good help on this, even checked other forums, Reddit, etc but nobody is having this issue that I can find.
pertinent info; they live in the greenhouse in winter at above 38F, below 50F. they come out when it’s above 45 at nights
I hardened off after the greenhouse slowly moving them to full sun. this happened shortly after but it was grey and rainy during that time.
they had a bit of fish fert mixed into their water in early spring well before this trouble began.
no new growth on any, either
I wonder if there is any damage on the stem. Like a borer or something. Or mechanical damage? I’ve never heard of a sapodilla dropping its leaves like this. Mine is in ground and has taken temps around freezing this year (and persumably some frost since the tomatoes nearby got frosted). So I don’t think its cold damage. I also don’t think its sunburn, they do get burned but I can’t see it being so widespread on the tree. Even when I first planted mine out it only lost a few leaves to the Sun.
Any chance its herbicide drift? Or any animal pee on it? My potted Mamey Sapote defioliated after getting pee’d on and that looked like fert burn when it happened.
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it’s wild- one is dead now. one has ONE leaf
big one has its leaves still but they are red.
I’ve been letting it dry then watering deep . I put it in a less fully sunny spot for now
it can’t have had herbicide as it’s been inside the center of my garden area, other things would have damage. it was fertilized but the was a very long time before this happened- I was thinking I might fertilize again when I really noticed how bad this was
I used diluted fish fert months ago, shouldn’t be burnt. and they’re now in a tall grow bag, previously in smaller pots that were not really accessible for peeing on. (my dog is female and likes to pee on the rhubarb)
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I’m in the same position now with the big sapodilla and another smaller one i sprouted from seed over winter! it’s doing the same damn thing again.
it has not seen frost since i last posted here. yet again it’s dripping leaves and going red. maybe seasonal? don’t know. if it survives I’ll try a timed lighting rig over the winter this coming year, might be that?
updating.
all of the ones pictured here died. the biggest was the last to go, this month i finally scratched the base and it was dead dead. roots had never expanded much at all. a friend has sent me a pair of seedlings from her tree, they are about 18 inches tall together in a gallon pot right now. i used more compost and water holding material instead of the better draining stuff in the pot this time.
again any and all sapodilla information and care advice is welcome, i do not want to fail these guys again.
failing again!
same stuff as last time, crunchy leaves, gone reddish brown. scratched green all the way up though
I’ve now tried 3 kinda of soil mix, high water/low water, full sun and part shade. i need someone who knows about these to help
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Not sure what I’m doing different than you, but mine has been alive for about 5 years now. I’m using a soil mix that is the same I used for fig trees (I mixed it myself, it’s well draining, lots of peat moss, vermiculite and perlite, with some compost). When it’s inside I water as needed which is usually about once a week. Outside it’s on a drip irrigation system. For light the best I can do is part sun because of the location between houses. From the picture it looks like you are using a plastic pot. This may limit drainage. I use a cloth pot. I fertilize mine with osmocote once a year in spring. And use a liquid fertilizer sparingly when it’s inside. For me this has been one of my easier tropicals to deal with, though I’ve only gotten a few fruits from it. They were very good though. Also the variety I have is Silas Woods. Hope this helps!
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my last ones that died were bigger and in a cloth pot. i might try lighter soil? hmmm