Is it recommended to strip leaves to encourage new growth?

[NewGen]

I notice that on my annonas and wax jambus, the previous season's leaves seem to stay on a long time. I've never done anything about it. However, this past winter, i cut off most of the leaves, and now am seeing lots of new flushes. My trees are not that tall, 6' and under, so it's not that hard to do, but i can't imagine having to do this if they are much bigger. I don't know why the old leaves don't want to fall off, or take too long to do so.

[TheDom]

Not sure on the wax jambu, but with annonas the idea is you generally prune back last season's growth by roughly a third, and strip off old leaves at about the time when temps are favorable for new growth. They will push new growth and drop the old leaves on their own, but pruning and stripping leaves can get that new growth happening sooner.

I know a peach grower that chemically defoliates by basically chemically burning the leaves with...I think it was ZnS04, but it could have been some other fertilizer spray. I imagine the same approach could be done with annonas, though I haven't seen any documentation of growers doing so.

[simon_grow]

I hand strip the leaves if I wants early crop. In my climate, sometimes the older leaves can hang on for a long time. You can get an extended harvest if you strip part of the tree each week or month.

Simon

[shinzo]

Does anonas (cherimoyas in particular) respond to tipping the ongoing growth without stripping the leaves which would be still green, in the middle of the growing season, by more branching out ? (as mangoes do).

[shinzo]

Not sure on the wax jambu, but with annonas the idea is you generally prune back last season's growth by roughly a third, and strip off old leaves at about the time when temps are favorable for new growth. They will push new growth and drop the old leaves on their own, but pruning and stripping leaves can get that new growth happening sooner.

I know a peach grower that chemically defoliates by basically chemically burning the leaves with...I think it was ZnS04, but it could have been some other fertilizer spray. I imagine the same approach could be done with annonas, though I haven't seen any documentation of growers doing so.

I found an answer to my question and eventually an additional info about what was said by Dom concerning chemical defoliation for cherimoyas on this web site :

http://uses.plantnet-project.org/en/Annona_cherimola_(PROSEA)

It says :
"In Thailand sugarapple is rejuvenated each year to maintain fruit quality. Laterals weakened by bearing are removed and vigorous replacement shoots are headed back. The trees are pruned when the leaves are about to fall, leading to an early resumption of growth. The new growth is supported by irrigation until the rainy season sets in. In this way the harvest period is brought forward.

Strong apical dominance in some cherimoya and atemoya cultivars gives rise to vigorously growing whips which fail to flower. These vigorous shoots are tipped during the growing season to stimulate the emergence of flowering laterals. Axillary bud break can be improved by removing the uppermost leaves after tipping. If these treatments do not have the desired effect, chemical defoliation, either during early bud break or in the middle of the growing season, is a last resort. A range of defoliants has been tested and a mixture of 250 g urea and 1 g ethephon (EthrelŪ) per litre, plus wetting agent, has been most successful. "

[gnappi]

I have a number of sugar apples, atemoya, and custard apples, and I used to strip lower leaves and left the ones too high out of reach alone. I find that whether or not I striped old leaves, all of the branches (regardless of whether or not I stripped the leaves) flushed new growth and flowered simultaneously.

It's impractical to get on a ladder to strip leaves.