Being a 90’s kid(Still am haha) custard apple was one of the most coveted fruit (it still is) of our generation. We had a custard apple tree at our home and it used to produce fruits like anything. Every season I used to eat so many fruits, that I came to understand their value only when I had to buy and eat them despite their lack of quality and tase.
Todays’ kids don’t have the opportunity to experience the beauty of the new leaves they produce, the wonderful aroma of their flowers, the development of fruits(Something from the size of a marble to the size of a tennis ball) and the squirrel that messes with us. If you have grown a custard apple tree you’d know what I am talking about.
No worries! Custard apple is a tree that is easy and fun to grow and to care. In this post I am going to tell you exactly what my mum had followed and what I have seen my friends do to grow Custard apple. So let us see on how to grow Custard apple tree organically and on how to battles the problems associated with it.
(I have a lot of things to share but keeping the length of this post in mind, I have given only the basics. For those of you who love to know everything about this plant I will post new posts very soon explaining in
Quick Intro:
Custard apple is popularly known as Sita palam or Sita phal in India. The interesting fact about this fruit is this fruit is not of Indian origin. It was introduced to India from Tropical America. As expected this grows well in tropical and sub-tropical climate. Its Scientific name is Annona squamosal
Varieties of Custard Apple in India:
Custard apple fruit varieties in India are different in states like Red Sitaphal, Hybrid, Balanagar, Washington, Purandhar, Atemoya, Pink’s Mammoth, etc.
How To Grow Custard Apple
Before getting into the details lets focus a little bit on the must know points of this tree.
- Custard apple trees are deciduous (Shed their leaves anually) in nature.
- All the varieties of Apple fruits are tropical in origin and grow well in hot and dry climate so it is expected to show symptoms decline in growth in very cold climate
- They requires hot and dry climate during flowering and high humidity at fruit set.
Now as we have established some basic know abouts, no need to panic if the tree shows any of these signs. It’s quite natural.
How to grow them in Garden
Many followers asked me to update on How to grow plants in garden also in addition to growing them in containers. So this section is for them.
Soil:
- They can withstand any type of soil. But the only catch is that they cannot tolerate water stagnation.
- So better use a well-draining mixture for avoiding this problem.
- Prepare a mixture of manure, compost, sand(if available) Ratio can be 40:20:20(Soil: Sand: Manure)
Now let us concentrate on how to prepare the planting site.
Planting:
- Choose a site that receives good sunlight and have good air flow.
- Also avoid places where you have grown brinjal, capsicum, tomatoes and potatoes to avoid infection with bacterial wilt.
- I already stated that these require a well-draining base. So let’s start making one.
- Dig up a hole that is 60x60x60 cm
- Leave the hole dry up in the sun light for some days(4 days). This is to sterilize the hole.
- Now fill the hole with the mix that you have made. The one that we saw above.
Now all we need is a plant to plant.
Getting the plant
This must be the first step actually but people are so focused on getting a plant and planting it they dismiss all the other things that could boost up the process. That is why I thought of speaking it a little later.