Californian Rollinia

[AnnonAddict]

Hi Everyone,

I recently went to my friend Norman's house and found that many a flower on his Rollinia tree had turned to fruit! There were about 30-50 total fruits on the tree and only one was larger than a baseball. Pics below, I hope this fruit matures correctly so I can taste it!

Some small fruits

The largest fruit there, about the size of a small pommelo.

And of course the tree itself.


Thanks for looking,

[simon_grow]

Wow, that's great to see that Rollinia will grow here in SoCal. I've been debating on wether or not to plant one. Please report back if you are able to taste one. I wonder how the taste compares to Cherimoya? Thanks for sharing!
Simon

[fruitlovers]

That's encouraging! If Norman can fruit it so can you. Once they get to that size they don't normally drop off. So you might get to taste one yet.    Tell Norman that tree looks a bit dehydrated to me. I would suggest putting a micro sprinkler or mister over the top of it, and try to maintain higher humidity level.
Simon, rollinia tastes very different than cherimoya, almost like apples and oranges. The rollinia is not nearly so sweet as cherimoya, and the texture of rollinia is totally different also... more pudding like. The taste is a lot more subtle or delicate than cherimoya. Some call it a lemon merengue pudding taste and i think that is pretty close.

[emegar]

Jack,

Fantastic! Do tell where this legendary tree resides. I'm not looking for exact GPS coordinates, mind you, just a sense of what town we're talking about. Please keep us posted.

[simon_grow]

Thanks for the info Oscar! Lemon a Merengue sounds pretty good. I know a fella in the Chula Vista area that has a potted Soursop that is fairly large and in excellent health. He keeps it outdoors and does not protect it in Winter and it's doing great, Chula Vista is right next to the ocean.
Simon

[fruitlovers]

Thanks for the info Oscar! Lemon a Merengue sounds pretty good. I know a fella in the Chula Vista area that has a potted Soursop that is fairly large and in excellent health. He keeps it outdoors and does not protect it in Winter and it's doing great, Chula Vista is right next to the ocean.
Simon

I think soursop might be more difficult to fruit in S. Cal. than rollinia. I believe also that rollinia is a bit more cold hardy than soursop? Ed and Adam posted long time ago about how their rollinias were more cold hardy than their mangos.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I hope you get to taste that fruit!  its one of my very favorites!


I agree with everything Oscar said...this should be easier to fruit out doors in CA, than guanabana...

but...that tree looks like it got a bit cold and dry...Make sure to keep that thing irrigated, and protected from cold dry winds!

Lots of the fruits will probably abort, but a few of the protected ones might ripen...make sure also not to wait too long to eat the fruit...they get snotty if you let them go too long...so eat it when it's still got a hint of green, but almost fully yellow.

Good Luck!

[BMc]

I've talked to JF about rollinia and guanabana. If you don't get under 4c regularly then you should be able to fruit both provided you give them a bit of wind protection and obviously water them well. Rollinia is a beast here and probably only bested by Panama berries in the growing stakes. Guanabana grows well too and fruits but not like the rollinia.

[fruitlovers]

I've talked to JF about rollinia and guanabana. If you don't get under 4c regularly then you should be able to fruit both provided you give them a bit of wind protection and obviously water them well. Rollinia is a beast here and probably only bested by Panama berries in the growing stakes. Guanabana grows well too and fruits but not like the rollinia.

Big difference is that Brisbane is 27.4 S latitude,
and Santa Barbara is  34.4 N
Chula Vista is 32.6 N,
which leads me to believe you are in a much warmer zone than southern California, ,and probably also a lot more humid. Southern California rainfall this year an incredibly low 3.5 inches (89 millimeters).
In latitude you are much closer to Miami, which is 25.8 N. It's not just the lows that influence what you can grow and fruit, but overall climate.

[AnnonAddict]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the praise and comment to this wonderful tree. It has fruited before, as soon as the fruits turned yellow the humidity sunk and it turned black .

Emegar: Norman is more in Goleta than in SB so that is a more accurate GPS pinpoint.

BMc: You are quite correct, we don't regularly get temperatures that are below 45F-50F degrees but occasionally in the winter we'll bump into the thirties.

Oscar: I am glad that fruits do not usually fall off at this size, I am hoping it will not dry out due to lack of humidity. I have already discussed this with Norman but he doesn't think it needs it.

Adam: The tree is very well irrigated, especially now since we have not been getting lots of rainfall. I am glad to hear so much good about this fruit, what I've noticed is the broken off leaves smell like bell peppers.

Thanks again everybody,

[JF]

I've talked to JF about rollinia and guanabana. If you don't get under 4c regularly then you should be able to fruit both provided you give them a bit of wind protection and obviously water them well. Rollinia is a beast here and probably only bested by Panama berries in the growing stakes. Guanabana grows well too and fruits but not like the rollinia.

Bruce

We rarely get below 4c but the problem with our climate is the lack of precipitation. I get up in the early mornings an it's 10c with dense fog 100% humidity. In the afternoon it's 28c RedFlag warnings 5% humidity. This kind of variance is devastating to the plants and to tell you the truth it's very discouraging....these trees are not adapting well to our winter climate.

[fruitlovers]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the praise and comment to this wonderful tree. It has fruited before, as soon as the fruits turned yellow the humidity sunk and it turned black .

Emegar: Norman is more in Goleta than in SB so that is a more accurate GPS pinpoint.

BMc: You are quite correct, we don't regularly get temperatures that are below 45F-50F degrees but occasionally in the winter we'll bump into the thirties.

Oscar: I am glad that fruits do not usually fall off at this size, I am hoping it will not dry out due to lack of humidity. I have already discussed this with Norman but he doesn't think it needs it.

Adam: The tree is very well irrigated, especially now since we have not been getting lots of rainfall. I am glad to hear so much good about this fruit, what I've noticed is the broken off leaves smell like bell peppers.

Thanks again everybody,

Low humidity can cause the fruit to shrivel up. Also with high humidity flowers will set a lot more fruit. Even if Norman doesn't want to set up misters, you should know this is a must in dry southern California. Even though Norman's tree has fruits it doesn't look healthy.

[marklee]

I had a couple of almost pingpong ball size fruits on mine last year, but think the dry winds got them, also it was in a pot so I didn't water it enough. I'm a few miles in from the ocean down in Chula Vista, but it did hit 39 in one part of my yard last month. I'm sure the guys on the tops of the hills around here can get some fruit.

[JF]

I had a couple of almost pingpong ball size fruits on mine last year, but think the dry winds got them, also it was in a pot so I didn't water it enough. I'm a few miles in from the ocean down in Chula Vista, but it did hit 39 in one part of my yard last month. I'm sure the guys on the tops of the hills around here can get some fruit.

Mark, you have a better chance you're near the coast. I'm 20 miles inland it was hazy 57F 82%humidity @6am at10am 75F and 15%. It will be 90F tomorrow and warm and dry the rest of the week....no rain forecast for the next 20 days.

[BMc]

I had a couple of almost pingpong ball size fruits on mine last year, but think the dry winds got them, also it was in a pot so I didn't water it enough. I'm a few miles in from the ocean down in Chula Vista, but it did hit 39 in one part of my yard last month. I'm sure the guys on the tops of the hills around here can get some fruit.

Mark, you have a better chance you're near the coast. I'm 20 miles inland it was hazy 57F 82%humidity @6am at10am 75F and 15%. It will be 90F tomorrow and warm and dry the rest of the week....no rain forecast for the next 20 days.

Living in an arid area would make it very hard. My tree looked like it had been through a bit of an ordeal after our desert heatwave last week. 4 days 36-42c and two of those days humidity dropped right down and wind picked up. The leaves quickly became serrated and new growth turned a yellowish colour. Its a brute, so recovered quickly, but I cant imagine what that being the norm, rather than the exeption, would do to them. At least you guys can grow cherimoyas there. We can only grow (fruit) one or two varieties, with even those looking like hybrids that throw more to the cherimoya heritage.

It didnt drop any of its 50+ fruit though - they tend to throw more fruit when we get really wet as there seem to be some agressive funguses that attack the fruit, as well as the normal stem blackening.

[JF]

I had a couple of almost pingpong ball size fruits on mine last year, but think the dry winds got them, also it was in a pot so I didn't water it enough. I'm a few miles in from the ocean down in Chula Vista, but it did hit 39 in one part of my yard last month. I'm sure the guys on the tops of the hills around here can get some fruit.

Mark, you have a better chance you're near the coast. I'm 20 miles inland it was hazy 57F 82%humidity @6am at10am 75F and 15%. It will be 90F tomorrow and warm and dry the rest of the week....no rain forecast for the next 20 days.

Living in an arid area would make it very hard. My tree looked like it had been through a bit of an ordeal after our desert heatwave last week. 4 days 36-42c and two of those days humidity dropped right down and wind picked up. The leaves quickly became serrated and new growth turned a yellowish colour. Its a brute, so recovered quickly, but I cant imagine what that being the norm, rather than the exeption, would do to them. At least you guys can grow cherimoyas there. We can only grow (fruit) one or two varieties, with even those looking like hybrids that throw more to the cherimoya heritage.

It didnt drop any of its 50+ fruit though - they tend to throw more fruit when we get really wet as there seem to be some agressive funguses that attack the fruit, as well as the normal stem blackening.

Bruce this has become a real challenge. We had highs of 29c today with 7% humidity and forecast to be 32c the next three days. I'm counting down the days before spring we normally have May gray and June gloom with high humidity until the beginning of summer. I don't know if my Rollinas and Soursop will make it this winter which is tuening out to be more like everlasting Fall.

[AnnonAddict]

Hi Friends,

I went over to Norman's house today and checked on his Rollinia tree. To my delight a small fruit(about softball size) had ripened! The flavor was AMAZING... not quite like lemon meringue pie but more like lemonade concentrate with a dense, slimy texture. It had a few seeds but not many. Here are some pics... it started turning black almost right after I picked it!





There are a lot more fruit on the tree that are much larger than this but have not ripened yet.

[fruitlovers]

Glad you finally got to taste rollinia. Sliminess probably due to it being a bit over ripe. Gotta get them when they first start to turn yellow.

[shaneatwell]

Any updates on Californian Rollinias? Thinking of getting one.

[huertasurbanas]

Hi Friends,

I went over to Norman's house today and checked on his Rollinia tree. To my delight a small fruit(about softball size) had ripened! The flavor was AMAZING... not quite like lemon meringue pie but more like lemonade concentrate with a dense, slimy texture. It had a few seeds but not many. Here are some pics... it started turning black almost right after I picked it!





There are a lot more fruit on the tree that are much larger than this but have not ripened yet.

Thanks for the report.

The only fruit I tasted that is similar to lemon is psidium cattleianum var lucidum (lemon guava)

so is it similar to that one?

I have one planted rollinia mucosa tree from Argentina but it seems to be dying (maybe lack of sun, I dont know, it even flowered at 1m hight), and another poted ones  (seeds from Hawaii) that are growing very fast.

[Guanabanus]

My Rollinias fruit twice a year.  The winter crop is slimy and not very good flavored if it had a lot of cold weather, with reduced foliage.  The summer crop is delicious and buttery creamy.

[michsu]

just flower here in California.. first time.. but no fruit so far..



here's the tree.. hopefully another year or two.. 

[shaneatwell]

Where did you get it michsu? And have you had any trouble keeping it alive?

[michsu]

no problem in keeping it alive.. but I think it's a tropical plant too that needs moisture in the air.. unfortunately, we get very very dry during the noon and afternoon hours..

I bought it online and this was in September 2014 when I planted in ground..
 




and this is just yesterday.. so not bad for almost 2 years I think.. of course, it's nothing like Florida or other tropical places.. for some reason, the plant has a lot more leaves in the timeframe of September to December.. it looks ugly now..

Yesterday

 
December 2015

[barath]

Any idea what the cold tolerance is for Rollinia?  I assume Norman's tree is in Goleta, which has a great climate but is not all that warm in the winter or summer.  (I mean, I assume his place is basically frost free, but the Santa Barbara area is generally colder than LA/OC/SD.)  If it's fruiting in Goleta, there's a chance that it could fruit in microclimates further North.

[JF]

I gave up on my rollinas it does not like our arid hot climate. It was cold tolerant but it did not like the Santa Ana winds. I think it was Bruce or Oscar that recommended to keep it on a mister but I didn't feel the fruit was worth that much commitment since it barely ranks above custard Apple..,,,we have cherimoyas and atemoyas

[barath]

I gave up on my rollinas it does not like our arid hot climate. It was cold tolerant but it did not like the Santa Ana winds. I think it was Bruce or Oscar that recommended to keep it on a mister but I didn't feel the fruit was worth that much commitment since it barely ranks above custard Apple..,,,we have cherimoyas and atemoyas

Interesting -- might be then that it is appropriate for more coastal CA locations that are more humid and cooler?

I actually like the flavor of rollinia -- it's milder than cherimoya but that's sometimes a good thing.

[Frog Valley Farm]

🗯

[michsu]

I'm just hoping to have a taste of it..  hopefully it will fruit a small one for me..

[Das Bhut]

Rollinias love humidity and water, I planted mine about 4 feet from a canal and it's grown about 6 feet wider and 3 feet taller in a year