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!
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
Any luck with Custard Apples??
Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??
Do you mean chirimoyas? I've seen chirimoyas being sold in the UK under the name Custard Apples.
Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??
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
Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??
They're grown commercially in southern Spain, will take a -2 or so.
Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??
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 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
Otorongo I do indeed mean Cherimoyas, Annona cherimola or Annona reticulata, not sure which one I'm growing, not much in it 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
Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??
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?
Do they grow fast or have some unique selling point for the garden or are you growing them for the fun of it?
Re: Any luck with Custard Apples??
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