Biriba Stripping Advice

[Guayaba]

In other threads I noted that Biriba (Annona mucosa) looses its leaves in winter in south Florida.  Just wondering if Biriba looses its leaves entirely every year for you in the Miami/south Florida area?  I know these are suppose to be semi-deciduous plants, but since we get most of our rain in the winter in San Diego, all my leaves are still on my Biriba. I am thinking of stripping the plant, but wondered if I should take all the leaves off, or leave some on. The leaves are starting to look a little battered and have some brown edges due to winter storms and possibly sun damage.  I noticed in other posts, that Biribas like other Annonas will bloom later in the year as well.  Do you find that they bloom for you every winter in south Florida?  My Biriba is large enough to bloom well this year (about 7-8 feet tall) and has bloomed sparsely before.

[JF]

Strip and prune right away. Hit it with super bloom (grow more 0-50-30 so you get significant bloom by April and hopefully fruits in sept .

[Guayaba]

Strip and prune right away. Hit it with super bloom (grow more 0-50-30 so you get significant bloom by April and hopefully fruits in sept .

Thanks for the info Frank.  I wasn't sure if you stripped your Biriba normally. I figured if I did it soon, there would be a chance it would bloom early enough that we would still have high enough humidity to get it to set fruit. After April/May we tend to dry out.  I was also thinking of experimenting with bagging some of the flowers to help increase the humidity after pollination.  I was thinking it would be more economical than misters.

[roblack]

Mine recently dropped all of its leaves, and now is covered in new growth and flowers.

[Guayaba]

Mine recently dropped all of its leaves, and now is covered in new growth and flowers.

Sounds like you will have a good year for Biriba.  Keep us posted on how it is doing.  I guess I know what I will be doing this weekend.....stripping leaves! 

[Doug]

But, why would you need to strip the leaves off a biriba tree? I let the trees do what they naturally do...sometimes they drop some, sometimes all...and they always do well. In my so-called "latter years", I'm heavily into minimalism when it comes to gardening and orchard work. Mamma Nature does have a tendency to support the life of the tree, if it's in the correct environment.

[Guayaba]

But, why would you need to strip the leaves off a biriba tree? I let the trees do what they naturally do...sometimes they drop some, sometimes all...and they always do well. In my so-called "latter years", I'm heavily into minimalism when it comes to gardening and orchard work. Mamma Nature does have a tendency to support the life of the tree, if it's in the correct environment.

The Annona experts can chime in and explain better, but as I understand it, Annonas like Sugar Apple, Biriba, and Ilama are semitropical and need specific environmental conditions to flower (warm and slightly dry) but still humid.  In winter these species normally loose some or all of their leaves.  In coastal southern California our climate is Mediterranean (cool wet winters).  In the right locations in southern California these plants grow, but the climate we have doesn’t provide the proper environmental conditions for these plants to flower well.  So, you can strip the leaves off the tees to simulate the tree going into dormancy and entering a rest period, this triggers new growth in a few weeks and increases flowering and hopefully fruits too.

[Guanabanus]

Biriba' is lowland equatorial tropical--- Amazonian.   

The similar-looking tree of Rollinia membranacea in cooler tropical areas of Guatemala and Mexico, apparently have a not very noticeable fruit, as no one I asked about them, on field trips, could remember any.

[JonathonForester]

Strip and prune right away. Hit it with super bloom (grow more 0-50-30 so you get significant bloom by April and hopefully fruits in sept .

What brand do you use for super bloom?