In this pic the middle part shows mango flowers that are just recently opened, the right side shows some that have been open for a bit and have some fruit set, and on the left are some that had set fruit and are working on drying out. Sometimes you won't get fruit on every single flower spike. Sometimes it is due to all male flowers, sometimes it is a fungal issue, sometimes it is just poor luck. Some varieties also set heavier and more regularly than others. This pic is of Pickering, which is generally regarded as a workhorse producer.

#Necromancy

I finally got about a half dozen (so far) fruit set on this "Wilson Seedless" black sapote. I'll post updates once they're ripe.

It also makes atemoyas grow into large trees and makes it harder to grow them in tropical areas. Gefner and African pride are the two most tropical varieties and I reckon sugar apple would be better as a rootstock in warmer climates for these.

The data I'd read out of Australia (I believe from the custard apple growers information kit) said that sugar apple was dwarfing in cooler subtropical climates, but the warmer the climate was the less apparent the dwarfing tendency, with no dwarfing tendency shown in the tropics. Fruitscapes down here uses all sugar apple rootstock nowadays, and after seeing Luke's Issan Indigo sugar apple mother tree survive 24hrs with the root crown under 6" of water, I'm likely going to start experimenting with using it as rootstock. That said I still really like how vigorous my trees on cherimoya roots are compared to the sugar apple ones so far.

Cinnamon wood: I've got some large cinnamon logs that I'm going to try using in the smoker one day, but have been told by a friend that they weren't too impressed with it.

Orange wood:  One of the best steaks I've had in my life was a dry aged porterhouse grilled over orange wood.

Peach wood: I've used peach wood on pork and it does well, though the meat stays an almost uncooked pink color on the outside for some reason. I might have used too little wood, but the flavor was pretty much where I wanted it.

Guava: I've never used guava, but just cut down a poor quality yellow cattley guava so I'll be sure to save that for smoking.

Jaboticaba: Anyone used Jabo wood for smoking? I'm definitely going to have to scrounge up some sticks from previous prunings and see what I can do with those.

Not a tropical really but Australian Pine is supposed to be a great smoking/grilling wood. It isn't really a pine but a she-oak, so I'd guess it has similar qualities to other oak trees for cooking.

I had  trees of both growing next to each other and AP has better tasting fruit but is less productive in my climate. Pinks mammoth is a good deal better than both and common in my area. Hillary white and Paxton prolific are the most expensive in the supermarkets and shops around Queensland.

Mike, how would you compare the taste of Paxton Prolific and Pink's Mammoth?

The few comparisons I've seen put AP as better than Gefner, but that's going to be a matter of personal preference.

If they've been in ground long enough to be fruiting you would be doing yourself a great disservice by digging them out. That root establishment counts for a lot, and will mean better/faster growth if you topwork them to other varieties. Heck even if you bought budwood and paid someone to topwork them for you, you'd likely still come out paying less than buying all new trees.

I can confirm that this is a very chewy dark red/purple sugar apple and as far as sugar apples go it is excellent.

Hi friend...when is it the best moment to cut a Annona reticulatas (custar apple) fruit to harvest?

My one fruit looks so...I touched it and the fruit its hard....Thanx

You'll usually notice a brightening of the color right before it starts to soften on the tree. Once you notice that brightening cut it then and let it ripen on the counter. Alternatively just make sure you check it every day and cut it down when soft.

Lisa.

Mike if you're up for some reading starting on page 50 in the "Key Issues" publication they talk about different rootstock used over in Australia. http://era.daf.qld.gov.au/id/eprint/1653/

Yes. They tend to be dwarfing on sugar apple rootstock and I've been told shorter lived at around 9 years or so.

If someone wanted to get atemoya scion from Australia Paxton prolific aka AJ Pinks, Hillary white, real Pinks Mammoth and maybe tropic sun would be on the hit list for acquisition.They wouldn't bother with relatively low quality widespread varieties like gefner or African pride.It doesn't really look like any of these but they are variable and climate and nutrition can influence phenotypic expression. Any info on the source at either end or location in Australia or US?

I don't have much info on either side of it unfortunately.

Side note: you said real Pink's Mammoth. Is there known to be an impostor Pink's Mammoth here in the states?

If I had to choose just one I'd go with atemoya. There are a ton of named varieties you could topwork on a single tree for wide variety of flavors and appearance. Atemoya is also more cold tolerant than soursop, though unless I regularly hit 32 or lower I wouldn't worry too much about planting a soursop. If you're looking to sell fruit you'll probably get better prices for soursop since it is generally better known. Personally I'd rather eat atemoya or cherimoya, and would pay higher prices for those, but most folks have no clue about atemoya.

I'll join the dogpile of folks saying they've gotten soursop much lower than 50 without it dying. I had a maybe 2ft tall soursop in a 3gal pot that survived mid 30s while being badly neglected. It dropped leaves, but bounced right back in the spring and is now over 6' tall planted out at a friend's house. I have plenty of other soursop that got high 30s in pots last year and while they dropped leaves and aren't as big as they would be had it remained in the 50s, they're still growing bigger each year.