How to Grow Cherimoya. Heart-shaped cherimoyas are a natural fruit of Ecuador and Peru that are cultivated on mainly evergreen trees. Cherimoya fruit often weighs between 14 and 2 12 pounds. The fruit’s skin is a drab green colour with brown edges that resemble thumbprints. A creamy, custard-like pulp with flavours of banana, pineapple, and pear is present inside.
Cherimoya is a quickly expanding, primarily evergreen tree. Cherimoyas can reach heights of 20 to 30 feet and a width of the same. It is trainable and can be pruned to a shorter height. A natural espalier is created when young branches develop in opposition to one another.
How to Grow Cherimoya
The cherimoya is also known as sherbet fruit or custard apple. Cherimoya can be eaten “on the half shell” while being cooled. The flesh can be blended for sherbet, ice cream, and daiquiris or diced and added to fruit salads. Before serving, remove the seeds.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Cherimoya Production:
- Cherimoyas are subtropical or somewhat temperate temperature plants, and they can withstand light frosts. At 25°, mature trees will suffer harm or death. Cherimoyas should be planted in a bright, south-facing position in cold winter climates.
- For cherimoyas to leaf out and set fruit in the spring, they need 50 to 100 chilling hours per winter. Chilling hours are any time the temperature is 43°F or lower. The tree loses its leaves briefly in temperate areas from late winter to early spring. Cherimoyas do not thrive in dry, hot summer climates. The ideal places to cultivate cherimoya are in cool coastal summer climates.
- Cherimoyas should be grown in full light. Be careful that cherimoya can suffer from sunburn if it is planted in an area where the summer heat is strong and scorching. Plant cherimoya where it will receive morning sunlight but be protected from the hot midday and late afternoon sun if summers are very hot.
- You can train Cherimoya to eagle against a wall. A natural espalier is created when young branches develop in opposition to one another.
- Cherimoyas should be planted in loamy, compost-rich soil that is well-drained. The ideal pH range is between 6.5 and 7.6.
Pollination of Cherimoyas
- Male and female flowers are present on cherimoya trees, although they do not open at the same time. For roughly 36 hours, female flowers open first, followed by male blossoms.
- It is best to hand-pollinate cherimoyas. Apply pollen to open female flowers by collecting it with a little artist’s brush from the tan-coloured anthers of male flowers. Pollen should be kept in a closed container in the refrigerator if no female flowers are open. To ensure pollination during flowering, hand pollinate every two days.
- Since few insects visit the flowers, insect pollination is improbable.
Spacing Cherimoya
Cherimoya can reach heights and widths of 30 feet; some varieties are smaller. When planting a tree, take into account its eventual size.
Planting Cherimoya
- Establish a planting location that receives full sun and is protected from prevailing winds or breezes.
- Incorporate well-rotted manure or compost into the soil.
- Create a hole that is twice as big and half as deep as the tree’s roots. Pour a cup of all-purpose fertiliser into the hole’s bottom.
- Before planting, install a tree stake (or fan support wires) in the ground. Put a stake at least two feet deep into the earth to the side of the hole.
- Cherimoyas should be staked while planting them because of their shallow roots.
- The soil mark from the nursery pot on the stem of the plant should be at the same surface level as the soil around it when it is placed in the hole. The roots should be dispersed widely.
- Fill the hole back up with a mixture of native soil and aged compost or commercial organic planting mix, and compact the soil to prevent air pockets from forming between the roots. When it’s time to water, moisten the soil and make a small dirt basin around the trunk.
- Using tree ties, fasten the tree to the stake.
- After planting, give each tree plenty of water and fertilise with a liquid starter fertiliser with a high phosphorus content.
Cherimoya Growing in Containers:
- Due to their size at maturity and the fact that they develop a taproot, cherimoyas are challenging to grow in pots.
- Cherimoyas are prone to root rot in humid weather, so keep the soil evenly moist but not soggy. When cherimoya trees are dormant, avoid watering them.
- If the roots become dry throughout the growing season, the cherimoya will lose its leaves. Fruit may get sunburned if leaves fall.
- Use a balanced organic fertilizer, such as 10-10-10 or less, to feed cherimoya. From midwinter to harvest, feed the trees every three months.
Cherimoya Care, Nutrients, and Water:
- Cherimoyas should be trained to two scaffold branches two feet off the ground. Reduce the height of young scaffolds by around two feet. Save the strongest shoots growing at 60 to 90 degrees from the laterals and cut off the rest.
- When new growth begins each year, prune to maintain easy access to the following harvest; remove two-thirds of the previous year’s growth, leaving six to seven buds on each stem.
- yearly removal of unhealthy, crossing, or damaged branches.
- Cherimoyas should be pruned when dormant.
Training and Pruning Cherimoya:
- Cherimoyas should be trained to two scaffold branches two feet off the ground.
- Reduce the height of young scaffolds by around two feet. Save the strongest shoots growing at 60 to 90 degrees from the laterals and cut off the rest.
- When new growth begins each year, prune to maintain easy access to the following harvest; remove two-thirds of the previous year’s growth, leaving six to seven buds on each stem.
- yearly removal of diseased, crossing, or broken branches.
Cherimoyas should be pruned when dormant.
Cherimoya Harvesting and Storage:
- When the cherimoya fruit yields slightly to thumb pressure, it is ripe. When the fruit turns brown, it is overripe.
- Cherimoyas that are hard and unripe can ripen at room temperature.
- Cherimoyas that are ripe need to be refrigerated and consumed within one or two days.
Problems and Managing:
- Yellow leaves are a sign that the soil may be too dry or that it is too cold outside, not necessarily that there is not enough nitrogen in the soil.
- Mealybugs feed on sap from leaves and tender branches; to remove them from plants, use a powerful water spray.
- Snails will climb the tree and consume the leaves; use copper tape or Tanglefoot (sticky goo) on masking tape applied around the trunk to stop them from getting to the fruit and foliage.
- Trees rooted in soil that is constantly moist can die from crown rot.
- Remove the infected branches and foliage and discard it because verticillium fungal disease can cause branches and leaves to turn brown and die back.
Cherimoya Winter and Fall Care:
Protect young trees from the cold by wrapping the trunk and scaffolding with sponge foam or covering the tree with a plant blanket.
Cherimoya Plant Types
- ‘Bays’: Good, almost lemon-like flavour; medium-sized, elongated fruits with light green skin; broad, 20-foot-tall trees.
- “Big Sister”: Large, extremely smooth fruit with a good flavour; frequently self-fruitful
- ‘Booth’: Medium-sized, conical fruit with a papaya-like flavour; seedy; one of the hardiest cherimoya varieties; grows 20 to 30 feet tall.
- ‘Chaffey’: Tiny to medium-sized, spherical fruit with a strong lemon flavour grows quickly along the coast.
- ‘Ecuador’: Medium-sized, dark-green fruit with a good flavour; spreading tree; tolerant of cold.
- “El Bumpo”: Rich in flavour; Fruit with a medium-sized conical shape and soft, nearly edible skin.
- ‘Honeyhart’: Medium-sized fruit with smooth yellowish-green skin has a great flavour and is highly juicy.
- Skin; Occurs throughout the winter.
- ‘Knight’: Quite sweet; the texture of the meat is a little gritty.
- ‘Libby’: Round conical fruit with a powerful flavour, early harvest, and a big tree
- ‘McPherson’: Banana-like flavour; small to medium-sized, conical, dark-green fruit; few seeds; the tree grows to a height of 30 feet.
- ‘Nata’: Smooth, light green fruit to 2 12 pounds in weight; thin skin; balanced sweet-acid flavour; propensity for self-pollination.
- ‘Ott’: Medium-sized, highly tasty fruit with yellow flesh and seeds that ripens quickly.
- ‘Pierce’: Medium-sized, elongated, conical fruit with smooth skin; high sugar content.
- ‘Sabor‘: tiny to medium-sized fruit with a great flavour.
- “Whaley” fruit has a good flavour and is medium to large, elongated, and conical.
- White: The fruit has a faint mango-papaya flavour, luscious flesh, enormous size (up to 4 pounds), and a 35-foot growth rate.
