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tropicalgrower89

Green Sapote or Mamey Sapote?

tropicalgrower89
13 years ago

I'm planning on getting a 7 gallon grafted tree from pine island nursery. I already have a small grafted pace mamey, but I will need to wait a year or so for it to start flowering. I'm thinking about getting another one that is already or about to flower. But, I'm undecided whether to get the green sapote or the mamey sapote. I'll appreciate any advice. :)

Comments (7)

  • hmhausman
    13 years ago

    In my experience, small grafted mameys don't bloom in a year. Maybe yours will, but mine go many years before blooming and even more before setting fruit. In my opinion, Green Sapote is better than Mamey, but it produces a smaller fruit and I think may even longer to fruit than Mamey. I have seen only two fruiting Green Sapote trees in my years of fruit hobbying. One is at the TREC facility in Homestead and that is where Pine Island is getting their plant material to do the grafts. The other was at Bill Whitman's home. Green Sapote does get to be a much larger tree than Mamey from what I have observed. However, both are painfully slow in growing. Mamey also seems to be much more prone to some of our local chewing bugs (especially the Cuban May beetle) which, like most Cubans, much prefer the delicious leaves of the Mamey to more foreign Green Sapote.

    Harry

  • dghays
    13 years ago

    Another factor to consider is how long it is from flower to fruit. Mamey can be up to 18 months for a fruit to mature, which is painful, Green I believe is less than half that.

    Gary

  • enduser
    13 years ago

    Here in my area I have seen only one mamey tree that produces fruit. The tree is over 20 years old, but it takes it 26 months from flower to edible fruit. It usually has fruit growing at different stages of development. The leaf weevil loves my green sapote tree, but does not attack my 1 year old mamey seedling. A good friend of mine has a mamey tree that he grafted, it is only 3 feet tall, flowers but has yet to set fruit. Mamey trees are usually planted for your heirs to enjoy, because depending on your age in your lifetime you may never get to eat fruit from that tree.

  • tropicalgrower89
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Nice. My grafted pace mamey is like about 4ft tall with juvenile-like branches that are pretty long, but covered with leaves from top to bottom. It might flower next season. Seems to be growing pretty quickly. Lets see. I might get a 15 gallon or even a 25gallon mamey sapote that are already fruiting in the pot. I've had a grafted mamey a long time ago and the beetle attacked the leaves. This time they don't attack my new grafted mamey, nor the seedling. My old one died from a huge weed-whacking accident and it had one small mamey fruit. I've learned from my mistakes and it won't happen again. Thanks for your help! :)

  • tropicalgrower89
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I went by Spykes Tropical Nursery in Davie where I bought my 3 gallon grafted pace mamey last year and I purchased a healthy 15 gallon sweetsop (anon, sugar apple). It is about 5 1/2 ft tall with 4 sugar apple fruits and one flower. :)

  • enduser
    13 years ago

    Ouch! Spykes sure likes to spike their prices. Are they in competition with TOP to see who can outdo each other with the most inflated prices?

  • tropicalgrower89
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Well... From what I saw, Top is worse. lol Actually, as a price comparison example, a 7 gallon mamey in Top is 79.95 bucks, while in Spyke, it is 59.95. I'll post a picture of the sugar apple I bought. Also, this nursery was close to my house compared to the ones in the homestead area and it is open 7 days a week. :)