Author Topic: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness  (Read 1394 times)

Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« on: December 18, 2022, 04:14:03 PM »
So my guava plants are having some fruit thats ripening, i awlays have the feeling that i pick them a little underripe.   Cherimoya should be coming in february, so my question regarding those two is...
Can i bag the fruit that close to being ripe with organza bags, tie up the handles to a branch and just wait for the fruit to detach from the stem on its own? Is this the way of getting maximum ripenes?  I saw this trick on one youtube channel where the person bagged the cherimoya fruit and waited for them to fall off in the bags.
Anyone doing/done this?

spaugh

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5126
    • San Diego County California
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #1 on: December 19, 2022, 01:11:35 AM »
You can let the cherimoya drop off but they may get a little over ripe.  Its better if you get them a few days earlier.  The flesh is more pure white color and not turning yellow/brown at all and also the stem will be intact.  When the cherimoya drops off the tree from being fully ripe, the core of the fruit pulls out and leaves a big hole in the top of the fruit.  But the fruit still need a few days to soften at that point and they are open to more rot/discoloration.

You will know when to pick, the fruit goes from green to starting to turn green/yellow.  It is easy to tell the right time by looking at it if you know what to look for.  So post photos and we can tell.

For guavas, if it is a yellow skin type, you wait until almost all green is gone and it turns yellow and if its perftly ripe it will be soft off the tree.  And if it goes a day or 2 too long, they fall off.

Your bag trick is actually better for the guavas.
Brad Spaugh

Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #2 on: December 19, 2022, 01:26:49 AM »
Thanks spaugh! I will post pictures of the cherimoya fruits when they start to ripen.
I already ordered 50 organza bags,  ok i will use them on the guava and see if theres any improvement flavourwise when i let them fall off.

Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2023, 08:36:24 AM »
Ok, so today i had the first cherimoya fall from one of the trees, the fruit fell, the stem was left on the tree along with the core of the fruit. The fallen fruit was kinda soft, but not as soft as a fully ripened one from the store. It didnt had any strong flavour whatsoever, a little cherimoya smell along with very little sweetness. So as this one fell i am now wondering if i have to harvest the other ones, with the stems intact ,in order to have the chance of letting them ripen further  ,without having missing cores in them.
Dont have pics of the fallen one as i cut it fast and then trew it fast as it was unsatisfactory.

Here are the rest, some of them are quite green but most are  a light yellow/green colour. Should i pick those?



















AndrewAZ

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 366
    • Scottsdale, AZ zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2023, 11:51:48 PM »
I was told to let guava's fall of the tree.

Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2023, 12:36:15 AM »
I was told to let guava's fall of the tree.
Regarding guava ive found that theyre good when they change colour all around, have a strong smell, also they crack a little at the base where the fruit is atached to the stem. I didnt let them fall on their own, as i intended, but i will let the big ones from my other tree to fall off, those are just starting to ripen.


John B

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 393
    • USA, San Diego, CA, Zone 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2023, 01:12:04 AM »
Looks way too small. They may stop growing but should plump up in a month or longer. Of course, the size of fruit may be smaller depending on how many are in the tree. Usually, larger than a baseball. My Pierce Cherimoya are from 10 ounces to 2.5 lbs.





Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2023, 02:01:55 AM »
John b they are small since there are 50 + fruits on one tree and the other one has just 2 ,which are also around the same size.
I picked 4 , just to test if they would ripen at this stage. On the others i will place organza bags that are tight on them so that they dont fall, will have to check them regularly from
 now on. Still cant decide what i should look for.
Yellowing, softened ridges of the indentations or streched looking skin on the fruit? I see pics of fruits that were picked as green as mine here, is it ok to pick them at this stage?








 They are mostly small sized, but there are some bigger ones ,the size of or bigger than the biggest one in the pics.

John B

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 393
    • USA, San Diego, CA, Zone 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2023, 10:58:31 AM »
They will ripen to a certain extent. The smaller ones will probably be chewy (and not necessarily in a good way) and will not be completely sweet. Your larger one will probably ripen.

They are still too green. You are right on your assessment of what to look for. They get a bit more yellow, not quite as shiny, and the fruit will give with a slight pull and twist. In my opinion, those fruit, except maybe your larger one, are still immature and need at least a month.

Definitely thin your cherimoya next season. Larger fruit have better flesh to seed ratio and are regarded as better fruit.

Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2023, 03:33:00 PM »
Heres what i did to the rest, i cased them into organza bags, they are placed pretty tight so that if the fruit ripens and wants to fall off or detach from the core, this could not  happen. I dont think that they will ever get bigger, now i will just check them every 2-3 days and each one that i feel has become soft i will harvest along with the stem of the fruit, and leave it for several more days at the counter. 





Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2023, 05:57:42 PM »
Today i found another softer fruit,one of the bigger ones,i made the mistake of opening the net casing that i had put on it, from the bottom, the fruit just slided and detached from the stem. I dont know if i would be able to ripen it with such a big hole in the middle, i placed it in a nylon bag with a tiny hole for some air. The net did prevent it from falling so that was good, but i will now  remove the nets/organza bags from the top and cut the stem off.
One thing i dont understand is, how do people in orchards harvest them, at what stage of the fruit development? They dont wait for them to fall of or get soft, right? I mean the storebought ones come from Spain, and most of them are rock hard, so they harvest them green in order to have some shelf life whille in transit, but then they are still good tasting when alowwed to soften. Teoretically, they should be good also when harvested quite green and rock hard? 
I feel that this fruiting session will be for the compost bin, since i dont know what i'm doing ...
The other ones i picked are starting to soften also, i should have them all soft enough to eat in a few days. I hope for them to just be at least edible..

John B

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 393
    • USA, San Diego, CA, Zone 10a
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2023, 07:15:10 PM »
I'm confused about the hole from the stem. Do you have a picture? If it's mature, just place it on a counter and wait a few days until it's soft to the touch.

Commercial guys pick them when they're hard so they package well and don't bruise. They will ripen within 2 weeks that way. But you're not a commercial guy so you shouldn't use that practice. The larger cherimoya in my picture above was hard when it was harvested but had a little give. 

This seedling cherimoya is NOT ripe! Notice how green it is. Small too.



Below, is a picture of the same seedling cherimoya picked while it was firm but easily separated from the tree. This is 2 MONTHS later. Look at the color on the left. The right is a bit from the sun.



This is what it looked like 4 days later and was completely ripe and delicious.








Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2023, 02:19:05 AM »
John B , one thing that i notice is the smallest fruits on the plants are still a deep green colour, the bigger ones seem to ripen first.
Thanks for the visuals!
Here is the hole that i'm talking about , basically the center pulls off and i am worried about oxygen ruining the fruit.
At the time they are just slightly soft, they are already separating/falling from the tree.





ScottR

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2222
    • USA,Arroyo Grande,Calif. 93420,zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2023, 12:02:06 PM »
YOUR TREE IS MOST LIKELY ABORTING THEM BECAUSE OF SUCH A LARGE FRUIT SET FOR THE SIZE OF TREE.

Plantinyum

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1418
    • Bulgaria , near Sofia city , planting zone 7
    • View Profile
Re: Best time for picking guava and cherimoya for maximum ripeness
« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2023, 01:33:18 PM »
YOUR TREE IS MOST LIKELY ABORTING THEM BECAUSE OF SUCH A LARGE FRUIT SET FOR THE SIZE OF TREE.
Could this be the case? But why would the largest ones abort first, i thought trees would abort the smallest fruitset?
They both were finished with the flowering by the end of last years august, i thought that its time for them to be ripening?
I will thin the fruit set this year.