Annona Muricata...also known as soursop, graviola, guanábana, and several other names.



My 3-year-old tree is producing flowers again. I took this picture moments ago. We will soon have fruits.

Beautiful bloom!!

Oh that is pretty!

Lin!

Anne!

This is the largest local sour sop fruit, Annona muricata, I have ever seen. Pictured with my Chi BabyK for proportion/scale.

Wow, now that is a great comparison ... tiny doggie, very large fruit!!

Thanks, Lin! BabyK is 4.5 lbs....the sour sop is 10.5 lbs.

Am I growing this?

No, not this one David...you had said you didn't/couldn't grow large tropical trees in your area.The seeds I sent you are Annona squamosa, the sugar apple. The tree/shrub does not grow as tall or wide as sour sop, so could possibly lend itself to bonsai treatment.

Just an FYI for those of us in North America...there was a guy selling Soursop trees at the USF Plant Festival a few years back. He claimed they were a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail, which uses the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba in most of their range). I don't remember which exact species of Soursop he was selling, but they are in the same family (Annonaceae) as Pawpaws. So if anyone in the Eastern U.S. is growing Soursop, I would be interested to know if you ever get caterpillars on it. I know sometimes caterpillars will accept different foods in captivity, but I had a hard time believing they would choose this in the wild when given the option of their native host plant.

David, I really think you're living in the wrong zone!

mellielong said:

David, I really think you're living in the wrong zone!

Zones? ZONES!!?? I doan need no stinkink zones!

hehe

Perhaps I should have mentioned all the wonderful seeds that Rainbow sent me (in a nice trade).

Thai Starfruit
Local Starfruit
Sugar Apple
Calamansi
Adenium obesum
Adenium arbicum

NONE of which are hardy here, of course.

Don't forget Melanie - your are responsible for

"Ignoring Zones altogether"

I know, I know!

mellielong said:Just an FYI for those of us in North America...there was a guy selling Soursop trees at the USF Plant Festival a few years back. He claimed they were a host plant for the Zebra Swallowtail, which uses the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba in most of their range). I don't remember which exact species of Soursop he was selling, but they are in the same family (Annonaceae) as Pawpaws. So if anyone in the Eastern U.S. is growing Soursop, I would be interested to know if you ever get caterpillars on it. I know sometimes caterpillars will accept different foods in captivity, but I had a hard time believing they would choose this in the wild when given the option of their native host plant.

David, I really think you're living in the wrong zone!

I was just checking my three soursop trees this afternoon after all the rain today and spotted these -I believe- Zebra Swallowtail caterpillars. I took pics of them yesterday and they were much darker, turning pale today. I am attaching pictures. This is in East Central Florida, zone 9B

Photos by AREALUA

Photos by AREALUA

Also, taking advantage of this post, I would like to ask if anyone in Central FL has been able to get their soursop trees to bear fruits. My four year old trees produce multiple flowers but no fruit, not even after hand pollination. Any input will be appreciated.