Found these growing today - the first we have ever had from this tree - usually they are tiny black mummified things. Getting water to them has made a difference!
Is this a Cherimoya?
This is a picture of a slightly unripe fruit, the ripe one was much yellower and had a strawberry / peach flavor. Yummy!
Any info on caring for this tree in Kihei would be appreciated, especially now I have tasted one! Sorry I don't have a picture of the inside of the fruit - we ate it! It has rather large glossy black seeds and creamy colored flesh.
Can I plant the seeds, or rather will they come true?
This is why I love you,,, you are willing to eat ANYTHING you grow in the garden. Hahahaha, I am so very happy you aren't growing mushrooms, silly sausage, you are a brave woman. Looks tasty, where in the world do you have that tree, is it toward the back near the bananas or next to the shed, I can't say I have ever seen it before. I can't wait to see all the progress. Please post more random pictures. All my love, Laurie
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/cherimoya.html
Interesting link if indeed it is a cherimoya.... your guess is much better than mine xoxo L.
Hi Honey,
It's along the side where the mango tree fell over, which by the way is doing very well despite being almost on it's side and has bloom on it, weird time of year, huh?
Laurie, wait until you taste it - it's gorgeous! I will freeze some for you...
Thanks for the link, hoping the guys will set me straight!
XXX
They're called sugar apples here. Best eaten when they very ripe and soft.
http://images.google.com/images?q=sugar+apple&rls=p,com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7GGLR_en&um=1&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title
Whew, that's a long url, google sugar apple photos .
Aloha,
No, it's the same fruit. They seem to loose their lumpiness as they get bigger!
Thanks for the ID and the links - off to check them out!
Hi Jen,
It's definiytely a Cherimoya (Annona cherimola), and it is one of the improved varieties, as witnessed from the "yummy" flavor of the fruit.
To get more fruit on the plant you will have to hand pollinate. This is done by using a small soft-tipped brush to transfer male pollen from the older flowers to the newly opened flowers in the female phase.
The hot weather in Kihei is also hard on the fruit production of the tree. To get better fruit production, you may want to obtain an Atemoya (Annona x atemoya) which handles the lowland weather better than Cherimoya
Growing the seed is not a sure way to get a good tree. It is best to get a grafted improved variety.
Aloha, Dave
If it's a chermoya, it has these wonderful leaves, truly beautiful tree. This guy I know has a row of about 10 along the fence. They do look like your pic, perhaps they mellow in color eventually. Not ugly at all, but quite bealtiful! http://ccmya.com/
The smooth look to the mature fruit is proof that it is Cherimoya, Annona cherimola.
The Atemoya has fruit which is lobed when ripe.
The sugarapple (Annona squamosa) is lobed as well.
Gosh, you guys are all so smart! Thanks so much for the info! I don't know if I wil be able to pollinate - I have never noticed the flowers, they must be well comouflaged, and also the tree is rather high! Can I cut the leader down, or will it kill the tree? I am wondering how I am getting pollination now, does anyone know what insect does the dirty deed? I am absolutely delighted to have this fruit in the garden, especially as it seems as though it is growing in the wrong place! Now if only I hadn't killed the Abui...
It is a rather pretty tree LA, it rather looks like the Ylang-Ylang tree I have growing - same sort of shape.
Dave, Mahalo as usual for your fund of knowledge, you constantly amaze me! I love tasting all this new (to me, anyway) stuff - for anyone who hasn't tasted a Cherimoya, it's lovely!
I swear I learn something new everyday!
Warmest Aloha.
Braveheart, I have two enormous Custard Apple trees in my plantation. A. reticulata. Taste is apparently a bit inferior to your Annona, but I have never watered or fertilized them, and they produce profusely every year. Sour Sops are cool too.
Deb.
Here's what some California fruitsellers say:
"The cherimoya is a native of the Andes Mountain range in South America the mountain area between Colombia to Bolivia, at an altitude of 1000 to 2000m. Cherimoya is the tastiest fruit of the Anon varieties. It’s Latin name is Annona cherimolia and it's scientific name is Annonaceae. The Inca word “cherimoya” means, “cold breast" perhaps they were used as pacifiers for the small children. Cherimoyas have been around for hundreds of years. This exotic fruit is now grown in select pockets along the California coast. Few places in the world provide the rare combination of southern exposure, marine moisture, temperate climate and rich hillside soil in which cherimoyas thrive. They are a very care intensive fruit, requiring hand pollinating, careful monitoring, and delicate handling. They don't like sharp fluctuations in temperature, harsh sunlight, or heavy winds."
These people, again, located in California, sell Cerimoyas, Avacados, Passion fruit, and Dragon Fruit via mail order to the USA In season, which isn't right now. Not the plants, the fruit. Amazing what you find on Google. And fooey, nobody ships here to the USVI! owell!
http://www.calimoya.com/index.html
Sure wish I could grow them!!!!
Aloha Carol - you're back! How was NZ, and your dear friend?
Why can't you grow Cherimoya in your area? I am planning on planting some brugs and gardenia right in front of my tree to encourage the bees (I have tons!) to do the pollinating for me as I just can't see me climbing to the top of the tree with a paintbrush!
Glad to have you back home.
Thank you everyone for all the info - I am going to have to read all the links at work tomorrow since I was up at 2.30am this morning and I am too stupid at this moment to take anything in! Off to hit the hay!
MALOMA-Thanks for the info! very well done I hope I can be in the VI one of thee days. What a wonderful place. If had some really awful medical problems (thanks god) and I may never get aywhere now. But bless you, and remember life is so darn fragile. Hope to hear more from ya'. Toodles!
Jenny...Cherimoya doesn't like our coolness. I can grow Atemoya tho... and those, too, should be hand pollinated, but we let nature do what she can and we do get some fruit. The reason to hand pollinate this genus is because the male flowers and the female flowers bloom at different times...seldom at the same time...so it is difficult for the bees to do their thing. (I think I have this right....). As we aren't commercial, we are happy with one or two fruit at a time!!!
Carol
You have that right on Carol!
There is an early female phase to the flower, and a later male phase to the flower. In nature this characteristic gives the plant a better chance of cross pollination.
You may want to try the Sugar-Apple, Annona squamosa, so far they seem to do well up here.
Aloha, Dave
LOL! I am not commercial either Carol - just greedy! I am going to have a go at pollinating although I am going to have to watch the tree like a hawk for the flowers....We have about 20 fruit that Mother Nature managed for us this year.
Do I understand you right, Dave, that two trees are really needed for cross polination?
Anybody here know which trees are sold here as "Allspice" - no other name given. I have found several different allspices, such as Carolina Allspice, etc - but I have no idea which are the ones sold locally here in the Islands. I don't think I have room for one, just interested after seeing them for sale for so many years in HD.
Hi Jen,
One tree is all that is needed. The flowers have two stages; they start out in their female phase, in which they accept pollen; then they go into their male phase, and produce pollen.
To be successful at hand pollination; start looking for the flowers in midsummer. You will see the flowers open up and expose the receptive stigma; a day later they will be in the male phase. At this point you can take a brush and sweep the pollen into a container.
Apply the pollen to the stigmas of newly opened flowers. Repeat the process every few days during the flowering season. This will assure an abundance of fruit. (Make sure that the plant has ample potassium to help the fruit to set.)
This can be done to all species of Annona to increase fruit production.
Allspice is Pimenta dioica of the Myrtle Family. The ground seed is used for spice. They are commonly grown in Hawai'i and make an attractive tree, but they are spread by birds and have the potential to be a weed. You can start them easily by seed, they are very easy to grow. The trees are not very valuable (the clove tree, Syzygium odoratum, is a good alternative).
Aloha, Dave
Mahalo Dave, I am going to try to pollinate the Cherimoya this coming year. Although it might be rather a pain to keep such a vigil, I am going to give it a shot, I am going to have to tie ribbons on the flowers or something to keep track! Thanks for the info on the flowering time, I have honestly never seen the flowers let alone smelt them - I think maybe I am in Lala land a lot of the time, or perhaps I am always looking down for weeds!
Mahalo for the info on the Allspice - I wasn't sure if it was the spice tree or some of the other trees called Allspice when I googled it, so I am very glad to know - a tin of Allspice last me ages so I don't think it's a tree for me. I already have enough problems with bird seeded papaya and wind blown tree seeds, especially what I think are African Tulip trees - those little devils grow FAST!
My wild tomatoes are going great guns and they are all over the place. It's so much easier for me to have these very small, but very sweet tomatoes than to try to grow the Early Girls, or whatever. I can't grow "proper" tomatoes here to save my life!
I have been busy shredding up the dry wall pieces that have come from the Ohana remodel and putting them in the soil - the guys think I have gone crazy, but one of the Rangers told me that it would be great - I think he might have said that it would sweeten the soil and add calcium? or something, if I am not mistaken. Yet another mad experiment! Onward and upward!
When we pollinate daylilies we tag them with white string tags. You can buy a box of them at Wallyworld for under $2. You just loop them around under the flower. Then if you want to date them or note information, you can. Be sure to use a permanent marker.
You can actually freeze daylily pollen. You could try it with this. Good Luck!
Jeanne
Thanks for the info Jeanne!
Miracle of Miracles!!!! The pathetic little Cherimoya tree we have, growing in the shade-never gets fertilized and when DH isn't looking I have been trying to kill it....well...guess what? It gave us two of the most delicious Cherimoyas I have ever eaten in my life (and I have been known to make a pig of myself on Cherimoyas)!!! We were warned not to have any hope for fruit... My new favorite tree!!!!!
Yum.
Carol
LOL! Fantastic! Enjoy! I'll have to see if I can find some. Don't think I've ever seen one. Cool!
Carol, does this mean we should be harsh to our Cherimoya trees?!!
LOL Dave, it works for me!
There must be something special in the air this year for both Carol and I to get fruit from a tree that is so darn finicky. I think they are now my favorite fruit (along with Abiu). Mango used to be my favorite, but now we have so many with seven trees in the garden (and a freezer full) I am going off them - seems I always want something that is difficult for me to grow in Kihei! Typical!
Right now we have bananas all over the place - there is a saying here that you are a real friend when you give away green bananas, not so much when you give away ripe bananas because you have so many of them that they don't have the same worth! However there are many older people where I work who come here for the winter, so they go like hot cakes. We have our advocado trees coming into full production, the ever present papaya, figs,a good orange crop and as for limes - well, there isn't enough gin in the world to use up the fruit from the one small tree we have!
I hear that you have to be mean to lychee trees too, strangle them or something...We have a lychee that only gives a few fruit every year and my Mom loves them - any ideas - do I really have to throttle the poor tree?
LOL! I don't think I've ever seen anyone try to throttle a tree before.
Hey Jen, the fruit production of Lychee is stimulated by girdling the tree. Using a knife, cut into the bark and cut a line the whole way around the trunk. Do not remove any bark, just cut into it.
I believe that the beginning of the year is the best time to do this.
We have Lychee that are old kind and need to be 'stressed'...but we also have the Goff (sp?) which produce without it. Someone said to use a hacksaw blade to do the cutting!
Well...I am not sure what is going to happen to my Cherimoya...but it has become my new best friend! The best time to eat them, I have found, is before it starts to turn 'ripe' looking...when the flesh is just tender from the outside... OH...it is so good!!!!
Carol
Oh, I want some! LOL! Sounds soooo good!
TG77 - sometimes the supermarkets in the US carry them...pricey but if you get them right, delicious!!!
Carol
I've followed this thread and longing for the flavor of the Cherimoya. We can get Leechee here imported from elsewhere. But Cherimoya? Hmmm, I haven't taste the flavor for so many years......I wanted to cry. Jenny, Carol, are those sold in Hawaii on the supermarket?
I have never seen them in the supermarkets here, LL, but sometimes, rarely, at one of the local markets I have seen them. I am afraid to send you one as it would arrive overripe.....they don't even travel well locally!!!
Carol
Hang on to the thought, please Carol, let me travel to you. lol. Just kidding, I appreciate the thought however.
I'm going to look for them! We get the canned Lychee and stuff them with pineapple chunks. You can buy the indivual Lychee in Food Town. We get alot of things from the valley (Mexico) and Central America.
We also have an oriental grocery store in Houston that has quite a variety of different produces! I hope I can find one!