April Fools Atemoya

It's April Fools day, and I was poking around in the yard, and I decided instead of an Easter egg I would have an atemoya. It's the only one to made it through the winter, on a plant that kept all its leaves and looks pretty good compared to all the other Annona sticks. There's not much more to say except that it makes me happy to harvest it. Hopefully this next season will set and keep more than one.

No Plant is an Island

I've been trying for weeks not to pollinate my Annona flowers. I collect pollen in a medicine bottle, save it in the fridge, and then wait for the next flower to crack. The lapse between any flower opening in male form to the next opening in female has been more than 24 hours. The general concensus seems to be that stored pollen isn't much good after that, but that hasn't stopped me from trying. And it seems like one of my attempts finally paid off. It's tiny, there's a long way to go, but it's something. I have a tiny little Atemoya 'Island Gem' fruit. Now to keep it hanging on until maturity.

Anona-mess

The first time I had anything from the genus Anona was in Bali. There I tasted a soursop (A. muricata) and it was delicious. Something like a creamy green apple flavor, but the flesh was really fibrous and it was somewhat hard to eat because of it. Since then, back in California, I've had a few chermoyas (A. chermimola), and they are even better. The flesh of the fruit is more consistent, and the only annoying part is the large seeds (which are ill advised to swallow). Still, I could eat many of them because the taste is so great. How have I not eaten these before moving to CA? Avocados don't grow in other parts of the country, yet you can find those in grocery stores everywhere. Maybe it's only a matter of time for cherimoyas.

Well, now I'm the owner of a few Anona plants, the grafted ones are flowering which of course bring the possibility of fruit. But, these aren't just cherimoyas, these are mostly atemoyas (A. chermola x A. squamosa aka Sugar Apple) and they're said to be even better. To the point where cherimoyas taste bad in comparison! The flowers are hermaphroditic; female in the morning and male in the evening. After the first one bloomed, I collected and pollen and stored it in the fridge for the next flower. Here's hoping it's still good when the next flower opens!

Here's my inventory:

• A. cherimola x A. squamosa; Atemoya 'Bradley' - grafted
• A. diversifolia (Ilama) 'Rosada' - grafted
• A. squamosa (Sugar Apple) 'Super Atis' - grafted
• A. cherimola x A. squamosa; Atemoya 'Island Gem' - grafted
• A. cherimola x A. squamosa; Atemoya 'Phat Pakchong' aka 'PPC' - grafted
• A. cherimola x A. squamosa; Atemoya 'Randhir' - grafted
• A. cherimola x A. cherimola
• A. diversifolia (Ilama) x (A. cherimola x A. squamosa; Atemoya)