Temperate Fruit & Orchards > Temperate Fruit Discussion

Cherimoya/Pawpaw hybrid

(1/25) > >>

TriangleJohn:
Some of you may recall that last year I had one branch of one of my Asimina triloba trees flower late in the summer. All four of my trees had flowered and fruited like normal but this one also had one branch flower again in August (and the flowers were on top of the branch and facing upward, which is odd). At the same time my Cherimoya tree was flowering in the greenhouse. I attempted to hand pollinate flowers on both trees. I had been told that Pawpaw needed an unrelated cross in order to fruit and since no other pawpaws were flowering at that time I assumed any fruit produced would be a result of the Cherimoya pollen. I had hoped that the Cherimoya would make fruit since it is indoors and protected from cold, thinking that a hybrid between them would not be winter hardy. Well the pawpaw did set fruit and I sowed the seeds and kept them isolated from any pawpaw seeds that I also sowed. Of the 6 seeds only two sprouted and one of them died almost immediately after sprouting. The lone survivor is doing well but growing slow (which is normal at this stage). I had hoped that the non-crossed pawpaw seeds would also sprout so that I could evaluate their leaves to determine if I indeed have a cross but so far none of them have emerged. I've been told that because their chromosome count is different that they more than likely did not cross and that this plant is a solid pawpaw. I've also been told that the local university can't do any sort of analysis on the tissues to determine if it is a cross. So the only thing I can do at this point is watch it grow and hope it appears different than a solid pawpaw.

nullzero:
Keep us updated, even if its most likely not a cherimoya cross its always interesting to watch a seedling progress.

shaneatwell:
Very cool. Good luck!

Are they graft compatible?

Marsbars:
Did the supposed hybrid seeds look any different than  the pawpaw seeds?

TriangleJohn:
The fruit was smaller and the seeds were smaller and rounder. Still flat, but more of a perfect circle than the long stretched out shape of a pawpaw seed. The branch that bloomed twice last year is blooming and setting fruit now. I'll keep an eye on it to see if it reblooms again this year. The Cherimoya is started to wake up from its winter nap and it is developing flower buds. I need to really pay attention to it this year and try harder to hand pollinate it.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page