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If your tree collection includes an atemoya, ilama, sugar apple or other members of the Annona family, there are certain things going on in your yard of which you should be aware. Notwithstanding that we try to keep this publication suitable for the whole family, I have to tell you that I am referring to sex change. That's right, every evening as the sun sinks in the West, some of the flowers on your Annonas change from female to male in the blink of an eye.
The left-hand photo below shows an atemoya flower at 6:23 PM, in the female condition, with its three petals demurely held together. The right-hand image is of the same flower, at 6:25 PM, now male, with its petals spread wide, exposing the ring of pollen within. After the change takes place, the pollen falls freely if the bloom is disturbed, so that it can be carried easily by insects, or by you, to the female flowers. By the next morning, the petals fall, and if the flower was pollinated while female, the tiny fruit can be seen. Why should you be interested in such a kinky sexual tale? Annonas tend to produce larger crops and more regularly shaped fruit when pollinated by hand rather than by insects. This is best done in the evening, between about 6:30 and 7:30 PM, after the sex changes are complete. You need a small artist's brush, with which the pollen from the now-male flowers can be collected, and brushed into the female flowers. The sex change occurs on the last day the flowers are open, so the newer flowers will still be female. The flowers that change sex tonight will, you hope, have been pollinated in their earlier life as a female. If you don't have an atemoya or other Annona in your collection, you should get one. The fruit is delicious, and they are fun to watch. By Peter Ray |
