custard apple not fruiting (forum)

jo starts with ...
Hi friends,

Would anyone be able to tell me why my custard apple plant does not bear fruit despite the fact that there are tons of blooms on the tree? This is the 2nd year in a row and I am not sure whether I should axe it.
Thanks very much for any help provided.
Yours sincerely,
Jo

Time: 3rd January 2012 11:04am

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peetah says...
you need to hand pollinate.

Time: 3rd January 2012 12:57pm

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John Mc says...
Hi Joe,
Follow the below link and all will be revealed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTaBVR-YrQc

Time: 3rd January 2012 1:03pm

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About the Author JohnMc1
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Vanl says...
Hi Jo,

I came across the same issue like you a month ago, after hand pollination, there are now plenty of fruits on my tree.

I find that collecting the male pollen overnight and pollinating the females morning after is not effective.

Instead I go around with a brush and collect the males then pollinate the female flowers straight away, no need for a container to hold pollen. Due to the Adelaide weather I tend to get both males and females at the same time hence I can do this. Not sure if its like that at your locality though.

Cheers

Time: 4th January 2012 11:06am

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jo says...
Hi Vanl,
Thanks very much for the information! Are the male opened fully and the females slightly opened? How to distinguish them from each other? I have only a few flowers left now on the tree; not sure if I can be successful in even having one fruit now (sigh!).
Thanks very much again for your help.
cheerio.
jo

Time: 4th January 2012 1:12pm

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John Mc says...
They start out as female flowers that look like they are just opening up, then, when the petals open wide they are male and you can easily access the pollen from the bulbous base inside the petals . I have a small artists brush that I collect the pollen with which gives easy access to the narrow opening of the female flower. If you have both male and female flowers open at the same time it makes easy pollination.
I have a grafted cherimoya that seems to only have one type of flower out at the same time, so I have to collect the pollen in the evening and pollinate the female flowers next morning.

Time: 4th January 2012 3:22pm

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jo says...
Hi John,
Thanks very much for this valuable information! I will follow the procedure you mentioned.
Best Regards.
Jo

Time: 4th January 2012 3:55pm

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peetah says...
i am having trouble getting the pollen into the flower.i cant get the pollen to stick to a artist paint brush or a cotton bud!it drops off before i can get it in to the flower.is there a better way?

Time: 4th January 2012 8:38pm

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peter says...
if you slightly moisten the brush the
pollen should stick

Time: 4th January 2012 11:09pm

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Brendan says...
Wayne gave me a pak of 'Cosmetic Applique Tips' he bought from Dollars & Sense, he uses them for pollinating his custard apples.

Time: 5th January 2012 7:31am

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Original Post was last edited: 5th January 2012 7:48am

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Mike says...
Feathers or paint brushes with non-synthetic fibres work with mine but I reasonable set in atemoya and sugar apples without doing anything.

Time: 5th January 2012 9:49am

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ganesh177 says...
It is okay when you have 5-10 trees.
But how do you pollinate a big farm of say 500 trees ?
Is there a technique to mass polinate them ?

Time: 29th May 2017 9:43pm

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Pademelon1 says...
Custard apples are pollinated by pest beetles (nitidulidae), and they are the only effective way to pollinate large orchards. Custard apple trees at the RBGSYD in the past have developed fruit without hand pollination, and some beetle species that pollinate custard apples are known to have naturalised in Australia. How you would attract them to your orchard, and whether you would want to, I can't answer.

Time: 30th May 2017 10:48am

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denise1 says...
My cherimoyer tree sets very well without hand pollenation. The tree has high humidity as it is beside forest, and that seems to help the overlap of male/female stage. Also I beleive they are pollenated by the NZ native critter called Thrips obscuratus which is nearly invisible b ut hops around the tree chomping on flowers and carrying pollen. That is my understanding. I also think that feeding the plants properly is beneficial.

Time: 30th May 2017 8:11pm

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Mike Tr says...
When all else fails with tree pollination hang a dead animal or something else to attract a range of flies and ants.

Time: 16th June 2017 3:56pm

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