Inducing flowering on container grown cherimoya

[svennagel97]

Hello dear forum members,
6 years ago I started to grow a cherimoya plant by seed. I kept training it to maintain a manageable size, since I can’t plant it in the ground due to climate. I think it’s already big enough to hold fruits, but I didn’t noticed flowers so far.
I read in some threads that you can induce multiple flowering flushes by pruning the plant several times a year, but so far nothing appeared.
If someone is growing their (seed grown) cherimoya also in pots, how do you fertilise your trees, how and when do you prune your trees?

Regards,
Sven

This is my tree after I pruned it, I first pruned the top leading branches two weeks ago and yesterday I pruned the lower weaker growing branches and removed some leaves to force it branching out in the directions I want it to grow.

[SeaWalnut]

How old is it?
Somme exposure to cold triggers them to flower.Also the pot looks to small.Get a paint bucket thats twice the volume and fertilize a lot .

[K-Rimes]

I have two about that size completely full of flowers. One in the same size pot, another in a much larger one. The place I bought them from had tons of fruiting trees in 5 gal pots (probably root-bound as heck).

[spaugh]

Grafted trees will flower faster than seed plants.  But most likely you need to leave your tree outside more during winter.  Leave it outside unless its freezing.  It needs the cold hours to flower.

[lebmung]

Repot to double size. Trim the roots one third.
There are methods to induce flowering from mechanical to chemical ways. Hormones work the best.

[pineislander]

I can't speak to Cherimoys but on Atemoya, soursop and sugar apple to induce rapid branching and flowering(atemoya& sugar apple) I have done the following:
1. break off the last leaf on the tip, just break the tender branch tip
2. break off the next four pairs of leaves below the tip

Doing this resulted in rapid branching and flowers within weeks on several three year old grafted Atemoya in Florida.
However, these were vigorous growing trees in relatively tropical Florida conditions, in ground and with trunk diameter about 7cm diameter. They were sending out branches 50 cm or longer without branching, and I mean dozens of branches.
Your tree appears far less vigorous in container culture.

[lebmung]

Check citrus section joereal shows how to perform bark inversion

[pinkturtle]

I have a similar issue, my cherimoya tree buds flowers, but didn't produce fruits.  The tree is seedling, and it is about almost 7 years old.  Does anyone know what should I do to get my tree to fruit?

[SeaWalnut]

I have a similar issue, my cherimoya tree buds flowers, but didn't produce fruits.  The tree is seedling, and it is about almost 7 years old.  Does anyone know what should I do to get my tree to fruit?

Needs hand polination.

[pinkturtle]

I have a similar issue, my cherimoya tree buds flowers, but didn't produce fruits.  The tree is seedling, and it is about almost 7 years old.  Does anyone know what should I do to get my tree to fruit?

Needs hand polination.

Thanks, i thought the bee take care of that for me.

[svennagel97]

Hello, thanks for your replies and thoughts on this topic.

Regarding the container size and root conditions I can tell that cherimoya has rather weak root growing. I repoted it last year and cut of one third of its roots and changed the soil nearly completely. My soil mixture consists of hummus, lava rocks, perlite, small amount of sand and akadama soil. I tried to create a very loose and airy mixture that works hopefully ideal for container growing. Any thoughts on that?
Also I try to take the next bigger size of container to make sure the plant can absorb as much water as it needs and the soil isn’t too wet for so long, since I read somewhere that cherimoya doesn’t like too wet soil and handles drought well. That doesn’t mean I don’t water it frequently, it just makes it easier for me to water it when my plant is thirsty.
But that’s a point I will definitely try to improve next year spring when it’s repoting season.

I also read that potassium plays a key element in fertilisation to induce flowering, did anyone heard of it or tried it themselves?
How often do you fertilise your trees?

Thanks so far, regards
Sven

[OCchris1]

I think, it's assumed that, "Drought tolerant" is meant for (tree/bushes/flowers etc), that are planted/growing in-ground. No tropical/subtropical plant/tree is very drought tolerant in a pot FYI. Do your own experiment. Try not watering a tropical/subtropical potted plant/tree for a week during warm spell and see what happens.

[svennagel97]

I think I expressed myself a bit wrong, I don’t let it dry out completely or test its drought tolerance out, I just make sure I don’t overwater the plant. Now the temperature hits 104F so I have to water my plants twice a day.

[spaugh]

Cherimoyas even in pots take complete drying actually ok.  I have a lot of them in oots laying around that I dont care about and let them get fully dried out.  They actually do worse if you keep watering it constantly. 

I dont think that has anything to do with your flowering problem though.  Your tree is just not very large/mature and its probably not getting its chill requirement met if its inside all winter.

Your soil seems fine, they are not picky about soil and have small rootsystems. 

[spaugh]

I took this picture of a good size tree that doesnt make flowers yet.  I have several like this and some flower already some dont.  And most of them are grafted trees.  Some types of cherimoya take longer to flower and the tree needs to get to a mature size.  Most likely 1 more year for this tree and it will make some flowers.