Flower Buds on African Pride

[Guayaba]

I am very happy that my AP has more than one or two flower buds on it and it looks like I will get a few opening at a time.  In the past three years I could not get enough flowers to hand pollinate, but happy to report that with the help of this forum, it looks like this year I may get fruit.  I want to thank all the Annona experts here on the forum and for Frank's help in directing me to strip the leaves every time I asked.....is it time.   Do you think these will open in the next couple of weeks?

[Samu]

I think those flowers will start opening up within the next few days...

My 2 years in the ground from 15G AP hasn't been productive, the last 2 years it only produced 1 fruit each year...! It's got plenty more flowers this year, so lets see what happens.

Good luck with yours, Bob!

[TheDom]

If you can dry and freeze the pollen, it will last up to a few months in the freezer. Reference: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423805003717

I use one of those mini dehumidifiers inside a ziploc freezer bag as my dessication chamber. Just put your open pollen container in the bag with the dehumidifier for 90min, then cap the container and put it straight in the freezer.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000H0XFCS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495252865&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=eva+dry+dehumidifier&dpPl=1&dpID=41DkN9qQr3L&ref=plSrch

[Guayaba]

I think those flowers will start opening up within the next few days...

My 2 years in the ground from 15G AP hasn't been productive, the last 2 years it only produced 1 fruit each year...! It's got plenty more flowers this year, so lets see what happens.

Good luck with yours, Bob!

Sam - I hope your are right and in the next few days I can start hand pollinating, at least you were able to get fruit off your tree I hope yours does really well this year.  With all the winter rain we had, I am hoping the root systems of our AP will take off and the trees will do really well. I counted around 70 flower buds on my AP, so I hope that will mean at least a few fruit this year.  Keep me updated on your tree, it will be great to see your AP full of fruit this year!

[Guayaba]

If you can dry and freeze the pollen, it will last up to a few months in the freezer. Reference: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423805003717

I use one of those mini dehumidifiers inside a ziploc freezer bag as my dessication chamber. Just put your open pollen container in the bag with the dehumidifier for 90min, then cap the container and put it straight in the freezer.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000H0XFCS/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495252865&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=eva+dry+dehumidifier&dpPl=1&dpID=41DkN9qQr3L&ref=plSrch

Dom - thanks for the links.  The article on freezing pollen mentions that -20C is the highest temperature they tested.  My freezer only goes down to about -15C, so I was wondering what your experience has been with pollen viability at higher temperatures than -20C?  I probably would not need it to last 3 months, but a month or so would be helpful.  I may want to try this on other Annona species as well.

[Samu]

Its interesting to know that we have an option to keep those pollen for that much longer by freezing them... Thanks for that report, Dom!

This year, since my moya trees get bigger, I haven't been experiencing lack of ready flowers to do my hand pollinations, and besides, I understand that unused pollens can still be viable for up to 3 days or so; which I collected in an wide mouth medicine plastic bottles.

Ok Bob, I'll keep you updated with my AP; here's today's photos:

African pride: Left; Honey heart: Right


AP's flowers  (with one successful pollination developing):



Have a nice day!

[Guayaba]

Sam - That AP looks like it is coming along great.  Yours is a bit larger than mine and looks like it may be about a year ahead based on the trunk size.  Did you defoliate the tree this year?  Your AP is looking nice, and the fruit already forming is a good sign that you will have a lot more soon. Keep up the good work!

[Samu]

Sam -   Did you defoliate the tree this year? 

I think I let the leafs dropped on their own, and new leaves buds came up at the same time or shortly thereafter. It probably doesn't matter either way whether you defoliate or not, just my personal opinion.

I did some pruning however, to control the size of the tree...Did your AP flowers started to open yet?

Here's a photo as of April 1 2017, after I just pruned it that day;
it shows the old remaining leafs and tiny leaf/flower buds pushing:

[Guayaba]

No flowers opened yet, but they are getting larger. It looks like the first will open this weekend and the rest will start next week.  I have my artist brush ready for pollinating.  I think the tip pruning and defoliating I did in April helped mine flower more.  It has never produced so many flowers at one time.  Mine didn't look anything as nice as yours did after pruning, it was just a few twiggs after I was done with it!   My AP is in a bit of a tough spot, on a slope in heavy clay soil and part shade during the winter time, but doing okay now.