From the
Tropical Fruit News, Miami Rare Fruit Council
International Miami RFCI
by Gene Joyner
The White Sapote
The white sapote (Casimiroa edulis)
is a beautiful medium-sized spreading evergreen tree from Central
America, especially Mexico. It grows to about 40 to 45 feet here in
Florida and is very drought tolerant, and well adapted for most Florida
soils.
Leaves are compound with 3-7 leaflets, but usually 5 is
normal. Flowers can appear several times a year, but the heaviest bloom
is in the late winter--January and February, on new growth.
The
dull green fruit quickly follow, and attain diameters of 2 to 4 inches
in some varieties. Certain varieties will attain a light yellow color
at maturity, but many will remain a pale green even when mature. The
skin is almost paper-thin and the inside flesh is cream color to
yellowish, very soft and custard-like, very sweet. Some varieties are
reported to have a slightly medicinal aftertaste, and you should make
sure that you taste white sapote before buying a tree to be sure that
you will enjoy this fruit.
The fruit is commonly eaten
fresh, but is also used in preserves, marmalades, ice cream, sherbets
or juices. Trees may have as many as 2 to 3 crops a year, with another
crop often coming during the late fall or early winter. Sometimes
blooms and maturing fruit from previous crops can be on the tree at the
same time. Fruits contain large, hard seeds, usually about 3/4 inch,
and are easily removed from the fruit.
There are a number
of cultivars of white sapote, and members of the Rare Fruit Council in
Florida have also selected seedlings with superior characteristics as
well. Trees can be propagated from seed, but seedlings are highly
variable in fruiting characteristics and take up to 7 years to begin
bearing. Good bearing cultivars can be propagated by veneer grafting,
budding, or air layering, and this is the way they are commonly
propagated in tropical fruit nurseries. Propagation can be done almost
anytime but spring is generally the preferred time.
When
putting a white sapote in the landscape, allow sufficient space around
the trees so that they do not interfere with other ornamental plants.
They are generally considered drought tolerant, but should be irrigated
weekly during dry spring weather and when fruit is first forming. Trees
that are subjected to stress during blooming and early fruit
development will often bear very small crops of fruit. Once well
established, older trees generally survive quite well during periods of
drought.
Trees should be fertilized for optimum growth and
production with a fruit tree type fertilizer every 3 to 4 months. For
the first year, young trees should be fertilized every other month.
Pruning
on the white sapote is done as required by the growing situation and
most heavy pruning should be done during the summer months to allow the
trees time to regrow before the following winter.
Trees
are considered fairly cold-hardy and mature trees can take
temperatures down to 24° F., with young trees generally
withstanding down to 26° F.
There are very few pests or
serious disease problems of white sapote and once established in the
landscape, spraying is rarely needed for any of these. Due to the
softness of the fruits, they should be harvested from the tree prior to
full maturity. If allowed to fall from the tree, much of the fruit will
be badly bruised and damaged. A wooly-leafed variety of white sapote is
also available, but is not easily found. The difference is that the
wooly-leaf'white sapote has slightly larger fruits and leaves. The
fruits also tend to be more oval in shape, but the flavor and other
characteristics are similar to the regular white sapote.
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White Sapote Page
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