The Tropical Fruit Forum

In their natural habitat there are only 2 seasons which are wet and dry. The fruits are ripe during the second half of the wet season. To ensure survival until the next year when it rains, they need to stay dormant otherwise if it were to somehow rain during the dry season then they would most likely perish without supplemental water when the wet season begins. This is why storing them for an period in a dry place is better then planting it right after eating the fruit.

Roots aren’t liking the state the soil is in. Soil is not drying out quick enough for the roots not to be affected or you are watering too frequently.

The issue is with soil porosity. Roots need aeration to grow as well. It is alleviated when you create a mound because it allows for drainage and aeration. Soil in direct contact with the water table rarely dries out and lacks aeration which invites root rot. Similar things happen in shallow pots. If you were to add too much water retentive amendments to your potting mix then your trees would decline. Some trees are better adapted to growing in these conditions. Unfortunately ilama is not one of them. You do not want to have the tree growing just shy above the water table.

Is that fly gnat traps? If your seeing flies in your medium then I would definitely let it dry out and water when you can easily lift the pot up. As for flowers dropping after, I believe you may not have enough pollinators visiting your tree. I would play around with a small brush and see if that changes your result. If it does then, that would be the answer. Sometimes it takes a year or two for enough pollinators to visit your tree. Adding another guava variety may help as well to increase interest with the bees.

Are the buds dropping before they flower or after they flower? Guavas are built like champs. They can handle harsh full sun with supplemental waterings. Mine have grown between 76°-110°f in the summer and seem to do fine with their flowers and fruits. If it drops the flowers before it blooms then it probably could be that the medium isn’t draining well, and if it’s after then it might not attracting enough pollinators. Sometimes some trees are more efficient at setting fruit. I have two different trees and they sit literally next to each other, are visited by the same pollinators and yet one sets fruit in all its flowers and the other will still set fruit but some of its flowers will drop.

If it’s the common guava then I use 37°f as the lowest I allow it to be exposed. Any lower and the mature leaves turn red or defoliate.  At this time of year, I don’t bother with sheltering them at all since all new growth aids in production of flowers. You can even blast them with full sun all summer long and they take it like a champ as long as there is adequate drainage and no root rot going on.

The last one looks to be Crescentia species. In El Salvador, the seeds are used to make a drink called horchata.

 In my opinion, I don’t see anything wrong with using low analysis organic fertilizer low in nitrogen for example worm castings to keep the plant happy and minimize nutrient deficiencies during the winter. Once it warms up more consistently you could probably use your normal fertilizing regimen.

If possible, I would experiment with fabric pots in the future. Only issue with 1 gallon fabric pots is that you have to water consistently, but if your consistent with the watering, then you will have a smaller taproot with more fibrous root system that you can decide if you want uppot into a larger conventional pot or continue with a larger fabric pot in the future or directly plant inground with little to no transplant shock.

They are one of my favorite fruits. Taste is subjective and I’m not very good at describing, but to me they have a more complex taste unlike sugar apples. They have a berry taste with some acidity but not to the level of a guanábana. Depending on the region and genetics, the ones with white pulp can be just sweet but still better tasting then sugar apples or berry flavored like the pink ones. If properly ripened I believe you would like it as well. So if it those don’t taste quite right, I would give it another shot on one’s that have cracked. Plus the seeds on the ones you have are probably to a point where you can plant them next year and graft on to them if you desired for better compatibility.

This is my second attempt at growing an ilama. Not the best looking sapling, but so far this second attempt is working in my favor. It’s currently going through it’s second year of growth from seed. In my opinion, I would strongly recommend against defoliating it anytime during the winter in your climate. The leaves that have matured are unaffected unlike fresh new leaves. Believe it or not, those mature leaves are what are keeping the tree alive. Ilamas don’t go dormant in the same sense as maple or oak tree. In its native habitat, drought is what keeps a tree semi dormant. In our climate, low temperatures are what keep a tree semi dormant. But their are still proceses in its semi dormancy occurring that are not visible to us. So please let the leaves drop naturally until it warms up for you to see it actively growing again. In my second attempt I chose to use fabric pots. I did this to prolong the life of the leaves and roots. Rotting roots cause premature leaf drop which causes ilamas to flush sometimes in the winter in warm enough weather and I can’t help watering In the winter. I was still able to keep the trees old leaves through most of the winter even with watering. I read somewhere that someone was able to keep ilama alive without watering in the winter in regular plastic pots but I can’t vouch for that. One added benefit of fabric pots is it will help with the Sun and heat not cooking your roots in the summer and keep premature flushing in the winter if it warms up to early before the last frost. I considered investing in lights, but most of what I see in stores nowadays are led based which emit no UV rays. The older bulbs like incandescents and fluorescents emit some but I am not sure if they are worth it. And Most uv lights sold online aren’t meant to be used an entire season or they will roast your plants or be bad for you if exposed too much. Personally, I feel that if you can prolong the health of the mature leaves, then it’s possible to keep the tree alive and healthy an entire winter season.

Yea dense soils can get compacted easily with rain depriving roots of oxygen over time. One of the things that I like about fabric pots is if you set them on the ground the fabric does a better job of draining the excess water more no matter soil density. The ground behaves like a dry paper towel that you set the corner in water and absorbs it. Drilling holes is ok only if the base with the hole and soil somehow has intimate contact with the ground because the bottom of the pot is where most of the water is saturated. But if there is no intimate contact then you still have the same issue as if you didn’t make the holes and the soil remains saturated until it naturally dries out. So in the end the soil in your conventional pots needs to either be further modified or the material of the pot needs to change where it’s porous and allow you to continue to use soil that has given you issues in the conventional pots. In my opinion and not as important, I feel fabric pots handle root temperatures better. If you think about it, trees in the ground have their roots under the canopy and temperatures for those roots are usually lower then air temp. In my opinion I feel like conventional pots cook those roots in when air temps are soaring. I wish you the best!