Author Topic: Growing cherimoya in France (Read 4972 times)

Benoit30 · « **on:** June 26, 2019, 09:51:02 AM »

I would like to grow cherimoya in France !
I live in Nîmes (9A). I have try direct seedlings, grafted trees (fino del jete from Spain). My trees die often in spring, maybe it's because of the wind, the cold and rainy winter (but the new leaves appears, and the plant start to die)... I don't know why ?

Cherimoya grows in Menton (10A or 10B), just few meters from the sea.

I recently bought a terrain near Menton (the best climate in France between Monaco and Italy) almost no frost and no wind ! But the maximum temperature in winter is cold (about 13°C average high in winter). As I'm not millionare, my garden is 3 km far from the coast (elevation 250 m., no frost this year). What do you think? Is there any frost resistant species ?
Any advice would be appreciate

Do you think it would be possible ?

spaugh · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2019, 10:37:15 AM »

If wind killed cherimoyas, mine would all be dead. But they arent so I dont think thats your problem.

pvaldes · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2019, 10:41:40 AM »

Salt?

Benoit30 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2019, 10:53:46 AM »

I dont think salt is the problem.
In Nîmes, I'm 50 km from the coast, and they only recieve rain water.
I manage to grow sucessfully in Nîmes : avocado, tamarillo, sapote Blanco and citrus.
Here is my garden blog :
http://acclimatons.com/

spaugh · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2019, 10:57:00 AM »

Maybe a zoomed out picture of the entire plant and surrounding area would help give us a better feel for the environment there.

I cant tell without a better photo but all the green plants near the ground and such a small tree its possible the tree is getting too much water.

Benoit30 · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2019, 11:11:24 AM »

Unfortunatly, I remove the plant. Too much water is possible, but a big avocado (4 meters high at least) near the dead plant has no problem...
Are cherimoya so sensitive to overwatering ?

spaugh · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2019, 11:14:46 AM »

They dont seem to be super sensitive to over watering. But they do have really small weak root systems that may not like it when they are little. They seem to do well in pots. Maybe you can use pots for a few years until the trees are larger.

Benoit30 · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2019, 11:21:03 AM »

Thank you.
I have 3 Fino del jete in pots (1.5 m. high, with flowers !). Do you recommand to plant them next spring ?

SeaWalnut · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2019, 01:29:57 PM »

Plant them when they get dormant.Small leaves and the plant dies after its a problem caused by the planting where you do something wrong.

brian · « **Reply #9 on:** June 26, 2019, 02:25:49 PM »

I grew a few cherimoya seedlings from grocery store fruit seeds. They started out great then one died and the other has had stunted wilted leaves for months now but looks like it will recover. They might just be finicky, my other container trees are fine in the same soil and environment, and I just got a grafted cherimoya that is looking happy.

sapote · « **Reply #10 on:** June 26, 2019, 06:55:43 PM »

cherimoya should have no problem with frost. None of my trees died in 0C (32F) night temperature. I think trunk rotted is the issue. Keep the trunks clear from other plants and shrubs.

All the fruit · « **Reply #11 on:** June 27, 2019, 04:48:14 AM »

The wind itself should not be a problem. In Spain very exposed branches might die back from the wind but the trees survive.
The problem might rather be the low temperature of the Mistral in S. France, maybe in combination with some pests. Did you see anything on the roots when you removed the tree?. In S. Spain the Cherimoya plantations hug the coast and i do not remember seing any more than 5-6 km from the sea. So they are very salt tolerant but not frost tolerant.
You might be successful at Menton as long as you find a nice sheltered spot for them. I wish you luck and please report on the results👍

Benoit30 · « **Reply #12 on:** June 27, 2019, 12:11:31 PM »

Quote

Did you see anything on the roots when you removed the tree?

When I removed the plant, there where root rot, not a single small root visible.
Today, temperature are higher than 40°C... Dont know if they will survive $:-\$

SeaWalnut · « **Reply #13 on:** June 27, 2019, 04:30:22 PM »

Did you measured the soil ph?It seems the tree its planted near a wall and that wall might make your soil extremely alkaline.

pvaldes · « **Reply #14 on:** June 28, 2019, 05:54:55 AM »

In my experience Annona cherimola seedlings are relatively dry resistant and also relatively forgiving to soil conditions, including alcaline exposures. I planted some seeds in a bad hydroponic pot. This pot was a serial killer of plants and cherimoyas where the only survivors. They really hate stagnant conditions on the other hand.

As long as there is some green in stems your plant can recover and resprout leaves, but high temperatures should be avoided and will need regular watering in a well drained pot..

Oolie · « **Reply #15 on:** June 28, 2019, 10:52:07 AM »

From the literature cherimoya is sensitive to Verticillium, which can appear when the cultivation area has recently been planted with any number of variety of plants which can harbor it.

I would verify that none of the listed species have been grown in the area in which you intend to cultivate a cherimoya for at least 3 years.

That said, it's worth trying to grow, so don't give up.

Benoit30 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 28, 2019, 11:04:47 AM »

Thank you for all those informations !

Quote

Did you measured the soil ph?

No I dont. This small garden, in the city center of Nîmes it's reputed to be more or less neutral (7). But when you dig you find some calcaire stones cause Nîmes is an old gallo-romain city (2500 years).
Today the temperature in Nîmes are very high (44.4°C).
The cherimoya seedlings suffer a lot (but the seedlings from Madeira seems Ok). And avocado looks very Bad... I will post pictures.

Benoit30 · « **Reply #17 on:** June 28, 2019, 11:23:36 AM »

This picture show a Mexicola tree...

In the pot a cherimoya seedling from Madeira, un front seedlings from Spain.

Near Nîmes, in a small town called Gallargue, temperature reached 45.8°C (114.4°F). This is the record of all Time for France...

Oolie · « **Reply #18 on:** June 28, 2019, 11:37:54 AM »

That's hot.

Cherimoya and avocado do not respond well to heat in that range like a mango would, and that could be part of the issue, but it looks to be "damping off", or verticillium.

Either way, it would not be recommended to plant cherimoya in any area where solanaceous plants like tomato have been grown, as tomato is very susceptible to verticillium and can transmit infection by way of hosting the fungi.

The stress of a hot day can definitely exacerbate the issue, causing the plant to become more susceptible to fungal infection and succumbing to illness.

If you can find an area for a cherimoya in which gardening has not taken place in the last few years you may still have a chance, but I would not attempt to transplant seedlings from the garden areas lest the infection be spread.

Delvi83 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 28, 2019, 11:39:31 AM »

Sometimes cold damage can be seen during Spring, after the lower winter temperatures.

Benoit30 · « **Reply #20 on:** June 28, 2019, 11:55:24 AM »

Quote

it would not be recommended to plant cherimoya in any area where solanaceous plants

It will be hard to follow this tip as I have planted almost everywhere physalis and tomatos... Definitively, I think that I will have more chance to grow cherimoya in Menton (cause it's a new garden !)

shiro · « **Reply #21 on:** June 28, 2019, 12:52:11 PM »

Benoit I send you a pm (private message).
However this is not necessarily the verticillium.

For the avocado it's probably the heat of the last time (45° to 50°C in La Rochelle) mine also took a little hot shot.
With the heat I have an annona cherimola which is always well in a greenhouse where the temperature rises to 60°C.

But with the pictures I lean more for a hot shot.
Besides I just took a look at your blog here (http://acclimatons.com/le-cherimoya-en-zone-usda-9/) I must confess that my experience has given me different results .

SeaWalnut · « **Reply #22 on:** June 28, 2019, 03:27:25 PM »

Check the ph because that wall its made of calcareous stone .Even if they are tolerant of alkaline conditions ,the alkalinity near that wall might be too much for them especially after a rainy season because the rain water draws CO2 from air and becomes slightly acid and then it dissolves a little of that wall .

EvilFruit · « **Reply #23 on:** June 30, 2019, 08:04:20 AM »

cherimoya should do fine in poor soil and hot weather. In fact I have a few seedlings that are grown in pure desert soil.

As for Avocado, it does not do well in hot weather but, It can be grown in a little bit of shade.

Benoit30 · « **Reply #24 on:** July 02, 2019, 05:13:49 AM »

Quote from: SeaWalnut on June 28, 2019, 03:27:25 PM

Check the ph because that wall its made of calcareous stone .Even if they are tolerant of alkaline conditions ,the alkalinity near that wall might be too much for them especially after a rainy season because the rain water draws CO2 from air and becomes slightly acid and then it dissolves a little of that wall .

So I have just bought a PH meter it indicates 6.0. What do you think ?

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Author Topic: Growing cherimoya in France (Read 4972 times)