If you’re growing sugar apple (Annona squamosa) or atemoya trees in Florida, you know that maximizing your chances of getting healthy, big, and delicious fruit is essential. One way to increase your yield is through artificial hand-pollination, which can almost guarantee fruit set up to nearly 100%.

Understanding Dichogamy in Sugar Apple and Atemoya Trees

Both sugar apple and atemoya trees have both female and male sexual parts that mature at different times of the day, a phenomenon known as dichogamy. This means that gardeners can carry out hand-pollination to cross-pollinate the flowers and increase the chances of fruit production.

Best Time to Hand Pollinate

The best time to artificially hand pollinate sugar apple flowers is in the morning between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM. Atemoya flowers are best pollinated in the morning between 6:00 AM and 11:00 AM.

Why Hand Pollinate Your Sugar Apple and Atemoya Flowers?

Artificially hand-pollinating your sugar apple and atemoya flowers can lead to a better fruit set and yield. To get started, you’ll need a few materials:

• Horsehair paintbrush with soft hairs, or Q-tip
• Black film canister, pill jar, dark-colored cup

Three Steps to Hand Pollinate Your Sugar Apple Tree Successfully

Step 1: Identify the Pollination Stage

When sugar apple flowers first open, they are females. But, by the next day, they will turn into males. The male stage is when you should collect the pollen. To identify a male flower, look for its open pedal formation compared to a female flower, which is slightly closed.

Step 2: Collect Pollen

Use your pipe cleaner or pollen-collecting tool and brush the insides of the male flower while holding your film canister or selected cup under it. Lightly brush the inside of the flowers while observing the pollen from the male flower fall.

Step 3: Pollinate Female Flower

Once you’ve collected the pollen from the male flower, look for a female flower in its pollination stage. Take the pollen and collect it onto your tool. Slightly open up the pedal and brush the pollen inside the female flower. We recommend using your brushing tool more than once to maximize the amount of pollen in the flower.

How to Pollinate Sugar Apple Flowers Naturally?

Nitidulid beetles are the natural pollinator of sugar apple flowers in Florida’s nature. Without these beetles present in your yard, the flowers may not pollinate or semi-pollinate, leading to irregular fruit growth or no fruit at all. If your garden has no nitidulid beetles, it’s because there isn’t enough rotting fruit and vegetables around the yard.

Creating a compost ditch is very beneficial in any Florida garden to attract nitidulid beetles.

Nitilud Beetles in Florida

Nitidulid beetles are typically found in areas where there are decomposing fruit and vegetables. These areas are where they like to feed and reproduce. We recommend having a compost ditch on your property or in a bin. Although the nitidulid beetle is attracted to the strong aroma of flowering sugar apple flowers, it also needs food to feed on.

When Do Sugar Apple Trees Flower?

Sugar apple trees grown from seed take two to three years before they can flower and set fruit. It’s recommended to allow plants to focus energy on growing strong during the first few years to encourage root development.

What do female and male sugar apple / atemoya flowers look like?

Male sugar apple petals are widespread while female sugar apple or atemoya petals are closer together

5 Things You Need To Know Before Growing Sugar Apple in Florida

Growing Sugar Apple in Florida is an excellent tropical tree for eating, landscaping, and making a profit.

Before you grow your sugar apple in Florida, here are five things you should know to produce your best sugar apple tree.

Sugar Apples Trees Love Sunlight

When planting your sugar apple tree, select a well-lit area that receives at least 6 hours of sunlight.

Sugar apples will produce flowers and fruit the best in areas that have sun. 

Sugar apples can also produce in areas with part shade to part sun but will not be as productive as a tree that receives full sunlight.

Sugar apples grown in shaded areas might grow slower or produce less fruit than in direct sunlight.

Sugar Apple Thrives With Added Nutrition

Sugar apple trees will thrive when you add nutrients from organic fertilizers, foliar sprays, slow-release fertilizers, compost, and mulch. 

You will need to provide organic or synthetic fertilizer if you want fruit year after year on your sugar apple tree.

As sugar apple trees produce fruits, they use the nutrients in the soils they are in. As the years go on, if the nutrients are not replenished, then the sugar apple tree will not be able to be as productive as it was in previous years – this applies to all fruit trees as well.

Growing tropical fruit trees in Florida can be challenging because our soils are not as nutrient-rich as in South America, where sugar apple is native.

Because of this, supplementing nutrients in the form of slow-release fertilizers or organic fertilizers is highly recommended.

Organic Sugar Apple Fertilizer

An organic fertilizer that works excellent for growing sugar apples is Azomite, which is an OMRI-rated organic fertilizer that is derived from volcanic sand and contains several vitamins and minerals. 

Slow-release Sugar Apple Fertilizer

Sugar apples thrive with slow-release fertilizers such as Osmocote 15-9-12 plus or Florikan. 

Many tropical fruit growers in Florida use slow-release fertilizers as they provide a steady flow of nutrients such as nitrogen, Potassium, Calcium, and other micronutrients throughout the growing seasons.

Slow-release fertilizers release nutrients into the soil for your sugar apple tree to absorb every time water penetrates the coating.

Maintaining a water source on fertilized sugar apple trees is a must if you want your fruit tree to benefit from the slow-release fertilizer.

Foliar Spray Sugar Apple

Sugar apples benefit significantly from a foliar application of beneficial nutrients. 

Foliar sprays provide fruit trees, such as sugar apples, with additional nutrients they can absorb through their leaves.

Foliar sprays can also correct many deficiencies that fruit trees have, such as the common iron deficiency, which makes fruit tree leaves yellow instead of healthy green. 

Chelated iron is available in a liquid form that is mixed with water and applied onto the leaves of tropical fruit trees and can change the leaves’ color from yellow to green within minutes once applied.

Sugar apple trees that get scheduled foliar applications are healthier and more productive than sugar apple trees that receive no foliar sprays.

How to Foliar Spray Sugar Apple Trees

To feed a sugar apple tree, you will need a liquid foliar feed solution and a backpack sprayer.

1. Mix 1 tablespoon foliar application solution per 1 gallon of water. 
2. Shake the mixture of foliar application and water until it is thoroughly mixed.
3. Spray the leaves under and above the bark and stems of the sugar apple tree to guarantee it will absorb nutrients.

When is the best time to foliar spray sugar apple trees?

The best time to foliar spray sugar apple trees is in the early morning or in the late afternoon once the sun is not intense.

Avoid foliar spraying sugar apple trees while the sun is at its hottest.

Sugar Apple Trees Grow Excellent In A Pot

If you do not have enough space to plant in your yard or live in an apartment with a balcony – growing a sugar apple in a pot is an alternative in Florida.

Sugar apple trees can also be grown in a pot moved to different areas of the yard depending on where the sunlight hits best in your Florida yard.

Here is a video of me planting a sugar apple tree in a pot

Ensure your trees have a nutrient mixture of organic compost and soil to ensure healthy growth.

Sugar Apple Fruit Can Sell For A Lot Of Money

If you want to buy sugar apples at your local garden market in Florida, be ready to spend a fortune.

How much do sugar apples cost in Florida?

Sugar apples in Florida in 2022 were selling for 10-15$ the pound. This means just one sugar apple fruit on average was 15-20$ per fruit.

Sugar apples are a delicacy here in Florida; typically, at your farmers market, they will go for about 15-20$ per fruit for a nice-sized healthy one.

It is recommended to grow your own sugar apple tree in Florida as they grow very quickly and can provide you with delicious fruit.

Beware of purchasing cheaper sugar apples at your local market, as they may have an awful taste inside. (From personal experience, I’ve tried to save a few bucks by purchasing less expensive not-so-pretty sugar apples over the healthier and costlier ones. In return, I ended up buying a bag of expensive awful fruit)

Sugar Apples Grow In Sandy Soils Of Florida

Sugar apples have adapted very well to Florida’s soils. 

Most of Florida has sandy soils, and sugar apples prefer well-drained soil types. 

It is important to note that although sugar apples will tolerate the planting medium in Florida, it is necessary to apply additional nutrients in foliar spray, fertilizers, compost, and mulch.

If you are planting your sugar apple in an area with mucky soil – it may grow slower or stunted and produce less fruit.

Sugar Apple Flowers Can Be Hand Pollinated

If you want to increase the overall yield of sugar apple fruit on your trees, consider hand pollination of your flowers.

Artificial pollination of your sugar apple is recommended because the sugar apple flower rarely gets pollinated by its native pollinator, the nitulid beetle. And if by chance, it gets pollinated naturally, the fruit comes out irregularly shaped, and the overall yield may be low.

How to hand pollinate sugar apple flowers

To pollinate your sugar apple fruits, you will need a paintbrush and a black container to capture the pollen.

Here is a video of the hand pollination of a sugar apple tree 

Conclusion

In Florida, growing sugar apples is a very rewarding fruit to grow, and by learning these 5 Annona squamosa lessons, you will be better equipped to produce your very first sugar apple fruit!

For all sugar apple lovers, deciding whether to plant your sugar apple in a pot or ground is something we all have to face. Maybe you don’t have the land and have to grow it in a pot, or maybe you want to plant it in the ground but also want it in your favorite pot. This article will help you decide what you should do with your favorite sugar apple tree.

Sugar apple or Annona squamosa is a tropical tree widely grown in Florida. It is loved for its sugary custard taste and sweet aroma.

The grand question is it better to grow sugar apple in a pot or in the ground – here are the factors that matter and the pros and cons of doing so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt25t386yr4&feature=youtu.be

About the sugar apple tree

Sugar apple trees can grow 15-20 feet and spread out. Sugar apple roots are shallow – so if you are considering potting it think of a planter consider one that is both wide and deep to accommodate the roots. Sugar apples are not very tolerant of excessively wet or flooded soil conditions, flooding as little as 7 – 10 days may result in root rot and death of the tree.

The leaves of a sugar apple are a green color with a smooth texture and round-shaped appearance.

In Florida, the sugar apple fruit can sell for quite a lot at your local market. Many cultivators of this fruit in Florida do so for the use of commerce making quite the sum. (Check out this article here of the best fruit to grow in Florida to make money.)

Growing Sugar Apple in Pot

Grow your sugar apple in a pot if you

• Don’t have the yard or space to plant the sugar apple
• Have no fertile land available
• Are located in a flood zone that floods often
• Are located in a colder climate and need to move your sugar apple
• Want to maintain the size while in a pot
• Want to move the sugar apple around for decoration

Growing Sugar Apple in the ground

Grow your sugar apple in the ground if you

• Want to establish a long term fruiting sugar apple tree
• Want to leave in one spot and manage from where its planted
• Establish a stronger tree overtime

Which planter should I use to plant my sugar apple?

Sugar apple tree roots are shallow so a pot that can hold at least 5 gallons of dirt is recommended. Here are a few planters that would be great with a sugar apple tree (Annona squamosa).

How to plant sugar apple in a Pot

1. Pick your planter and add your desired soil mix. Sugar apples like and are well adapted to soils that well-drained – this includes sandy soils and limestone-based soils found all around Florida. You may add fertilizer tom your sugar apple tree. If planting with sandy soil it is recommended a fertilizer formulations such as 2-8-8, 4-8-8, 6-6-6-3, or 8-6-9-5 or similar materials.
2. Take sugar apple and gently scratch the base of the root system all around to allow the roots to untangle and be able to loosen up to its new planter.
3. Add a mulching material around the base of your planter. It is recommended to mulch your sugar apples grown in planters due to the plant not being tolerant of colder weather conditions. Mulching also prevents fertilizer from splashing back or out of the planter as well as maintain soil moisture – so it’s recommended to add mulch your sugar apple.

Growing sugar apple in a pot will ensure your maximum mobility with your sugar apple tree. During the colder months in Florida, it is highly recommended to move the tree into a greenhouse or provide a degree of warmth. (Check out this article here on the most affordable greenhouses for your Florida garden.)