Why does my atemoya tree's flowers keep falling off unfertilized?
Comments (28)
tranxyz
6 years ago
So_Cal_Mike
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Why do Lemons fall Off after Bloom?:(
Comments (11)Fruite falls for many reasons, maturity ( it's age) is more likley in your case, It's not just citrus trees it's any tree that bears fruite On avg. five years before a fruite tree is old enough to hold a resonable amount of harvestable eats time can be sooner but not as much to harvest. Sligth pun but it's like apples and oranges, they both need to gain the experiance over time (age) while learning how to hold on to the eats Winter feeding indoor growing citrus if you have a close to semi tropical climate in your home every day over winter then I imagine feeding is okay Like many other peps I dont have a semi tropical house all winter long I let all my semi tropical plants get some rest just like them other arid and succulent things I have. How to rest a plant that wants to grow While holding what ever they already have using and low watering no feeding rewards are a more pest free habtable home for all that live here...See MoreMy buds keep falling off!
Comments (13)Thanks for your replies. The plants are in a family room which is adjacent to the kitchen where there are sometimes fruits in the fruit bowl. However, the distance is at least ten or more feet. Yes, as someone asked before - this has been going on for years! I did ONCE get one of my plants to bloom. It was while it was outside for the summer where incidentally, it was watered often because it was in the path of the automatic sprinklers. It probably also got watered with 20-20-20 as my kids help me with those types of chores are are not particulary discerning. There are no smokers in the house and the kitchen is well ventilated with a powerful axhaust fan. In thinking about this some more, I feel that the watering and feeding may be the issue. I use an all purpose plant food at a diluted strength. Can someone recommend a proper fertilizer and how often to use it? It seems as though the plant has just enough energy to set buds, but not enough to mature them. Also, in reading other posts I'm beginning to think that some of the plants I have are not planted in the proper medium. As I said above, the ones I got from a neighbor are in something more like dirt rather than bark or moss. I will work on getting some pictures up this afternoon. Thank you to each of you for your replies....See Morelemons falling off my tree
Comments (5)Tony, My two cents: my Meyer lemon sets about a quarter of the fruit that begin to develop during the winter months. It has about 15 now that have set since November when it started flowering. It gets direct west sunlight here in Connecticut. While all my other citrus that have fruited to date have also set fruit during the winter, I have Key lime that never seems to set fruit during the winter despite flowering profusely. It sets fruit as soon as I put it outside in late May. So, it is possible your Lemon will do the same. I am a bit worried about the large leaves you describe: they are, in my experience, a symptom of too little light. You say you have the plant under a grow light. What kind? the old florescent bulb-style and the flood-style grow bulbs probably are not really adequate for a ten year old citrus. If you have window with a southern or western exposure, that gets direct sunlight, I would move the citrus to that location. Hope this helps, Don...See MoreWhy are my lemons yellowing and falling off prematurely?
Comments (4)As I said, the trees came from the store with half-formed green lemons on it already. I cut all the fruit off of one of the trees, and left maybe 2/3 of the fruit (maybe 10 lemons), on the other one. Both seem very healthy, but the tree that had all original fruit cut off seems to be growing new leaves faster. However, it would be nice if the half-formed fruit on the other tree could finish maturing and I could see some lemons. So, a question I have is, should I keep the fruit that originally came on the tree (I bought it maybe 3 months ago and the fruit has remained, but has not gotten bigger) on the one tree and see what happens, or should I get rid of it?...See Morepwr_wrx
6 years agoSo_Cal_Mike
6 years agoepichouse1
6 years agoJust wanted to update you guys. From our two tree, one has 1 fruitlet. The other has about 3-4 fruitlets. Each tree has probably had over 30 flowers. In upper left, you'll see a small atemoya. On upper right, you'll see a male flower as well as a female flower. In lower left, you see unopened flower. Bottom right is female flower.
From my experience, the little bud next to the female flower can either become fully fertilized or can shrivel up and fall off. It starts off with a dark tip and eventually becomes green. I read somewhere that the petals of flowers stays on if its fertilized. However, on my tree, the petals seem to fall off regardless of whether it was fertilized.
I've been hand pollinating at night with a small paintbrush. I don't save the pollen in fridge. Just use it on whatever flowers are available. I check again the next morning for flowers that just turned female.
So_Cal_Mike
6 years agoepichouse1
6 years agoGlad everyone's trees growing. Here are a few more pics. In our garden, we planted 2 australian atemoya and 1 israeli atemoya. The two australian atemoyas are the bigger trees that are older (bought from nursery and aobout 6-9 ft) while the israeli atemoya was smaller (about 6 ft). All trees were grafted.
Our israeli atemoya had two flowers a few days ago. One opened up to become female and then male flower and then its petals dropped. The other opened up to become female flower but because the male flower petals already dropped, I couldn't get any pollen. I decided to use paintbrush to put pollen from our australian atemoya to the israeli atemoya to see if it will fertilize. Will let you guys know in a few weeks.
Australian atemoya:
tropicbreezent
6 years ago
greenmd09
6 years agotropicbreezent
6 years agoepichouse1
6 years agoI have about a dozen fruitlets now on one of my trees. The other tree was the first to have a fruitlet, but it hasn't grown.
My thoughts:1) FERTILIZED: When I first started, I kept reading about storing pollen overnight in refrigerator or collecting it in a black container. I don't think it's necessary. I use a paintbrush about the size of a female flower, dab a male flower, and insert it into female flower. You don't need much pollen to have a successful pollination if the tree is healthy
2) NOT FERTILIZED: On the tree that had the first fruitlet about 2-3 weeks ago, that fruitlet has not changed in sized. That tree looks unhealthy even though I water both the same. Both trees came form same nursery. So even if you inserted paintbrush correctly, if the tree can't make fruit, you won't see any fruit.
3) TIMING: When I come home at night in evening sun has set, I go outside to look at what flowers opened up. If I see some male flowers but no female flowers, I leave male flowers alone. If I see female flowers, I use paintbrush to pollinate. In the morning, I look at the trees before I go to work and will pollinate any flowers I didn't see the night before. I water tree after 2-3 days.
4) PETALS FALLING OFF: I have seen the petals fall off some flowers that eventually become fruitlets but some petals that don't fall off also become fruitlets. I don't think it matters.
5) RATE OF SUCCESSFUL POLLINATION: It seems that the rate of successful pollination has increased with the summer. The yield was very low when I first started. I've read somewhere that the first few weeks have flowers that are infertile.
greenmd09
6 years agoepichouse1
6 years agogreenmd09
6 years agoSo_Cal_Mike
6 years agogreenmd09
6 years agogreenmd09
6 years agoSo_Cal_Mike
6 years agogreenmd09
6 years agoSo_Cal_Mike
6 years agopwr_wrx
6 years ago
keri_guy