Atemoya pruning

[alexO]

I just impulse purchaced a Lisa Atemoya that is tall, skinny and doesn't have many branches. Can I pug it like a Mango tree or is there a better way to get it to branch out? This is my first Annona so I have no experience with them, any advice is greatly appreciated!

Alex

[Patrick]

You most definitely can crop it way back.  Wait till spring to do it though! Like late March or April

[JF]

I just impulse purchaced a Lisa Atemoya that is tall, skinny and doesn't have many branches. Can I pug it like a Mango tree or is there a better way to get it to branch out? This is my first Annona so I have no experience with them, any advice is greatly appreciated!

Alex

AlexO

If you wish you can follow the progress of my Lisa in this thread.,..also talks about pruning.

http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=2666.0

[alexO]

JF
I saw that and I will follow those instructions in the future. But right now I have a six foot twig with two branches and wanted to know if I could just chop it down to 2 or 3 feet and have it survive with a better branching structure. I could also use any advice on growing an Atemoya in general since this is my first.

Alex

[JF]

JF
I saw that and I will follow those instructions in the future. But right now I have a six foot twig with two branches and wanted to know if I could just chop it down to 2 or 3 feet and have it survive with a better branching structure. I could also use any advice on growing an Atemoya in general since this is my first.

Alex

Patrick gave you good advice. I would be nice if you post a pic.

[alexO]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.

Alex

[bangkok]

Since i pruned my petch pakchong it started flowering nonstop and i have 1 fruit developing now. I still prune all the tips and it is becoming a nice full branched tree now.

[mikesid]

I'm in the market for another Lisa, mine decided to just up and die for no good reason.. It was planted in the same row with my others...I'm thinking it was a rootstock issue..

[JF]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try to get a pic tomorrow.

Alex

Ok Alex. I found some old pics of my Lisa.... I bought it back on 11/04/10. It took about a year until it took off. It fruited in 2012 about 10 fruits. This year it went berserk over 100 fruits....I'll post pics later

[sunworshiper]

My Geffner got accidentally pugged by a wind storm, and it regrew splendidly. Pics of it here
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=1862.msg25445#msg25445
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=8051.msg103099#msg103099
Kind of fun to compare the before and after pugging shots, hadn't gone back and looked before. But now that I'm looking, I think the post branch structure is nicer.

[alexO]

Sunworshiper,

I saw that thread after I posted the question. It's very good to hear that the accidental pruningworked out well for you.

As an aside from the pruning question anyone have any advice on how to take care of this thing? Thos really is my first atemoya tree and I would like for it to be as fruitful as possible (of course). So any advice on growing or pruning is welcome.

Thanks for all of the great responses!
Alex

[JF]

Sunworshiper,

I saw that thread after I posted the question. It's very good to hear that the accidental pruningworked out well for you.

As an aside from the pruning question anyone have any advice on how to take care of this thing? Thos really is my first atemoya tree and I would like for it to be as fruitful as possible (of course). So any advice on growing or pruning is welcome.

Thanks for all of the great responses!
Alex

AlexO

here are some pics Lisa back in 11/10 as well as 03/11/13. I have stripped Lisa of all of it's leave and pruned ( to 4') on the first week of March for the last 2 years. It forced the tree to flower and set fruits earlier so they ripen by late Septmeber early October......it worked!

 






Here it is on 01/02/14 with 5 fruits left

[alexO]

JF,
Beautiful tree! You absolutely know how to grow an atemoya. It looks like its a pretty vigorous grower, how would you describe it's growth? Could you also describe how you get such great results?

Alex

[JF]

JF,
Beautiful tree! You absolutely know how to grow an atemoya. It looks like its a pretty vigorous grower, how would you describe it's growth? Could you also describe how you get such great results?

Alex

AlexO
Beside the aggressive pruning and leave stripping I have about 3-4" of Redwood mulch(not the phony crap from Home Depot) mix with organic chicken manure... that's it. I do spray it with Kelp 5-6 times a year.

[alexO]

Sounds like an easy tree to grow, wish I would have grown one sooner. Thanks for the tips.

Alex

[JF]

Sounds like an easy tree to grow, wish I would have grown one sooner. Thanks for the tips.

Alex

Alex, I forgot another important factor. Lisa is on chirimoya rootstock. This makes the tree super vigorous and cold hardy. If you have chirimoya seedlings I would definitely recommend you graft on to them. If you need seeds let me know.

[alexO]

Actually JF the roostock is another question I have. From readimg other posts about Lisas and roostck issues how do I know if my Lisa is on Cherimoya roostock? And how hard is it to graft them? If its relatively easy I might take you up on your offer.

Thanks

Alex

[Treees]

I had the exact same situation: bought Lisa that was a tall and ugly stick; got advice from the forum and cut it to less than 2 feet from the ground about a month ago.  After nervously waiting for couple of weeks, side branched started to grow from 7-8 buds, and now it is shaping up to a beautiful tree, and already showing new flowers.  Very glad I did it, and thanks for the advice.