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Atemoya Cross Pollinating

16 years ago

After several attempts I have successfully pollinated my two year old Gefner Atemoya and the tree now has over 50 fruit actively growing on it. This is the first year that my Gefner Atemoya has produced an excess of 200 buds and there seems to be no end to this cycle since the tips are still pushing new buds. Last year I only got one fruit from this tree as a result of self-pollination.

I used the same pollen from my Gefner Atemoya to pollinate the Lisa Atemoya but the pollen appears to be incompatible since the fruit keep falling off. The Lisa Atemoya is a very shy bud producer so I never get the chance to have both male and female buds within a few days of each other thus my reason for using the Gefner pollen.

I decided to also test the Gefner pollen on my two year old sugar apple tree that is pushing buds for the first time, but thus far I have ended up with the same disappointing results.

I have searched the Internet for information on pollen compatibility but I can't seem to locate any information on the subject especially as it relates to Anonas.

Has anyone had success cross pollinating their Anonas with pollen from other varieties?

Comments (11)

  • 16 years ago

    No one here practices pollination any longer? Several days have passed without a single reply or comment. I guess I will use this post as a log for my pollination tests.

    My Lisa Atemoya finally had two flowers available, one in the female stage and the other in the male pollen shedding stage. I was able to pollinate the female flower using the male pollen and thus far the fruit appears to have set.

    I once again used pollen from my Geffner to pollinate a second flower on the Lisa Atemoya since I did not have pollen available from the Lisa itself and the just as before the flower dropped. I tried using this same pollen on my sugar apple and the fruit also drops confirming incompatibility between these Annonas.

    My next test is to use pollen from the sugar apple to pollinate both the Geffner and Lisa Atemoya. I will post the results when they become available.

    Remember the Atemoya was created using pollen from the Sugar Apple and the Cherimoya.

    So far:

    Pollen from the Geffner Atemoya applied to the Lisa Atemoya = Failure to set fruit.
    Pollen from the Geffner Atemoya applied to the Sugar Apple = Failure to set fruit.

  • 16 years ago

    I hand pollinate all of my amaryllis bulbs - combining only the colors I like and want in my yard. I started harvesting seeds today! Last years' seedlings are ready to go into the ground. Your practice/testing is very interesting. I looked up atemoya - the internet says it is a sugar apple? I don't think I have ever had one. Are they good to eat? I pretty much like anything with "sugar" in its name! LOL!

  • 16 years ago

    Hi Enduser

    I have a Gefner atemoya and a red sugar apple. The Gefner was planted about 2 years ago and gave fruit last year without me pollinating. If you read the link it says that a possible beetle pollinates? Well, I saw a beetle on the tree last year and thought it was a bad bug, so I got rid of them, still I had fruit. Now this year, I have not seen any beetle and I am too lazy to pollinate, especially hearing about your failure at setting fruit. -(

    I will let you know if I get any fruit, I really like my atemoyas!

    Silvia

    Here is a link that might be useful: cherimoya pollination

  • 16 years ago

    Hello love_the_yard,

    The Atemoya is a hybrid created by crossing the sugar apple with the Cherimoya. The flavor of the Atemoya is exquisite.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Atemoya Info

  • 16 years ago

    Silvia, the nitidulid beetle supposedly pollinates the Atemoya; we don't have those in our area. I do find Scarab Beetles aka flower beetles on the Atemoya flowers but they are very destructive in that they eat the flower ovaries thereby killing the possibility of any fruit forming. This year there is an explosion of them so I had to place a mosquito net over my Atemoya tree or else loose all flowers to these parasites.

    My Lisa Atemoya has yet to set fruit on its own unless I hand pollinate. My Geffner Atemoya set only one fruit last year but it was very small and misshapen. Hand pollinating is fun, plus you get bragging rights that the fruit was set as a result of your efforts. I found that in my area between 6:30pm and 7:00pm is the ideal time to hand pollinate.

  • 16 years ago

    On May 24, I pollinated a flower on both my Geffner Atemoya and also on my Sugar Apple using pollen from the Lisa Atemoya and today I verified that the fruit has set!

    This cross pollination tests will allow me to create new hybrids or variations from these existing hybrids.

    So we now have:

    SUCCESS! :)
    Pollen from the Lisa Atemoya applied to the Geffner Atemoya = Fruit set!
    Pollen from the Lisa Atemoya applied to the Sugar Apple = Fruit set!

    FAILURES :(
    Pollen from the Geffner Atemoya applied to the Lisa Atemoya = Failure to set fruit.
    Pollen from the Geffner Atemoya applied to the Sugar Apple = Failure to set fruit.

    My next test will involve pollinating my 97-1 Atemoya using pollen from my Geffner, and Lisa Atemoyas. I will then take pollen from my 97-1 Atemoya, and apply it to the Geffner, and Lisa Atemoyas, and also the Sugar Apple.

  • 16 years ago

    Hi Enduser

    That is great! You should come to my house and do some pollination on my atemoya, lol

    Here is my atemoya last year

    Silvia

  • 16 years ago

    Very interesting results. You might get more replies to your question in the "Tropical Fruits" forum.

    Best regards,
    Bluepalm

  • 16 years ago

    Bluepalm, thanks for the tip, I moved the post to the Tropical Fruits forum a few days prior to your suggestion.

    Here is the link:
    http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg0521240816302.html

    Here is a link that might be useful: Moved post to Tropical Fruits

  • 16 years ago

    I found a PDF document that shows how and when to pollinate the Annonas. This is a great reference document.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Annona Pollination How-To

  • 10 years ago

    Recently i tried pollinating my cherimoya female flower with sugar apple male pollen as i don't have any cherimoya male pollen. Out of 4 flowers, 2 were successful and the fruits are now the about the size of a grape.

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