pruning white sapote (forum)

john starts with ...
There has been a vigorous regrowth from a Vernon pruned really hard ;even branches as thick as a forearm have re shot. Now there will be less problem netting and it will be easier to control the vast amount of scale . Moral: don't be frightened of pruning sapotes.

Time: 28th January 2012 1:16pm

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amanda says...
That's interesting :) Coincidentally Sabrina Hahn just did a feature article on white sapote in yesterdays paper. She states "never give the tree ahard prune"..?

She doesn't say why exactly - but it's in the context of shaping the tree. Maybe it's something to do with how the new branches grow back at very odd angles do u think?

Time: 29th January 2012 12:12pm

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Tom says...
We found the only way to get our three young white sapotes to branch out was to hard prune them. They were three whips, two already eight feet tall before we learned to snip the trunk to get branches started. I've always wondered just how high they'd've gone as a single long stick before they took to branching out on their own if we hadn't forced it.

Time: 29th January 2012 1:00pm

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john says...
It's more to do with being able to throw a net over them in my case ; no net ,no fruit.

Time: 29th January 2012 1:11pm

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amanda says...
It's always good to know when you can cut into old wood though..(have made that mistake with natives b4 today...)

My lemon golds are perhaps not as vigorous? They don't seem to have much apical dominance at all..and still under 2m at 2yrs (I think)?


Time: 29th January 2012 6:56pm

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amanda says...
john...why do u have a vast amount of scale tho? (curious here - that's all)

Time: 30th January 2012 2:59am

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j says...
john, what critter eats your white sapote fruit? Birds? Possums?

Time: 30th January 2012 8:55pm

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Jason says...
J, some birds eat mine, mostly only those little ring eyes. Possums have recently discovered them and now they love sapotes. Parrots don't seem interested at all.

I've found out that foxes have been the cause of a fair percentage of my missing Avocado crop too

Time: 31st January 2012 12:39am

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amanda says...
Foxes eat avo's?! :-( I often see their poop around here and it has the box thorn fruits in it. Adaptable vermin aren't they...

Time: 31st January 2012 8:40am

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john says...
Parrots and rats have a go at mine. Scale is a serious problem if the tree is so large that it cannot be effectively sprayed.

Time: 31st January 2012 9:38am

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amanda says...
I was curious about the scale john...I often find it attacks trees which are "stressed" in some way? (or even trees with too much lush growth/shade etc too..)

I haven't had scale on my sapotes...wonder if anyone else has a problem here too..?

Time: 31st January 2012 10:39am

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Jason says...
I haven't got scale on any of my sapotes but with the foxes.. I had for years seen half eaten avocados all around the place with sharp fine teeth marks in them, I though it was a rat or mouse or possum. Well I actually still all those things eat them. Since then however late at night I've seen a couple of foxes under the tree eating them and I've not yet caught a possum or rat eating them :). So all I've confirmed so far is foxes

Time: 31st January 2012 2:03pm

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john says...
Happy to mail scale to anyone who wants them,rats (cute ones) also on offer.

Time: 31st January 2012 2:44pm

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j says...
I'd love some scale!! I keed, Keed. Two years ago I met a dude at a gardening event who knew glowinski and said his big white sapote tree (assuming he was referring to glowinski's Vista) had scale on it.
I don't really see many pests bother my white sapotes or their fruit. But I do have possums and birds about (thanks for the info, john), and the first attack from those critters means it's sapote netting time.



Time: 31st January 2012 3:01pm

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amanda says...
It's a shame you can't make the tree drop all it's leaves, all at once (like my Fiddlewood in summer) and just start again minus the scale :)

Time: 31st January 2012 6:46pm

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Julie says...
I have neglected my white sapote (grown from seed)for the last few years, because I was so disappointed in it. The fruit had a slightly bitter aftertaste and the fruit ripened too close together (they are not good keepers). It hasn't fruited for a while.

It wasn't fed, but this year it did get some water and has just finished a fairly good crop. The fruit was sweet and pleasant, with no bitterness. One or two had fruit fly, but not every fruit.

So next year I plan to look after it better.

On pruning - it has become quite tall, around 4-5m, so I miss out on the higher fruit. Can I prune it back, and when is the best time to do this? Our winters are fairly chilly, but it doesn't lose all its leaves.

Time: 13th April 2012 7:29pm

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john says...
The answer is yes. The time does not seem to matter ;you end up with a denser , lower canopy.

Time: 14th April 2012 7:20am

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Mike says...
Further to what john says,it is best to take out whole limbs back to the trunk (seal those wounds) and thin the weak growth.A haircut from the top and sides can make it too dense with lots of thin new branches.

Time: 14th April 2012 7:40am

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Rob19 says...
I have a white sapote seedling, with large leaflets, that wants to head north as fast as possible. I was hoping to graft a number of cultivars onto it, as well test the seedling itself, so I was hoping to induce some branching now that it is 70cm tall.
A few months ago I rubbed out the upper leaf buds as they were forming in the hope to encourage lateral branching. The result was the tree sulked for a few months and has now decided to grow new leaf buds... in exactly the same place. I am obviously doing something wrong. Does anyone have some advice?
I see an earlier note suggesting

Time: 8th October 2014 4:44pm

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