RodneyS

Cloudforest Guru

 

Posts: 438

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:41 am

Location: Cerritos, CA

Climate Zone: USDA Zone 11a

Welcome, Carol!

Growing your own cherimoya is a great addition to garden, not to mention the huge savings instead of buying them from the store/farmer's market.

Axel

Site Admin

 

Posts: 2377

Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:49 pm

Location: Santa Cruz Mountains

Climate Zone: sunset 15/USDA 9b

Welcome to the Cloudforest, sounds like a lot of fun tending chickens, grafting, eating fresh tomatoes and pluots - what more could anyone ask for, if everybody tended their gardens, we'd have world peace.

The simple pleasures in life are simply the best

carol168

 

Posts: 5

Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:11 am

Climate Zone: USDA zone 8

Thanks for the welcome, Axel. Yes, so much to be thankful for. And I so look forward to learning more from everyone's postings on Cloudforest.
Thanks for your welcome too, Rodney. If you come across any cherimoya info please share it, even if something as simple as a fruit sale somewhere.

RodneyS

Cloudforest Guru

 

Posts: 438

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:41 am

Location: Cerritos, CA

Climate Zone: USDA Zone 11a

Axel & a good number of Cloudforest members are quite knowledgeable on cherimoyas. That's how I originally came across this site.

Another site I found handy is-

http://www.cherimoya.com
In order to have access to all the info, the site requires email sign-up.

If you aren't able to source some seeds, I have plenty available to send you.

carol168

 

Posts: 5

Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 1:11 am

Climate Zone: USDA zone 8

Rodney, for now I'll just look for some fruits & save the seeds as I eat them. But I'll certainly keep that in mind--thanks!

randa

 

Posts: 2

Joined: Thu May 26, 2011 9:58 am

Climate Zone: sunset zone 17

My name is Randa, and I began gardening as a wee tyke in San Jose, growing corn and berries. We moved before the corn was ready, and I insisted that we harvest the green corn anyway and carried it around for weeks. I tried my hand at gardening a few years later while living in Niamey, Niger. I managed to grow some flowers , but could never convince the veggies to grow in the red clay. My next garden, in Southern Oregon, was much more successful- we were a regular stop for the food bank in summer when the produce overwhelmed us.
I live in Aptos, about a half mile from the ocean. I have been working on planting a small orchard on the property. We have three citrus - a satsuma, a meyer lemon and an orgage tree of unknown provenance, two nectarines, a pluot and green gage plum that were planted two years ago, a Hudson Gold apple planted last year, a monterrey pear, a pink pearl and a russet planted this year. Next year we want to add another pear, a pineaple guava, and maybe an avocado or two. We also have a veggie garden. This year year we are taking the low key route and planting mainly summer squash, tomatoes, beans and basil. My herb garden is doing well this year. I have several thyme varieties to help the asthmatics in the household, two varieties of oregano, two of sage and some lemon balm and mint.
I have always stayed away from chemicals. We use household compost and occasionally a little seaweed fertilizer or fish emulsion to fertilize, and try to plant beneficials to keep the insect predation to a low roar.
It is great to have such a variety of places represented in one forum.
Randa

Axel

Site Admin

 

Posts: 2377

Joined: Thu Nov 18, 2010 8:49 pm

Location: Santa Cruz Mountains

Climate Zone: sunset 15/USDA 9b

Welcome to the Cloudforest, Randa. Sounds like you have a great start at an orchard. Hudson's Golden Gem is a truly delicious apple, it's one of my favorite. Pink pearl makes a great pink colored strawberry flavored apple juice. I assume you have an owari satsuma, they come in many different types. The owari is the best one if you're close to the ocean.

Panax

 

Posts: 4

Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:40 pm

Climate Zone: Sunset Zone 19

Hi! I've followed your site for years, from living in Seattle for many years to where I live now in Woodland Hills, CA. I go through phases of unrestrained O.C.D. plantaholism... usually cramming as many plants as possible into the space I have. The climate here has some extremes, from minor frosts to above 100 degrees so often I like to experiment with plants or tougher cultivars that push the edges. One walled garden area shaded by a large maple and a new grove of bambusa oldhamii is filled with bromeliads, orchids, some stag horn ferns, a couple of interesting palms and some cycads. In another area, I am experimenting with some (sub)tropical fruits: 2 cherimoya varieties, 1 atemoya, suebel sapote, loquat, rose apple, a couple guavas, jujubes, a lychee, goji berry, red angel pomegranate, and a couple others. They are all young (less than 3 years) and I haven't had any fruits yet from anything but one of the guavas. If I were to add one of my goals to the mix, it is to make sure my plantings look aesthetically interesting and best case, quite beautiful. Since I work in the design profession, I tend to see my own garden as a good place to experiment with creating multi-layered landscapes that can be a treat to your eyes, your senses, and sometimes your taste buds....

RodneyS

Cloudforest Guru

 

Posts: 438

Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 6:41 am

Location: Cerritos, CA

Climate Zone: USDA Zone 11a

Welcome, Panax.

I'm surprised your jujubes haven't fruited for you. Are they grafted? The Honey Jar & Sugarcane jujubes that I bought were grafted that Winter & fruited the following Summer. Each year has brought more fruits, although the Sugarcane's flowers/fruits end up drying up for some reason.

Panax

 

Posts: 4

Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2011 6:40 pm

Climate Zone: Sunset Zone 19

Wow... how nice to get a quick response. One of my jujubes is 'Chang' which is grafted, but was only about 30" high when I planted it... It's had two growing seasons, including this one, and is now about 7' high. It had a number of flowers this summer but no fruit set. The other jujube is GA866 which just went in at the beginning of summer. Although I purchased it in a container, it had obviously been bare root so it it spent this season stabilizing. I expect next year it will take off.