I cant say that I know enough about cherimoya yet to know if it will grow well in your area. Do you know if anyone is growing them in Hawaii? Maybe you can ask some nurseries if they would be a good choice or not. I say it would be worth a try regardless. This year I tried good cherimoyas from cherimoya.com. I also bought a grafted Fino de Jete from Roger. I would email him and find out. His email adress is under one of the cherimoya posts.
Andrew

Oh yes, the cherimoya is primed to do well at high elevations in Hawaii (while some of the other annonas, like ilima and soursop can only be grown at lower elevations here.) Unfortunately a grafted tree that we bought years ago died, and the sugar apple is supposed to be more drought tolerant, but I think I've found a source for some seeds so will give the cherimoya another chance in this big project.

Try these guys, http://www.fruitlovers.com/posterthumb.html

They are in Hawaii and might know of more suitable cherimoya varieties for your location. But from what I heard most cherimoyas will produce inferior fruits in tropical climates, so I hear. The Florida folks are always complaining about this problem, hahah.

caiden, i always thought illama was a high altitude fruit.

a. reticualta doesnt do well down here either, they give few fruit and the trees struggle.
where can i read more about your project? how difficult is it to grow mangosteen there?

Hawaii has so many microclimates--the weather gets cooler the higher the altitude and depending on the tradewinds, proximity to the sea and other factors. While of course I'm nowhere near getting frost, cherimoyas have the potential to grow very well up in the 3,000-5,000 ft. range, while they won't thrive in the lowlands. It is true that the ilama might grow in mountain climates elsewhere, but elevation isn't all relative and the Hawaii growing guide I've read lists it as strictly for the warmer lowlands here. Often the information is quite confusing.

Mango Kush, I have eaten a few local mangosteen grown on the island, but the trees are still very rare here (and they definitely wouldn't grow on our land). I might do a writeup with pictures on my project, and if I do I'll post a link to it here.

why dont you think they would grow on your land?

what island are you on? is Frankies near you?

if i lived in a tropical area i would at least try to grow a mangosteen, ive had my moments of wanting to try it here; along with Rambutan, Pulasan, Pedalai, Marang

While it would be great to have mangosteen in quantity, I've read that it likes clay soil, humidity, and abundant moisture; none of which I have, so it would be a long shot especially when I could spend the effort on something I know would grow well up here, such as green sapote. But it always is a tradeoff--if I grew at a lower, wetter place on the islands I could grow durian, lychee, chempadek (pedalia looks good, too); but down there it would be impossible to grow alot of the vegetables I do, including heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers.

I see Frankie's nursery is on Oahu, while I live in the south on the Big Island.