Gefner......100%.....read this link regarding Lisa a/k/a 48-26. Lisa is variable and not as good as Gefner even if you get one of the ones that does fruit. Gefner is IMHO, the best tasting atemoya, hands down.

Harry

Here is a link that might be useful: Ch3rri's Atemoya Post

I agree with Harry. Get the green variety, gefner. The lisa is not all that great as the fruit is not so sweet. I also read that gefner fruiting is more consistent. Or you can get both and try them out...hehehe. Now that I have two gefner and two lisa, I now want the Bradley or African pride....lol. This is a never ending hobby. I suggest getting it from PI because they are cheaper and atemoya grows pretty fast. My Lisa from PI is blooming this season already. I just got the tree last summer from PI.

Jacob,I have an African pride,I have only tasted African pride atemoya fruit from a friends tree that bears large fruit on a consistent basis especially in So.California.I have my tree in the ground now for almost a year and hopefully I'll get some fruit this year as it's starting to flower alot.Here is a link of the description of the african pride.
http://www.fruitsinfo.com/Atemoya-Exotic-fruits.php#African%20Pride

African Pride is also very good. As to which would be better for S Cal...I am not sure....probably they would both be good. I haven't grown African Pride because I heard that it required hand pollination and was given to many poorly pollinated, misshaped fruits. I cannot confirm this although I remember reading it somewhere I think put out by the people at TREC. Others that I have had are Page, Rosendo Perez and Priestly. All were good.....48-26/Lisa was the only one I was dissappointed with. Oh, I found the link

Harry

Here is a link that might be useful: Look at Table 3 at end of article

Harry, you don't hand pollinate your gefner? I had thought all atemoyas/sugar apples/cherimoyas needed hand pollination to get good fruit set and nice shaped fruits.

Harry, How does the Gefner compare to the cherimoyas that we got this year? Are they closer to a SA, or pretty close to the cherimoya?

My little "Pierce" tree has three little fruit developing, and my Honey heart has 2 that I think are going to develop. My lisa atemoya put out about 4 flowers and none held so far.

John:

Gefner compares favorably to the cherimoyas we had. You will not be disappointed with a nice Gefner fruit.

Harry

I've tasted all of the commonly available atemoya varieties, and Gefner is by far my favorite. As a matter of fact, I prefer Gefner to most cherimoyas I've had. It's also probably the most dependable cultivar in terms of flavor consistency from fruit to fruit. I've had African Pride fruit taken from a single tree, for example, that varied from very good to downright insipid. My experience with the 48-26/Lisa is that it's actually too sweet; there isn't enough acidity to balance out the sugar. The trees that I've seen bear pretty well, though.

eldys, how would you compare the texture of Gefner to Lisa?

i know gcmastiffs prefers 48/26. maybe shes biased because its named Lisa ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/tropicalfruits/msg1019471117171.html

I would have to question gcmastiff's Gefner evaluation as being done a fruit that was not really a Gefner or a Gefner that was not fully ripe. Her description does not sound like any Gefner I have ever experienced. I have been to many an annona fruit tastings and Gefner has been preferred by almost unanamous opinion over 48-26 and all sugar apples I have encountered. Although preferences can vary I have to believe that there is more to this story than we know. Just my opinion. But for those that ordered cherimoyas from Cherimoya.com.....the things you liked most in the cherimoyas, Gefner has the most similarities to.

Harry

Well then I guess I should order a Gefner or maybe I will be able to pick one up this summer in Florida. I have to say I have been VERY impressed with how fast these trees grow. My African Pride graft is more vigorous than the Sabor chwerimoya.I did end up having to prune 3 dead branches off of the Sabor graft but I am hoping that maybe buds will form at the stumps of the removed branches. I had planned on removing the lowest branch on the Sabor because it was growing at a bad angle and it would have grown into the African Pride's main branch. At least with these trees you can buy smaller trees because they do seem to be very vigorous. I hope I can sample some sugar apples and atemoyas this summer in Florida. Harry had made a good point. He told me that with the below normal temps last winter, it may affect the seasons on the fruits. I still have a bunch of sugar apple seeds and I may try again here this week and plant some more. My sugar apple seedlings did not seem to do very well. I am just glad I finally decided to try the cherimoya fruit this year. When I started ordering trees online, I had wanted to buy a sugar apple but decided against it because I had heard that they could be grainy. Now that I have the African Pride atemoya I really want to buy another! These trees seem to be easy to grow. I think they grow faster than any of my other tropical fruit trees.
Andrew

mangokush, I would say that Gefner is a slightly firmer fruit than the 48-26, which is a positive thing for me.

Harry, I'm pretty sure that Lisa had the right names for her varieties. I've met several people who prefer the 48-26 to Gefner; for the most part, they tend to be people who favor extreme sweetness in their fruit. Virtually everyone I know who grew up eating temperate fruit, however, prefers the Gefner.

Eldys:

Maybe I'm the one that has not had a true 48/26 (Lisa). I may be prejudiced against it from my experience in growing it. My tree almost never fruited. Har Mahdeem, who was in charge of the breeding program at Zill's (where 48-26 was produced) didn't even think it was ready to be released for sale...rather, he wanted to do another generation of hybridizing with it. As I recall, he thought it was too watery. Oh well, in any case, I'd still stick with my Gefner choice......but, to each his or her own.

Harry

Hey there,

I just purchased a "Lisa" from the nursery two days ago and planted it yesterday. I was told that the "Lisa" was a very tasty and sweet type. I live in Fort Lauderdale and we have some varieties to chose from. I was interested in the Geffner, but my friend at the nusery- "Spykes" told me that "Lisa" was great. He also sold me a "Haysa" sapodilla which turned out to be one of the best varieties available. I hope he got it right on the Atemoya.

Vince

Depends on who you ask I guess. Personally, I might prefer the gefner because it has a firmer texture. The lisa seems to be a smaller grower which is nice, because the gefner can be fairly vigorous. Also - if you got it from Spykes, it was most likely from Zill's, which means that it's grafted onto cherimoya rootstock and should be a good producer.

Jeff

Good luck with your new tree! Got a pic to share?

Just out of curiosity, there were many mentions in this thread about how fast atemoyas grow. I bought a Gefner last spring and planted it in ground last fall (along with 9 other types of fruit trees). The atemoya is by far the slowest growing. It has put out a small amount of new foliage this season, and I have got it to branch in reasonably good spots. But its trunk which is pencil sized has not thickened up appreciably at all this season. Is this normal? In all respects it seems healthy, and responds by greening up nicely to fertilizer, just very slow...

Here's a pic. Ha, in fact just realized that in this picture the tiny trunk is entirely hidden by the bamboo support pole.

Angela

LOl...where did you get your atemoya? Usually when I got mine the trunk is already pretty thick and just one season it double in size...even bloomed for me. The leaves on your tree seems to be a little smaller than mine.

Jacob, don't know why you want an atemoya when you live in the perfect wx for prime cherimoyas. Heck, cherimoyas are grown commercially there. Atemoyas up here don't measure up to cherimoyas at all. You can graft an atemoya on cherimoya and I've got Geffner if you want some scionwood.

I bought my atemoya at Jene's Tropicals. At the time, it was the only place remotely near me that had Geffner (not sure if that has changed since, I haven't looked). No problem with blooming tho! This tiny tree put out probably 50 blooms. I pulled them off because I want it to size up before trying to fruit. Doubling in size in one season would be great...but that doesn't seem remotely close to happening. Do you think there is something wrong with this tree? Or is it maybe just younger than typical nursery stock?

I hope my "Lisa" does do well. The graftling looked really healthy. I did originally want a Geffner, but was told by the guy who worked there to get the "Lisa." Also, do I have to hand pollinate? It already has a bloom which I will ignore for this year, but hope to get some fruit next year. How do you hand pollinate? Is it really necessary? Also, I have an annona reticulata - custard apple, I heard that these may cross pollinate, is this true? I also have two sugar apple trees and heard they may do the same. Anyone know for sure?
Thanks,
Vince