Soursop (guanabana) or atemoya?

[VUgearhead]

I'm seriously considering planting one of these, but I can't decide on which one. There are several others scattered around my neighborhood, but I'm not good at identifying them from a distance.

I've heard good things about both. So, what does the collective think or prefer?

Thanks for any comments.

[achetadomestica]

Both

If you are like me and considering 2, when you decide and plant one you won't be
happy until you end up planting the other? If you only have room for one try the fruit of different
types and see what you like more. Only you know what you will like the most.

[zands]

First fruit tree I have bought in 24 months....Was a Soursop yesterday at Bender's Grove. So I am prejudiced. Mr Bender told me he sells his soursop fruits for as much as $12/lb depending on supply and demand. People are flocking to (buying) soursop because its rep as being anti-cancer. I have no idea if this is true but will read up on it.

Have posted previously but at Western Beef in Boca Raton the soursop goes for 8$/lb and sells out in 45 minutes whenever they get in a shipment. People are so anti-cancer gaga over soursop that they will buy cosmetically crappy looking fruits because the inside is still intact///

[johnb51]

We grow atemoya (a cherimoya crossed with sugar apple) in South Florida because we can't grow cherimoya, one of the true great ones.  Soursop grows easily.  It's a different but equally worthwhile fruit.  There is some similarity in flavor.  I have both and believe everyone should have both.

[CapeCoralGuy]

I have both. And if i had to decide between them....that would be a tough decision. Soursop is much better as a milkshake, where Atemoya can be eaten whole. My Atemoya varieties are: Gefner and Lisa. They are both really good tasting fruits. Another thing to consider is that Soursop trees csnt handle much cold weather at all, where Atemoyas are a lot better in that aspect.

[sidney]

Depends on your zone, soursop won't take any cold less than 50f.

[achetadomestica]

First fruit tree I have bought in 24 months....Was a Soursop yesterday at Bender's Grove. So I am prejudiced. Mr Bender told me he sells his soursop fruits for as much as $12/lb depending on supply and demand. People are flocking to (buying) soursop because its rep as being anti-cancer. I have no idea if this is true but will read up on it.

Have posted previously but at Western Beef in Boca Raton the soursop goes for 8$/lb and sells out in 45 minutes whenever they get in a shipment. People are so anti-cancer gaga over soursop that they will buy cosmetically crappy looking fruits because the inside is still intact///

The leaves are actually what is suppose to be beneficial not the fruit

[achetadomestica]

Depends on your zone, soursop won't take any cold less than 50f.

I found two old trees growing in the middle of LaBelle both with fruit on them last year?
It gets allot colder then 50F in LaBelle, it was 30F for 3 hours three years ago.
One of the trees is on the south side of an oak an one tree is out in the open.
I couldn't believe it.

[Capt Ram]

I've got 3 mature soursop trees in Lake Worth, and  high 30 has made it drop leaves. But has not harmed it
I got over 100 fruit from 1 tree alone this year

[TheDom]

If I had to choose just one I'd go with atemoya. There are a ton of named varieties you could topwork on a single tree for wide variety of flavors and appearance. Atemoya is also more cold tolerant than soursop, though unless I regularly hit 32 or lower I wouldn't worry too much about planting a soursop. If you're looking to sell fruit you'll probably get better prices for soursop since it is generally better known. Personally I'd rather eat atemoya or cherimoya, and would pay higher prices for those, but most folks have no clue about atemoya.

I'll join the dogpile of folks saying they've gotten soursop much lower than 50 without it dying. I had a maybe 2ft tall soursop in a 3gal pot that survived mid 30s while being badly neglected. It dropped leaves, but bounced right back in the spring and is now over 6' tall planted out at a friend's house. I have plenty of other soursop that got high 30s in pots last year and while they dropped leaves and aren't as big as they would be had it remained in the 50s, they're still growing bigger each year.

[bsbullie]

Seedling soursops seem to be more cold hardy than grafted trees.  I would add that they wont necessarily die with colder temps but you can sustain limb/branch die back or damage.

Its easy for people who have tasted (and even those who have not tried a fresh grow) soursop to say you should grow them.  I would however recommend tasting a fresh fruit for taste and texture as I knkw many people who have purchased them cause of a "recommendation" only to find out it was not a fruit they liked after tasting the fruit.

Average fruit stand price is $5- $6/pound, maybe as high as $7/pound.  If someone wants to sell a fruit for $12/pound and a customer purchases it, I cant help that there are suckers born every minute.  In my opinion, the fruit are nowhere near that good...

[koundog]

In my opinion soursop is much better tasting all around only downside is they are not very tolerant of anything below 40 degrees. If you can find a way to plant both do it but if it's one or the other grow the one you like the best.