Soursop Q's

[dreamrider]

Hi all. New here.

I brought back a bunch of Soursop seeds after a trip to Dominican Republic in 2015. I planted them, and they grew. I gave a bunch of the little plants away, and kept 6 of them. I have been growing them for 4 years. I live in Raleigh, NC. So, Winters offer temps well below what these baby trees can tolerate/survive. I have trimmed the top branches every late Autumn before bringing them in the house for Winter. I provide them with LED lighting, cycling 6 hr-on, 6 hr-off when they are inside during Winter.

Winters are tough on these plants, even when they are inside. This last 2019 Winter was the toughest on the plants, with 70%-to-85% of the leaves gone by the time I took the plants outside last mid-April. However, they came back very nicely. They are very resilient, and living beyond expectations in the NC climate.

The images show how the trees looked like in the first week of May, after being outside for two weeks, and in mid-May after they had been outside for a month.

My questions have probably been posted dozens of times on this board, but here it goes, anyway:
What in the world do I need to do to get these trees to flower, and eventually produce fruit?

I have read that it takes 3-5 years to flower and produce fruit. I am on the 4th year, and no sign of flowers. I think that given the flowering/fruit cycle in the tropics, as I recall sometime in January-February, this years flowering opportunity is gone. However, are there any techniques such a lighting and/or temperature control that would trigger flowering in these trees?

Thank you in advance for any ideas/tips/advice.

M

[johnb51]

As you can see from my previous posts, I may be the #1 fan of soursop.  Even here is SoFla when we get a slightly cold wind (50's) in the the winter, all the leaves fall off, so that's no big deal.  Keep on doing what you're doing, but go to bigger and bigger pots.  Eventually you may get some fruit.  It's probably a bit of a crap-shoot.  Good luck!

[gnappi]

Hi all. New here.

>>SNIP<<

I have read that it takes 3-5 years to flower and produce fruit. I am on the 4th year, and no sign of flowers. I think that given the flowering/fruit cycle in the tropics, as I recall sometime in January-February, this years flowering opportunity is gone. However, are there any techniques such a lighting and/or temperature control that would trigger flowering in these trees?

Thank you in advance for any ideas/tips/advice.

M

I bought mine in 2014 as a 6' tall very full tree. It's been in ground since 2014 here in south Florida and it flowered a few times but no fruit.

I can say for certain that 3-5 years to fruit may not be typical.

[johnb51]

For me it's been 3-5 years, my second tree being more precocious than my first, but in a pot in North Carolina maybe longer or maybe never.  Who knows?  My trees were both pretty bulky when they first fruited.  Just drank a glass of soursop nectar.  Ahhhh.  Nectar of the gods!  I give away tons of mangos.  The only one who gets one of my soursops is my mother-in-law.