Any luck with Custard Apples??

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kiarancactus

Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by kiarancactus »

Howdy folks,

This year I managed to successfully germinate 12 custard apple seeds from a fruit bought in Morrisons, even after all the seeds floated in water! icon_thumleft

They're doing pretty well and most have got two to three leaves out, Bob Flowerdew wrote a good piece on custard apples which you can read here : http://www.hartley-botanic.co.uk/featur ... ard-apples
In short he says they're perfectly possible to grow here if they get a bit of care, so has anyone had any luck with them? :?:

Kiaran icon_pirat
fern Rob

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by fern Rob »

Do they need to be grafted like normal apples?
otorongo
Posts: 1434
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:12 pm
Location: sub-subtropical London

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by otorongo »

Do you mean chirimoyas? I've seen chirimoyas being sold in the UK under the name Custard Apples.
James1991
Posts: 37
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2013 9:40 pm
Location: suffolk

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by James1991 »

i germinated 3 cherimoya and 1 unknown custard apple this year :) they seem to grow pretty well inside with no direct sunlight and varying temperatures near the radiator
otorongo
Posts: 1434
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2012 5:12 pm
Location: sub-subtropical London

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by otorongo »

They're grown commercially in southern Spain, will take a -2 or so.
kiarancactus

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by kiarancactus »

Rob I think you can graft them if you wanted a better yield etc, but I'm just gonna see how the seed grown trees do.

Otorongo I do indeed mean Cherimoyas, Annona cherimola or Annona reticulata, not sure which one I'm growing, not much in it :D If they can handle -2 alright then they should be very happy where I'm keeping them.

That's good to know James, I was surprised mine germinated at all as I had them in the unheated greenhouse until about September-October with no luck, and then all of a sudden they all started appearing, then I brought them indoors, didn't wanna take any chances! It's good they don't need much light though as they aren't getting much, I had the seedlings on top of a cupboard above a rayburn for a while and they look fine! :)

Once they're bigger I might sell some, I don't think I need 10+ trees!

Kiaran icon_thumleft
Blairs

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by Blairs »

I saw those on Jungleseeds...says perfers winter temps above 5C, so I assume it is not that hardy, perhaps a light frost.

Do they grow fast or have some unique selling point for the garden or are you growing them for the fun of it?
kiarancactus

Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??

Post by kiarancactus »

Mainly growing for the fun of it, from what I've read they aren't too fussy about conditions, but they don't like cold, so firmly an indoor/greenhouse plant. Although once it's a few feet up it might start flowering and after pollination (by hand) it should produce some tasty custard apples! The only other caution is to keep the humidity low when the fruit is forming otherwise it might rot, but it seems pretty straight forward
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