White Sapote

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Paul Recher says that the vast majority of cultivars are pollen sterile so you must plant a cultivar that has pollen. I spoke to the President of the South Australian Rarefruit Association about the problem and he confirmed the same prognosis so I emailed Peter Young from Birdwood Nursery and here is his reply. “Pollination in White Sapote is critical and is the main reason for many good eating cultivars not being sold to retail as stand alone trees fail to crop. This is why we chose ‘Dade’ as it has good quality fruit and we have found it to be highly self fertile.  It is also a compact grower.  Varieties such as Reinike, Golden Globe, Candy, McDill and Denzler to name a few all need pollinating.  Varieties that are recognised as good pollinators for such varieties are Dade, Vista, Ortego and Vernon.  Lemon Gold that is also very self fertile does everything later than most cultivars.  It is a big tree, small fruit and although it’s good eating, doesn’t make a good pollinator or backyard tree.”  Sheryl: Some of the South Australians don’t like Dade