Author Topic: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)  (Read 1758 times)

fruitmonger

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Annona experts and enthusiasts.  Can anyone tell me from experience or knowledge on the matter if there is a way to encourage vigorous flowering on Annona muricata?

I know (from my reading) that most annona respond very well to being defoliated and "enthusiastically" pruned to induce vigorous new growth and flowering in the early spring after dormancy or when many have already shed most of their leaves.

I also know that muricata will do whatever it can to put out new leaves after being nipped by low temperatures....many times to it's detriment.  It does what it can to remain evergreen...not deciduous like many other annona.

So....is there some way to trigger vigorous flowering on Guanabana?

Any and all insightful comments are welcome.

Thanks to all
« Last Edit: February 23, 2022, 03:41:57 PM by fruitmonger »
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Chinese proverb

shot

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It is a true evergreen tree does not need to be defoliated .Lateral growth is encouraged in the tree by topping and tying branches down for optimal fruiting .

kh0110

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I read somewhere, forgot where, that you withhold watering 2-3 weeks before expected bloom time and then you hit them with bloom fert.
Of course, you trees must be mature enough to flower meaning at least 2 years old and with strong structures.
Thera

Orkine

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There was a post on the forum I saw regarding Whitman fiberless that a member (Coconut) seemed to encourage to flower by some non traditional process.  DO a search of the forum for "Whitman fiberless Sweet Soursop" and look for posts from Coconut.  I recall he wrote in a colorful way and you might get a chuckle and maybe an idea to try.

Disclaimer: I have never tried what he suggested and I don't know if it works but it may for an interesting read.  You might want to check with others who know about annonas (like Har) before doing something that ends up killing your tree.

shot

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« Last Edit: February 24, 2022, 12:23:48 AM by shot »

roblack

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Fert and trimming triggers flowering in ours, and it is getting better with age.

Might try tying a branch or 2 down.

How about girdling?

Wondering, how many fruits should a 8 - 10 foot (topped, 10+ inch diameter trunk) tree produce? Pretty happy with current flowering and fruit set (finally), but not sure what is to be expected. Lost 5 or so medium sized fruit when temps dropped into low 40's but have over a dozen small fruit going and new flowers and leaves popping.

FMfruitforest

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They seem to be everbearing trees, they only slowdown for the cold here, some completely shutdown. They are lovers of sunshine, water and nutrient rich soil.





fruitmonger

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Thanks for the replies so far.

I am reading Coconuts old posts on Guanabana....entertaining.

So his take seemed to be that copious amounts of Zinc Sulphate and "redneck" fertilizer were the key to triggering year round fruit production....up to four times a year.

I am wondering though if perhaps I may be expecting too much too soon from my plants.

Also the Guanabana are something I have recently purchased so perhaps in addition to the plants being a bit young the trees show signs of stress or deficiencies.

Many of the leaves have blotchy patches ....some wind scarring and other things I am unsure about.

Can anyone take a look and tell me what they think?

These recently went into new pots with a good mix of enriched potting soil...manure and mulch mix and some canadian spaghnum peat moss.

The trees are pushing out new growth and now have room for their roots to grow.

Can anyone give advise on the funky leaves?









"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Chinese proverb

Orkine

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We recently had a very cold spell which did a number on my soursop trees.  The leaves are only now trying to regrow on the ones that fell off and the ones that hung on are wretched looking.

If yours went through the same cold spell, give them some time before doing strange things to them.

FMfruitforest

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Your tree will continue to drop existing leaves to make way for new spring growth. The sops here are all pushing new leaves now that warmer weather is back.

ben mango

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #10 on: February 26, 2022, 07:25:29 AM »
I think that tree still needs time to hold any fruit. Maybe another year or 2. It’s possible they do not like the soil mix you made
« Last Edit: February 26, 2022, 08:22:19 AM by ben mango »

skhan

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #11 on: February 26, 2022, 08:18:31 AM »
I think that tree still needs time to hold any fruit. Maybe another year or 2


I agree with this.
The tree is still pretty small.

And if you can I'd plant it in the ground. Soursops have been one of my most vigorous trees

shot

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #12 on: February 26, 2022, 06:07:58 PM »

skhan  do you get the black rot on your soursop fruit?I have some old trees that i have resigned myself to cut down get rid of because of black rot ,all will rot.I see some fruit up in them now but they will get before ripeing.
 they say the variety Miami (Lara) is resistant to rot.

skhan

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #13 on: February 26, 2022, 08:34:17 PM »

skhan  do you get the black rot on your soursop fruit?I have some old trees that i have resigned myself to cut down get rid of because of black rot ,all will rot.I see some fruit up in them now but they will get before ripeing.
 they say the variety Miami (Lara) is resistant to rot.

Thankfully I haven't seen it yet.
One of my friends also on the forums might have it in his Miami soursop though. Can't you post some pictures of it.

I already have trouble growing sugar apple because of whiteflies so I'm hoping I can keep these ones going.

mangokothiyan

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #14 on: February 26, 2022, 09:39:35 PM »

 
In my yard, the Miami variety definitely was not resistant to rot. Lost all my fruits due to it. The fruits would grow a bit, then turn black and drop. I cut the tree down.

shot

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2022, 10:44:10 PM »
Good to know!

kh0110

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2022, 11:41:56 PM »

 
In my yard, the Miami variety definitely was not resistant to rot. Lost all my fruits due to it. The fruits would grow a bit, then turn black and drop. I cut the tree down.

Have you tried to bag the fruits? I know of 2 main causes for sugar apple fruit to turn black. One is the annonas borer. By laying eggs inisde the fruitlet, it could also injects spore of a fungus that turns the fruit black. Another cause is hot wind. If you tree is exposed to a wind corridor and there is hot wind for a couple of days or so, some fruits will turn black. I get this in So Cal with our infamous Santa Ana wind. Bagging fruits helps alleviate this to a certain level. I recently lost 3 PPC to this.
Thera

fruitmonger

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #17 on: February 28, 2022, 02:15:11 PM »
I think that tree still needs time to hold any fruit. Maybe another year or 2. It’s possible they do not like the soil mix you made
I actually have 4 guanabana trees.  Two plants are notably larger than the other 2 but none of them are very big.

These were all living in 7 gallon pots when I got them and they really needed a good bit more room to develop their roots....so I put them in the large decorative pots they are in now....something like a 18-20 gallon pot.

So far they seem to like the soil I mixed for them just fine and are pushing out a bunch of new growth.

My idea was to put them in an ideal situation and baby them all and see which show most promise/vigor.

Based on their performance in these conditions I will keep 2 trees at my home (and put them in the ground) and the other two will go to a friends place.

Thank to all for the help...I will report on their progress as time passes.

« Last Edit: February 28, 2022, 02:58:08 PM by fruitmonger »
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Chinese proverb

skhan

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Re: Guanabana-Sour Sop- Anonna muricata (forcing/ecouraging flowering-question)
« Reply #18 on: February 28, 2022, 04:24:40 PM »
I posted a link to a research paper on previous threads from India.
I can't find it now but the gist of it is, zinc iron and boron are critical micronutrients for annona flowering

fruitmonger

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Update.....the two lager soursop are flowering and one has 3 flowers that have been successfully pollinated.

Some observations made about the different way each plant has behaved.

The way the flowers have opened....unexpected....i will elaborate in future posts.

A few images for now.

:)










"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." Chinese proverb

Seanny

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Nice!