Author Topic: Soursop - first fruit size?  (Read 5028 times)

shafak

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Soursop - first fruit size?
« on: June 03, 2018, 04:29:11 AM »
In November 2014, I had planted some seeds of a soursop fruit purchased in Sri Lanka.  The fruit was quite huge.  About a foot and a half on the long side.  After about 3 years, a few of these plants flowered.  Two of them produced a single fruit.  But, the fruits grew only to about the size of a tennis ball.  Annona muricata are supposed to breed true to type?  So, why did my two plants bear only small fruits?

Is it because they were the first fruit of each tree?  The trees are now flowering profusely.  Someone suggested that manual hand pollination might be the solution.  Please help.

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2018, 04:38:10 AM »
my first fruit was small as well, fruited in 4th year, about 3 months ago, plenty flowers before and after that but hasn't set fruit since.  I think it will sort itself out, the foliage getting much more denser.

shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2018, 05:31:56 AM »
What about pollination?  Are you going to hand pollinate or leave it up to nature?

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #3 on: June 03, 2018, 07:25:25 AM »
I did a while, that's how I got that first fruit.  I think won't need to do later as foliage gets more dense and more flowers on the tree. 

shinzo

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #4 on: June 03, 2018, 08:20:46 AM »
Do you have a picture of the tree?

shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #5 on: June 03, 2018, 08:43:43 AM »
Sahai1 or me?  If me, I will post tomorrow.

Do you have a picture of the tree?

shinzo

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2018, 08:49:12 AM »
Both of you if possible  :D
It is always interesting to see the growth pattern of soursop seedling, especially at the stage of first fruits.

shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2018, 10:33:41 AM »


BTW, Sahai1.  You are just 1 post away from becoming a Sr. Member :)

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2018, 07:47:48 PM »
motivation to photograph my tree?  haha, I'll get it done today, it's looking quite nice, only a bit of top pruning to remove tree ants earlier this year.

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2018, 09:30:29 PM »
in full sun, and seasonal flooding past 4 years for months at a time.   Soil was and still is very acidic.  Now it is not low area because dug pond, so the sides around tree been raised about 3 feet, the addition of soil hasnt seemed to hurt it


TerraFrutisEcuador

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #10 on: June 04, 2018, 11:19:09 PM »
This is one of our better soursop but it went well 2-3 years old 3 meters tall 1 fruit large sized ( larger than a football) other soursop seeds on the ground also within 3 years produced 2 fruits medium sized softball or larger. In Ecuador 2m annual rainfall avg temp 22c.

DurianLover

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #11 on: June 05, 2018, 12:07:39 AM »
In November 2014, I had planted some seeds of a soursop fruit purchased in Sri Lanka.  The fruit was quite huge.  About a foot and a half on the long side.  After about 3 years, a few of these plants flowered.  Two of them produced a single fruit.  But, the fruits grew only to about the size of a tennis ball.  Annona muricata are supposed to breed true to type?  So, why did my two plants bear only small fruits?

Is it because they were the first fruit of each tree?  The trees are now flowering profusely.  Someone suggested that manual hand pollination might be the solution.  Please help.

I've seen hundreds of fruit stalls over the years and here is no giant soursop in Sri Lanka. It's very common fruit, cheaper than some banana varieties. Truly big soursops seems to be in South America. My local seedling tree produces variable size fruits. Maybe you just got original fruit from well fertilized tree??

As far as pollination my and everybody's else soursops make fruit from every flower, that's why fruit is so common. I don't understand why you have issues, but my wild guess it comes down to type of ants we have.

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #12 on: June 05, 2018, 04:12:52 AM »
what kind ants you got Durian Lover?  Any chance Red Tree ants, the leaf cutter ant?  Why would they aid pollination?
I chased mine out of the tree, they went crazy over the fruit, kept trying to build nests around the soursop fruit, laying eggs right on the node, they had about 4 other nests in the tree at the same time, I chase them out of every tree they come into by hosing them down everyday.

My first fruit was a bit elongated, size of a small Durian, not as big as some seen, but definitely twice the size of a softball, sweet, less acid then the ones I ate in Hawaii before.

gnappi

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #13 on: June 05, 2018, 05:21:00 AM »
Patience is my middle name. I planted mine late 2014 as a large 3 gallon and it has flowered a few times but fruit still is only a hope :-)
Regards,

   Gary

shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #14 on: June 05, 2018, 06:39:31 AM »
Both of you if possible  :D
It is always interesting to see the growth pattern of soursop seedling, especially at the stage of first fruits.

This is the tree that fruited first. 



The second tree


shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #15 on: June 05, 2018, 06:44:20 AM »
I've seen hundreds of fruit stalls over the years and here is no giant soursop in Sri Lanka. It's very common fruit, cheaper than some banana varieties. Truly big soursops seems to be in South America. My local seedling tree produces variable size fruits. Maybe you just got original fruit from well fertilized tree??

DL,  sorry my description of the fruit might have been a bit of an overkill  :P.  This is the fruit from which I grew my current plants.  It has been placed on a newspaper for size comparision.



DurianLover

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #16 on: June 05, 2018, 10:06:40 AM »
what kind ants you got Durian Lover?  Any chance Red Tree ants, the leaf cutter ant?  Why would they aid pollination?
I chased mine out of the tree, they went crazy over the fruit, kept trying to build nests around the soursop fruit, laying eggs right on the node, they had about 4 other nests in the tree at the same time, I chase them out of every tree they come into by hosing them down everyday.

No, none of those of ants. I believe leaf cutter ants are from the New World. If you have them in Thailand, I don't think they are native.
 It's just very small brownish ants, I think they feed on flower nectar, also farm scale and mealybugs, so double edge sword. Nests are underground, not visible. My soursop fruits get lots of mealybugs as soon as fruit get to about tennis size ball size. I just cut the fruit and fertilize the tree with it's own fruit. I don't care for this fruit, just want to have good looking tree  ;D ;D

DurianLover

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #17 on: June 05, 2018, 10:09:53 AM »
I've seen hundreds of fruit stalls over the years and here is no giant soursop in Sri Lanka. It's very common fruit, cheaper than some banana varieties. Truly big soursops seems to be in South America. My local seedling tree produces variable size fruits. Maybe you just got original fruit from well fertilized tree??

DL,  sorry my description of the fruit might have been a bit of an overkill  :P.  This is the fruit from which I grew my current plants.  It has been placed on a newspaper for size comparision.



That's about normal here. Maybe yours a little bit on a bigger side.

shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #18 on: June 05, 2018, 10:50:57 AM »
That's about normal here. Maybe yours a little bit on a bigger side.

Here getting this fruit is very rare.  And even if it is available, most of the time, it is just about half of the one in the picture.

As you can see from the date on the newspaper, this fruit was bought almost 4 years ago?  This one was full of fiber.  Do you get fiberless variety in SL now? 

DurianLover

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #19 on: June 05, 2018, 11:51:59 AM »
That's about normal here. Maybe yours a little bit on a bigger side.

Here getting this fruit is very rare.  And even if it is available, most of the time, it is just about half of the one in the picture.

As you can see from the date on the newspaper, this fruit was bought almost 4 years ago?  This one was full of fiber.  Do you get fiberless variety in SL now?

They are supposed to have quite a bit of fiber. I was privileged to taste fiberless variety. It still had a little bit of fiber and the best soursop I ever had. But even after such introduction, still not a big fan of the fruit. I believe some forum members have fruits hanging from that parent tree, so maybe fiberless variety seeds will be offered on the forum very soon.
I had someone to visit me from Kerala, and he was very surprised to such abundance of soursop. He says it is never seen for sale in India.
No, no fiberless available in SL, nothing gets done until I introduce new variety ;D ;D.

shafak

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #20 on: June 05, 2018, 12:02:44 PM »
nothing gets done until I introduce new variety ;D ;D.

ROFLMAO

mwambao

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #21 on: June 05, 2018, 06:20:05 PM »
That's about normal here. Maybe yours a little bit on a bigger side.

Here getting this fruit is very rare.  And even if it is available, most of the time, it is just about half of the one in the picture.

As you can see from the date on the newspaper, this fruit was bought almost 4 years ago?  This one was full of fiber.  Do you get fiberless variety in SL now?


This is a little smaller than an average size, It is growing on the coastal side of Kenya. They pollinate naturally no need of hand pollination.

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #22 on: June 05, 2018, 08:13:15 PM »

No, none of those of ants. I believe leaf cutter ants are from the New World. If you have them in Thailand, I don't think they are native.
 It's just very small brownish ants, I think they feed on flower nectar, also farm scale and mealybugs, so double edge sword. Nests are underground, not visible. My soursop fruits get lots of mealybugs as soon as fruit get to about tennis size ball size. I just cut the fruit and fertilize the tree with it's own fruit. I don't care for this fruit, just want to have good looking tree  ;D ;D

these kind:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oecophylla_smaragdina  they aren't as prolific farmers as fire ants, but they definitely don't eat the pests I hate.

sahai1

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #23 on: June 05, 2018, 09:36:06 PM »
my other tree also around 4 years old, the lack of sun has surely slowed it down.  The mulberry is such a fast grower, but I thin it out enough to let the soursop survive, eventually it should pass the mulberry canopy


shinzo

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Re: Soursop - first fruit size?
« Reply #24 on: June 07, 2018, 03:29:32 PM »
Thank you Sahai1 and guardian123abc for your pictures. I am interested in seedling pics because me too i am growing soursop seedling (2 years old), it is still 2 feet tall but it is not its native growing zone, but i keep hoping of having a big tree, even if it takes more time than usual.