Eating My First Sugar Apple from my Own Tree

After waiting for more than 2 years, finally I can eat a ripen sugar apple, from my own trees! Han been a week waiting for this one ripen, everyday I check it to make sure I'm not miss it. Because if already very soft, it is very easy to falling from the stem and you can't eat it anymore, it will be just a mess.

From 12 tiny baby fruits, only 7 survive, eeeerrr... well... not 7 but only 6 , because accidentally I knock of 1 of them while I'm moved the pots :(

I expected 1 of my trees will have a red-puple sugar apple ( Kampong Mauve), but non of them. Maybe even you start your seedling from red sugar apple, it's still can bee different from the mother plant due to cross pollination? maybe... not sure.... But I'm still happy without the red one, because they taste the same.

Sugar apple who's ripen at the tree, they look much better and also taste better. I never can't eat sugar apple from the store, for some reason , they taste awful and look ugly also.
My hubby never eat this one before, he like it the taste but hate the seeds :)

Here's the picture of a ripen from the tree sugar apple and what the inside look like.

Ripen Sugar Apple

Ripen Sugar Apple, Fresh picked from the tree

The pulp very soft and sweet but be careful with their seed, lots of seeds. Will keep all the fresh seeds for a while, maybe someone at Gardenweb will want it..


So far my 2 Cherimoya seedling doing very good, 1 of them almost died because something eating almost all the leaves, so glad it's coming back. Cherimoya leaves much bigger than sugar apple.

2 months old Cherimoya Seedling

And here my avocado seedling, about 2 years old and I'm try to keep it as a small tree, with hope still can bearing fruits for me someday.

2 years old Avocado Seedling

This month also for my Queen of the night cactus, started from 2 tiny leaves from my parents garden, have her first bloom, we bring in the pot inside so we can watched her blooming progressively from 7 pm until mid night. For my surprised, this also the first time for my hubby seen this.

Queen of the night cactus at 7 pm

Queen of the night cactus at 9 pm

Queen of the night cactus at 11 pm

Queen of the night cactus at 12 am

Here's also my Blood Lily with her first bloom this year (spring) got 1 tiny bulb from my parents garden 3 years ago and this year she have 3 tiny babies !.

Blood Lily

Blood Lily

Blood Lily

I felt that fall will coming very soon, the temperature recently very nice with nice breeze.Mocking bird and Sparrow house bird has been back to our yard since last week. But the butterfly still busy flying around at our yard, lots of them... so lovely.

Ixora and Butterfly

Happy Friday everybody, wishing you all have a blessing weekend.

Hand Pollination for Sugar Apple

Two years ago I saw sugar apple at oriental store close to my area, they have 2 different color, green-yellowish and reddish sugar apple, I bought one each of them with hope that I'll planting the seeds and have my own sugar apple tree.

I'm growing up eating sugar apple almost every week, at my parents yard, we have 4 big sugar apple trees, they are all the green yellowish type.

With my surprise, the seeds easily to germinated, since I believed this plant can't handle our winter cool, so I only keep 3 of them and toss the rest but still keep some of seeds if I need it later on.

On winter, every time the temperature below 50F, I'll moved it to my sun room, they still look suffer, loosed lot of their leaves but soon after the temperature get warm again, the new grown will start coming and after the third year, following with flowers... only few but made me excited and can't wait to see the tiny fruit at my trees, but it not happen ... after all the bloom falling, still no any tiny fruit.

At that time I though probably the trees just too young to bearing fruit and this spring it's happen all over again for 2 months, still no tiny fruit yet. So I looking at internet for the answer, I need do a hand pollination !

Sugar apple have a unique flowers, first open, it will be a female flower for about 24 hours and the next day it will become a male flower for only few hours. So you should be know when the male flower mature and ready. On beginning May at my zone, the male flowers mature about 2-5 pm but soon after the temperature getting hot, they mature earlier.

Female Flower Sugar Apple

Male Flower Sugar Apple

For beginning I'm using small brush for hand pollination but for some reason it doesn't work good for me, the pollen didn't really sticking at my brush, you need a natural brush maybe like from feather. So I'm trying used a cotton bud, just tuck and rubbered gently around inside male flower to pick up pollen and than stuck it into the female flower, also gently please and it worked !

With only a few left over flowers at the trees, and only for 2 weeks, my trees has have 12 tiny fruits, yeaaay..! For now, I need to stop hand pollination them until next year. 
Thanks to 'eggo' at Gardenweb for his awesome explanation on how to hand pollination for cherimoya, you are rock :)

Since my trees still young and small, I hope they can handle take care their 12 tiny fruits until become mature.
And can't wait for my cherimoya seed to germinated, has been a week, still no sign yet.

Happy father's day for all wonderful fathers wherever you are !