The Mac’s Golden white sapote (Casimiroa edulis) is a cultivar known for its distinctive fruit and growth characteristics. Here’s a detailed overview:
Fruit Characteristics
- Size and Appearance: Mac’s Golden produces large, elongated fruits with a yellow-green skin. The flesh is yellow, smooth, and has a melting texture.
- Flavor: The fruit is known for its particularly rich and aromatic flavour, which is somewhat unusual and may not be liked by everyone. It has few seeds, making it more enjoyable to eat.
Tree Characteristics
- Height: When grown under good conditions, the Mac’s Golden tree can reach a height of 5-10 meters.
- Leaves: This variety is a woolly-leafed sapote, which means the leaves have a distinctive woolly texture.
Growing Conditions
- Sunlight: The tree thrives in full sun, requiring 80-100% sunlight exposure.
- Soil Requirements: It prefers well-drained soil, such as sandy or volcanic soils, with a pH range of 5.5 to 7.3.
- Watering: Moderate watering is ideal, and the tree is drought-hardy, requiring little watering once established.
- Climate: Suitable for subtropical and warm temperate climates, the Mac’s Golden can handle frosts and is partly deciduous, losing some leaves in winter.
Pollination
- Pollination Requirements: The flowers of Mac’s Golden are functionally only female, so it requires a compatible pollinator for fruit set. Suitable pollinators include other white sapote varieties such as Chris, Hawaiian Supreme, Lemon Gold, Ortega, Pike, and Reinecke Commercial.
Fruiting and Harvesting
- Time to Fruit: The tree typically takes 4-5 years to start producing fruit.
- Harvest Season: The fruits are usually harvested in February and March.
Maintenance
- Pruning: Regular pruning helps maintain the tree’s shape and encourages better fruit production.
- Fertilisation: An all-purpose fertiliser can be used to support the tree’s growth and fruiting.
Additional Notes
- Resilience: The Mac’s Golden white sapote is known for its resilience, surviving adverse conditions such as fires and frosts with minimal attention.
The Mac’s Golden white sapote is a robust and productive variety, valued for its unique flavour and large, attractive fruits. It is an excellent choice for gardeners looking to add a distinctive and resilient fruit tree to their collection.
