Cherimoya tree blooming - must pollenate

10 years ago

Here is some instructions for pollinating cherimoya - has anyone here done it? It looks more complicated than I expected, and I just noticed the flowers yesterday - I don't know when they actually first appeared. I will need a ladder to reach most of them. When I bought the tree, a couple told me that they had to pollinate their tree, which I already knew, but I also know that I will not get fruit unless I am successful at this. The fruit is very much worth it, as it costs $5 a piece on the market, when I can find it. I will look for cherimoya recipes after I get fruit, but so far I have only eaten it plain. It tastes like a very rich vanilla custard - unlike any other fruit I have had. I think it would make a very good sorbet. I hope I still have time to pollinate.

Lars

This post was edited by publickman on Mon, Mar 24, 14 at 15:51

Comments (4)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
10 years ago
You are very lucky. Here in NY they are like $8 a lb.

After you remove the seeds and skin, they probably come to &10 a lb.

dcarch
Lars
Original Author
10 years ago
I collected some pollen at 5:00 pm - there was only one flower that had any - and I stored it in the fridge. I will try to use it tomorrow morning, if there are any receptive flowers.

As I understand it so far, the flowers start out as female but if they are not pollinated, they become male flowers. I'm not sure how long they stay female, but I will see if there are any available in the morning. If not, then I will try at noon.

I found this video for reference, but it says that I should pollinate within an hour of getting the pollen. I guess I will try that method when I find another male flower. Another site said that I could keep the pollen in the fridge and it would be okay to use the next day.

My tree might be too young to produce fruit, since this is the first year that I've noticed flowers, and the timing might be off. It will be worth it if I get fruit, however. Flowers are not supposed to appear until much later in the year, but I will keep an eye on it, and perhaps it will flower for several months.

Lars

This post was edited by publickman on Tue, Mar 25, 14 at 1:07
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I'm not sure you are still interested, but just in case, here is my experience with Cherimoya Polination: I love cherimoyas, but due to their expensive cost, I don't think I ate more than 4-5 in my life, so a few years ago I planted a seed and it germinated and now I have a 3.5 ft tall tree. It germinated many years ago, I think about 6-7 years ago, but I didn't take it too seriously, and it's still in a 2 gallon pot, instead in the ground. Last year it was the first time that it flowered. I was so excited and searched a lot on the internet and read many forums about how to pollinate those flowers. I followed instructions just like you did, and no luck. All flowers dried out within days after the petals fell. This year, it made again 5 flowers, but I did not even bother to try pollinating them again. I noticed that 1 flower did not even open fully, but remained in the female stage for a several days. Eventually, the petals fell but the stem with the tiny ball left from the flower, did not dry out, nor it grew further, just remained like that small till 2 weeks ago when I left on vacation. Before leaving on vacation, I put miracle grow to all my plants in the backyard, including the cherimoya tree which I still have in the pot. Yesterday I returned from my vacation, and noticed the leaves of the cherimoya tree were huge, about 8 inches long and 5 inches wide, which was not the case before. I said to myself, it must be due to the miracle grow fertilizer, and while admiring the leaves, I discovered that the fruit grew and it was now 1 inch in diameter. I have no idea how it pollinated, since I only have 1 cherimoya tree, I did not bother to manual pollinate it, and the 5 flowers opened many days apart. Moreover this particular flower did not even open fully to ever become a male, but remained at the female stage. It is a mystery to me... Maria
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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
10 years ago
Saw some in Whole Foods. $8.99 a lb.

Bought three.

It is my experience that Cherimoyas must be extremely ripe to be most delicious. They have to be softer than avocado. However, you have to check often, they can get over ripe in a day. I think that's why they can't ship them very well.

dcarch
Lars
Original Author
10 years ago
Wednesday morning I found two female flowers that looked receptive, but I do not know whether I was successful in pollinating them. The pollen was in the fridge overnight and had changed color very slightly, but it still might have been potent. Since then, I have not had any more male flowers, and so I have not been able to do any more pollination. I have over a hundred flower buds, although I doubt all of them will develop into flowers, but I will wait and see. Yesterday we had a lot of wind, and so if there had been any pollen, it would have gotten blown away.

Friends at work told me that I can buy cherimoya at farmers' markets here (How am I supposed to go to the SM FM on Wed 8:30 - 1:30!?!?), but I have not seen them, at the ones I've been to. A lot of people grow cherimoya in SoCal, but I think they all have to hand pollinate the flowers to get fruit.

I'll have to check the Halal Lebanese market in Palms again - they have a lot of fruit and some unusual items, like fresh fava beans. The price at the farmers' market is $4-5 a pound, which is still very expensive.

Lars

Cherimoya nutrition facts. I was unaware that Cherimoya and Guanabana were so closely related, as they look so different. I have frequently seen Guanabana in markets and like it for juice, but it is quite tart. It makes good ice cream, however.

Here is a link that might be useful: Grower in Carpenteria

This post was edited by publickman on Sat, Mar 29, 14 at 20:32

Cherimoya tree blooming - must pollenate

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Cherimoya tree blooming - must pollenate

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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

LarsOriginal Author

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