Growing a Cherimoya tree is easier than you think. However, the plants can only be kept in pots as they are not winter hardy. In winter you have to keep the pots indoors. With a little luck and patience, you can even harvest fruit.
How do you grow a Cherimoya tree?
To grow a Cherimoya tree, sow seeds in potting soil and provide optimal germination temperatures. Place the he althy, grown plants in a pot with cactus soil in a sunny location. Water sparingly, fertilize rarely and ensure a bright, frost-free room in winter.
Sowing Cherimoya
Remove the large, black seeds from a ripe fruit and remove all pulp.
Put the seeds individually about two centimeters deep into pots of potting soil and place them in a warm place. Cherimoya seeds germinate at temperatures of 25 to 30 degrees. The location should not be too sunny.
It can take up to two months for the first plants to appear. As soon as leaves appear, place the pots in a warm place but out of direct sunlight.
A spot on the terrace
- Sunny location
- Water little
- Fertilize rarely
- Winter frost-free
When the cherimoya trees have developed well and have reached a height of 30 to 70 centimeters, plant them in pots. Cactus soil (€12.00 on Amazon) has proven to be a suitable soil because the plants don't like it too moist. If necessary, mix normal garden soil with a little sand.
Older trees thrive in full sun.
Cherimoyas cannot tolerate sub-zero temperatures. Overwinter them in the bright winter garden at temperatures around ten degrees. Older plants shed their leaves. This is no cause for alarm.
Only water sporadically
You don't have to water much. Allow the soil to dry out again and again and only then water again.
You should be careful when fertilizing. Add some plant fertilizer to the water at most every four weeks.
In winter there is little watering and no fertilization at all.
Harvesting fruits
The usual pollinators are missing in our latitudes. To harvest fruits, you need to pollinate the flowers yourself using a brush. This is complicated because the flowers are female in the morning and male in the evening.
If pollination using a brush was successful, you can harvest ripe cherimoyas from your tree in late autumn or winter.
Tips & Tricks
The seeds of Cherimoya are poisonous. They contain alkaloids and should not be eaten under any circumstances. Due to their toxicity, they were even used as insecticides in the past.
