Yes I did hand pollinate, I’m not sure which pollen actually hit though because it was whatever I had at the time between sugar apple, Fernandez reticulata, dream atemoya, or it’s own from other flowers on the tree. It’s still a young lanky tree so just getting the one fruit I am very happy to try looking forward to a hard pruning before spring to get some lateral branching going. I’m glad to have two trees in ground now, more flowers, more pollen to play around with crossing things this year.
One thing I want to expound upon, is the “phenolic” flavor that the reticulata parent imparts. I first read about this from reading the Australian custard apple breeding report. It is generally that flavor that you can’t totally put your finger on but is present in reticulatas, and it’s mostly not good. I attached a screen shot below on this distinction. In the case of the cherilata it is like a how “resin” profile is to a mango. In some mangos you have this flavor almost like gasoline you get in a super julie or o-15, even super Alphonso that by itself would be nasty but when mixed in with sweet and some tartness it creates a pleasantly complex eating experience. Like tannin is to wine. In the cherilata I got that same experience.
I’m really excited because I’ve been collecting and planting a good amount of annonas last year in hopes that this season I’ll be able to run some interesting controlled crosses and this cherilata, has opened up new genetic avenues of flavor potential.
-Joe