Author Topic: Is anyone growing Guanabana/ Soursop in West Central Florida with success  (Read 2898 times)

carcarlo

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 Hi I would like to know if anyone is growing Guanabana /Soursop in West Central Florida with success, I have heard they are very difficult in Florida, especially in the Central area, any advise would be helpful, before I make my purchase.
Carlos O

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Hi I would like to know if anyone is growing Guanabana /Soursop in West Central Florida with success, I have heard they are very difficult in Florida, especially in the Central area, any advise would be helpful, before I make my purchase.
Carlos O

difficult to keep happy in central FL, but believe it or not my friend fruited one in ground last year!

he grew it out to about 6 ft tall before planting it out, then got lucky with a few warm winters (and he is in a warm spot in Orlando)

when the frost came, it was just in time for him to harvest one fruit....then the tree lost all it's leaves, and dropped all it's flowers.

so unless you plan to keep it in a really big pot (over 25 gal) and move it around (in and out of the house, or garage), or maybe if you are willing to build a mini greenhouse around it....

I think it will be very difficult to keep the tree happy, and to get it large enough to make a good crop.

I fruited a tree in zone 9b, and the same thing that happened to my friend, happened to me...as soon as my fruit was ready to be harvested (in a 25 gal pot) the cold came and knocked my tree back....but I got to harvest nice big fruit!!

here is an old post with some pics of that tree and the one fruit it produced that winter.

I love this fruit...even the sour types for juicing.

reminds me of mountain dew flavor...this is one I fruited in a 25 gal pot a few winters ago...it was the only fruit my tree made, and it weighed 2.5 lbs.

It took me about 6 yrs to fruit it from seed....and it got exposed to very low temps right before the fruit ripened...as you can see in the pic, my tree was defoliated even though it was in a greenhouse (unheated)...I just barely got this one to ripen...but man it was worth it!


partially defoliated tree with guanabana hanging, hidden by some leaves.




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Waterfall

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so unless you plan to keep it in a really big pot (over 25 gal) and move it around (in and out of the house, or garage), or maybe if you are willing to build a mini greenhouse around it....

So if you were to use an air pruning pot, how large do you think it would need to be?

carcarlo

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Thank you Adam, great info, the seedling my friend has are about 3 + yrs. old & 6ft tall, and for $ 30.00 I might take the chance with them, sometimes we get lucky around here, so far my Annona Ret. came back from a hard freeze 5 yrs. ago and has produced for the last four yrs. sort of speaking all my Tropical plants are living on borrowed time, yes the last 4 years we have been lucky here in Tampa with some warm winters. I now have 4 A. Ret. large trees with 4'' and 6'' trunks, and a 24+ feet Cuban Papaya tree that won't stop growing, and I know they are doomed, only time will tell.
Carlos O