Guanabana ( Soursop ) ZONE 9 ???

[Tropicalman]

Hi everybody first time posting. I saw Soursop / Guanabana plants at an Orlando Home Depot..  I thought these were super cold sensitive?

Tag says zone 9 to 11...  can these be grown in Orlando or is it a mistake by the grower?

[Sunrisefruit]

is Orlando zone 9??
i don't think it is..
anyways, yes, Guanabanas are cold sensitive and the leaves will drop as it gets colder but I think that you should be able to grow it in Orlando(just cover your baby plant with a bed sheet when the temperature goes lower than 40°F in the winter)

[Tropicalman]

yes I believe Orlando is 9b. I have Mangoes that haven't been damaged in a while but I remember 2010 (many nights in the 30s) was bad and 2008 we saw 1 or 2 nights around 30deg F or maybe upper 20s..  Has been a while so we're probably due for another freezing night or two.

I'm wondering if anyone is growing them near Orlando, and if a young tree can take lower 30s

Royalty Plants - can't find any info on them, but if they are in Central Florida they must be growing these Guanabanas in greenhouses. Home Depot sell plenty of baby Coconuts too in the summer, and those will rarely make it here in Orlando for years without protection. 

[bovine421]

I just brought mine inside because of tonight's cold. I have it under a grow light with a timer and plan on leaving it in the house for December January and most of February. It's tropical So Below 50 it will defoliate and lose its leaves below 40 will kill it. As long as you grow it as a container plant you should be fine. I don't have room for a greenhouse so this is my best option


Listening to Mannheim Steamroller holiday music on XM Radio to get me motivated to put Christmas lights on my most vulnerable mango trees. There's no threat to them tonight but like the monkey said when he got his tail caught in the lawn mower. It won't be long now!.


Every Journey Begins With the first step this is my PPK which I plan on grafting LZ per Rob's recommendation. I have pre-positioned mulch to go around the graft Union if need be. Also have half dozen large Frost blankets if necessary.

Nothing says the tropics like a mango Christmas tree

[Tropicalman]

below 40 will kill it??  I don't bother covering anything unless it's forecast to drop below 30.  I try to plant the most tender stuff in somewhat protected locations, but those locations already have stuff planted.

[bovine421]

below 40 will kill it??  I don't bother covering anything unless it's forecast to drop below 30.  I try to plant the most tender stuff in somewhat protected locations, but those locations already have stuff planted.

It's tropical not subtropical

[Tropical Bay Area]

Many accounts of people have fruited it in zone 9b. Just stop protecting it when it’s too bid. Get it established. Life in Florida, fort Myers food forest , and some other people on yet have fruited soursop in zone 9b. Below 27.5 is kill temp.

[shot]

With good warm years you could fruit it.But repeated defoliation will lead to die back(carbohydrate depletion).A bad year will kill to the ground in zone9b

[Jaboticaba45]

Mine already defoliated when the temps reached 48F.

[roblack]

supposed to hit the low 50's to hi 40's here tonight; will report on soursop

ours drops leaves every winter, then comes back nice in spring

[elouicious]

I have a few ~3 year trees in the ground heavily mulched that were outside all last winter-

Last night we got a frost so I will see how they do and report back

[Johnny Redland]

I live 20 miles north of key largo and ALL of my guanabanas over the years have died from cold winters.

[Tropical Bay Area]

Mine already defoliated when the temps reached 48F.

You probably had too much wind. This is normal for soursop if the tree is under stress

[Tropical Bay Area]

I live 20 miles north of key largo and ALL of my guanabanas over the years have died from cold winters.

How big were they? You do trees can easily be killed below 36

[Jaboticaba45]

Mine already defoliated when the temps reached 48F.

You probably had too much wind. This is normal for soursop if the tree is under stress

Mine is in a greenhouse where there is no wind. Also in your previous post you said that kill temp was at 27.5 now you state that they easily die below 36. 

[Johnny Redland]

Mine all died below 40F. Wind was not a factor.  Trees anywhere from 3ft to 12ft

[bovine421]

Many accounts of people have fruited it in zone 9b. Just stop protecting it when it’s too bid. Get it established. Life in Florida, fort Myers food forest , and some other people on yet have fruited soursop in zone 9b. Below 27.5 is kill temp.

27° huh! I don't think that I could survive that even with a frost blanket 4 more than a couple of hours

[Tropicalman]

Very interesting replies.  There is the possibility those that were killed in the keys were seedlings that originated in low elevations, possibly plants from higher elevations take a bit more cold.

Besides the taste, fruit in this family could help against cancer.  I know the Atemoyas take more cold, but fruits are much smaller, I wonder if they have the same anti-cancer properties as the Guanabana/Soursop

[elouicious]

Very interesting replies.  There is the possibility those that were killed in the keys were seedlings that originated in low elevations, possibly plants from higher elevations take a bit more cold.

Besides the taste, fruit in this family could help against cancer.  I know the Atemoyas take more cold, but fruits are much smaller, I wonder if they have the same anti-cancer properties as the Guanabana/Soursop

Just be careful- that is hotly debated and the leaves also have known neurotoxic compounds

I will say that ~50% of my seedlings died after being left out last winter and these are the set that survived- so their may have been a selection process of sorts

[Nyuu]

I've been seeing some big soursop in Okeechobee  20 ft in zone 9b out in the open without any protection from trees or windbreaker so I'll say it's at least 5 or 6 years old that was a year or two since I seen it so I went through that four or five-day cold front

[bovine421]

Very interesting replies.  There is the possibility those that were killed in the keys were seedlings that originated in low elevations, possibly plants from higher elevations take a bit more cold.

Besides the taste, fruit in this family could help against cancer.  I know the Atemoyas take more cold, but fruits are much smaller, I wonder if they have the same anti-cancer properties as the Guanabana/Soursop

What are the names of the high-altitude variety?. If available I would be willing to take a chance on the south side of my house up against the block wall where the dryer vent is

[roblack]

update on tree.

After hitting about 50F overnight, the night before last, guanabana has dropped quite a few leaves. Can tell more will fall soon. Tree is fine though, and has been through much colder over the last few winters.

 

[850FL]

Very interesting replies.  There is the possibility those that were killed in the keys were seedlings that originated in low elevations, possibly plants from higher elevations take a bit more cold.

Besides the taste, fruit in this family could help against cancer.  I know the Atemoyas take more cold, but fruits are much smaller, I wonder if they have the same anti-cancer properties as the Guanabana/Soursop

What are the names of the high-altitude variety?. If available I would be willing to take a chance on the south side of my house up against the block wall where the dryer vent is

Mountain soursop not exactly the same thing but takes a few degrees more cold

[850FL]

update on tree.

After hitting about 50F overnight, the night before last, guanabana has dropped quite a few leaves. Can tell more will fall soon. Tree is fine though, and has been through much colder over the last few winters.

After 2 consecutive nights of brief freezes (down to 30F for a few hours) all of my 3 gallon soursops have damage including wilting, new growth zapped, small twig damage, blotching/browning leaves, the worst about 1/2 of its leaves dropped. However no main limbs or trunk scarring/damage. Most were in my car insulated from the frost and winds during the freezes (but not really the cold).
I’d say they can handle up to 5 more of those lighter frosts before major damage and death.
Once I put a soursop out all winter under magnolia cover and it wasn’t even a terrible winter (25 lowest), but it died completely including the root
9b is a real stretch if you’re trying to plant in the ground. Maybe right up next to a house on the south side in a corner nook and during a bad year <28F you’ll have to wrap lights around it. Expect yearly winter leaf damage and drop. 9a is impossible in-ground for guanabana except with major winter protection.

[murahilin]

There is definitely a difference in cold tolerance between soursop trees. I have about 30 seedlings total being grown right now from 5 different seed sources from various countries.

One from Brazil suffered no damage with the high 40s we had here recently but another seedling from Australia had a lot more damage and all of the leaves turned slightly brown from the cold. Both trees are about 3ft tall in 3-gallon containers and were right next to each other.

None of the other seedlings seem to have been damaged from the cold except for that one Australian seedling.