The Tale of Twiggy the Unidentified Ilama

[Guayaba]

I planted this Ilama last fall and stripped the leaves in February. Not much happened with the plant, so I started calling her Twiggy.  Just happy to report she is still alive and finally flushing a lot of new growth. She may have been very pot bound when planted, so that and limited water in spring may have contributed to rather disappointing growth until now. I water her every other day since May and now she seems like she is growing normally. Perhaps next year she will flower and fruit, and we can determine what variety she is.

March after stripping


Now with new growth

[bsbullie]

I would not let that tree hold fruit yet based on current size.  A mature full sized ilama fruit has some weight to it.  Those branches are might young and, well, thin.  Give it a year at least.  There is no rush.

Dont know why everyone wants to rush their young trees into holding fruit.  Its not a race.  Quality will most likely be not up to par and you tisk damaging the tree.

[gnappi]

I would not let that tree hold fruit yet based on current size.  A mature full sized ilama fruit has some weight to it.  Those branches are might young and, well, thin.  Give it a year at least.  There is no rush.

Dont know why everyone wants to rush their young trees into holding fruit.  Its not a race.  Quality will most likely be not up to par and you tisk damaging the tree.

+1. The old saying... (paraphrased) "The best time to plant a tree was 10 years ago, the next best is today" :-)

[JF]

Bob
That needs some mass....see how it grows this summer. Is this grafted? If it is they should put out bloom in a pot

[Guayaba]

I would not let that tree hold fruit yet based on current size.  A mature full sized ilama fruit has some weight to it.  Those branches are might young and, well, thin.  Give it a year at least.  There is no rush.

Dont know why everyone wants to rush their young trees into holding fruit.  Its not a race.  Quality will most likely be not up to par and you tisk damaging the tree.

Okay Rob will wait as you suggest for the plant to hold fruit. I stripped the leaves to practice with the plant to get it to bloom. It looks like one or two of the growths have flower buds, bud I won't let it hold fruit this year. I'll post some photos next year and get some opinions then to see if it could handle a couple fruit.

[Guayaba]

Bob
That needs some mass....see how it grows this summer. Is this grafted? If it is they should put out bloom in a pot

Hey Frank,
The Ilama is grafted onto a Cherimoya root stock. I let some leaves grow out from the root stock just to be sure. It did produce a few flower buds in April, but they dropped off. That is when I started watering more. I am just wondering if this is a white fleshed variety, just wanted to see the color of the flowers for now.

[JF]

Bob check your PM

[Guayaba]

Twiggy has the first flower opening, and a few others still in bud.  It has been exciting watching them develop.  These flowers are good size about 1.5 inches long and about as big as my African Pride Atemoya flowers.  I'd say the Ilama flowers are a salmon color mostly, but have infusion of purple, pink and green. Really different than my other Annonas.

[JF]

Bob
That's an odd color flower mine are magenta

[Guayaba]

Bob
That's an odd color flower mine are magenta

I agree, it is a bit pale in color.  I spoke with David at Bonita Creek and he said something similar to what you had thought.  From his perspective, if the new foliage is green and the flowers are pink and not red, then the flesh of the Ilama should be white.  I thought white fleshed Ilamas had green flowers like an Atemoya, but I guess time will tell.  I am just happy Twiggy is dong well now!

[BrianL]

That's the type I have I got from Bonita.  Red flowers, but green foliage/new growth.  Don't suppose you know variety it was suppose to be?

[wayne23]

pretty flowers.  I have a 5 gal grafted to cherimoya rootstock.  the leaves are reddish.  I am hoping it can produce fruits in 3 years.

[Guayaba]

That's the type I have I got from Bonita.  Red flowers, but green foliage/new growth.  Don't suppose you know variety it was suppose to be?

David doesn't know what the variety is of the green leaved Ilama. I asked the same question to him, but he didn't know. He thinks the red Ilama he sells may be Genova Red.

[Guayaba]

A couple other forum members have mentioned that the flowers of Ilama smell like beer. I thought that was odd because to me Cherimoya and Atemoya flowers smell like banana liquour, and Custard Apple flowers smell like that fake banana smell from organic chemistry class (isoamyl acetate). Amazingly, Twiggy's flowers when in the male stage smell like a fruity beer or a pear cider!  Anyone else smell this fragrance on their Ilama flowers?

[BrianL]

That's the type I have I got from Bonita.  Red flowers, but green foliage/new growth.  Don't suppose you know variety it was suppose to be?

David doesn't know what the variety is of the green leaved Ilama. I asked the same question to him, but he didn't know. He thinks the red Ilama he sells may be Genova Red.

When I was there he had ones labeled green and red, but seemed sure that the red ones were not Genova Red as only the flowers were red on the red one, not the new growth.  I ended up with a small "red" since I had to drive it back 500 miles and gave my cousin a larger "green".