Important Point

• Bears on axillary on old season growth.
• Maximum production – AP
• Ramphal (Bullock’s heart) Annona reticulata – common rootstock)
• Lakshman phal (Atemoya) – Annona atemoya ( squamosa x A. cherimola)
• Hanuman phal (Cherimoya) – Annona cherimola
• Sour sap (Large Annona) – Annona muricata
• Pond Apple – Annona globra.
• Cherimoya is considered to be the best fruit of the Annonaceae family.
• Cherimoya – Prefer subtropical climate.
• Custard apple contains 20% sugar.
• Bullock’s heart is more commonly found in South India than in North India.

Varieties

• Balanagar
• Barbados seedling
• British Guinea
• Kakarlapahad

  

• Mahaboobnagar
• Washington

Hybrid

Arka sahan – less no. of seeds (10/100gm w.t.), high brix 31⁰ crosses between A. atemoya x A. squamosa

African pride – Cherimoya x Custard Apple

Soil

• Loamy soils with good water holding capacity, good drainage, and pH between 5.5 to 6.5 are best suited.

Climate

• Custard apple requires a hot dry climate during flowering and high humidity at the time of fruit set.
• Annual rainfall 50 to 75 cm.
• Temperature between 5^o to 8^o is best for the development of the distinctive taste of custard apple.
• Cherimoya does not tolerate high as well as chilling (low) temperatures but is more tolerant to frost than custard apples. Temperatures between 20⁰C to 30⁰C are ideal for its growth and fruiting.

Propagation

• Propagation is done by seed as well as vegetative methods.
• Propagation by budding or grafting on the seedling rootstock is not very difficult.
• The most commonly adopted method is budding and Inarching.
• budding is performed from June to August or with the onset of monsoon.
• Grafting is mostly done in June-July.

Planting

• Pits of 60 cm³ size are dug at a distance of 4 to 5 m.
• Planting is usually done during the rainy season from July to mid-September.

Training & Pruning

• In the initial stage, the plant is trained by a single stem system otherwise, no training is required.
• Pruning is done in February-March with the onset of new growth.

Manures and fertilizers

• 250:125:125g NPK
• These should be given at the beginning of the rainy season.

Irrigation

• Custard apple is generally grown as a rainfed crop.
• Two to three irrigations at the time of flowering and fruit set in summer and one irrigation at maturity after the rainy season improve fruit quality and yield.

Weed control

• Controlling weeds is essential for good plant health.
• Shallow hoeing during August-September inhibits weed growth.

Intercropping

Legume crops can be grown as an intercrop till the period of full development of the canopy of the plant.

Flowering, pollination, and fruit set

A custard apple tree may produce 1500 – 2000 flowers but hardly 2 to 3% fruit set. This reduced fruit set is due to the lack of pollinating insects, dioecious, high temperature, and low humidity at the time of flowering.

Harvesting

• Seedling plants start fruiting in 4-5 years while grafted or budded plants give fruit in 3-4 years.
• Custard apple is a seasonal fruit and is plucked at the stage of full maturity when the fruit starts turning from green to creamy yellow in colour.

Yield

50-100 fruits/tree

Insect pest

1. Mealy Bug – (Ferresia virgata)
2. Scale – (Cerophastes floridensis)
3. Aphid
4. Fruit boring caterpillar (Hetrographics bemgallela)

Disease

1. Leaf spot (Cercospora annanea)
2. Root Rot (Diplodia natalensis)