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wildom

Honey heart or Fino

wildom
11 years ago

Hi,

I saw honey heart and fino cherimoya at my local lowes.

I want to buy one of them, so which one would you choose and why? Thanks.

William

Comments (9)

  • Doglips
    11 years ago

    Looking to pull the trigger and buy a few myself....
    From what I've read,
    Honeyheart are the first of the Cherimoya's to ripen (early as Dec, I think). They are considered to be the juiciest and the best for cocktails.
    The Fino are supposed to be self pollinating. I could see that as being a big plus considering the short window in which each flower spends as being a female.

    I can't help you beyond that.

    Where are you at that they sell these in big box stores?

    I'm thinking of getting a Honeyheart, a Booth, and either a Pierce or an El Bumpo. I have to mail order, so I get my choice.

  • wildom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I'll probably get the honey heart then. They are still small in a 3 gallon for $35. The lowes is at mira loma...limonite and 15fwy.

  • Doglips
    11 years ago

    Yup, California, what I suspected. Seems to be Cherimoya country.

    I believe I read that the honey heart is fairly thin skinned too (not positive). Not necessarily a plus.

    Are these grafted? I've heard that the seedling tend to produce close to the parent fruit and that it is always good to know the parent if you are getting one from seed. I guess that there are some marginal tasting ones out there.

    Plus, grafted plants tend to produce as much as two years earlier.

    If it is grafted, I don't suppose you know what the rootstock is? The general consensus is that the Whites make good rootstock. I imagine it is like anything else, different rootstock for different parts of the country.

    Can you identify the nursery that it comes from?
    Just curious.

  • wildom
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Yes, it is grafted.
    Im not sure what rootstock it is.
    I'll probably get it this weekend and see if it tells me what nursery it comes from.
    Would you plant it in the ground now or wait until next spring?
    Thanks.

  • Doglips
    11 years ago

    Don't own one, not an expert.

    Normally I would say if there was any chamce that the plants temperature would fall into any kind of danger zone I would say no, wait till Spring. You would have to look at your lows relative to what a cherimoya can stand. In a pot outside can be more dangerous than in the ground. Fall planting of trees can be a good thing, low temps all winter can be a real boon to getting established.

  • steve_in_los_osos
    11 years ago

    Fino de Jete is generally considered a superior cultivar for flavor (it is THE commercial cultivar in Spain). Some people think Honey Heart is too sweet. I've never tasted either so I'm just passing along hearsay. The Fino has the little bumps on the surface, however (like El Bumpo, another out-of-this-world taster).

    I doubt that Fino is generally self-pollinating, but in cooler, high humidity environments just about any cherimoya may produce some fruit on its own. There are commercial avocado growers in the area who have old cherimoya trees someone planted on their land many years ago and they never bother with them except for an occasional hacking to keep them in bounds. But the trees are regular producers so that they actually bring fruit to the local Farmer's Market along with their avocados.

    Perhaps a case in point: I have small Honey Heart, Fino, El Bumpo and Sabor trees which bloomed for the first time this year. I tried my hand at pollination but never seemed to have flowers at various stages open at the right time. I finally decided to give up for this year and let the trees get a little larger. They continue to flower, however, and the other day I noticed a small fruit set on the Fino tree (certainly not from my earlier efforts). It remains to be seen if it will abort.

  • Doglips
    11 years ago

    how old are your trees?, I hear from 5 to 7 years before they produce.

  • steve_in_los_osos
    11 years ago

    They are around 3-4 years old, but I "built" these trees myself, by planting seeds, growing out the seedlings and then grafting scions of the cultivars that I got from a friend, so the scion wood was mature wood that was already of an age to bloom. Gave me a little head start.

  • jackslo
    11 years ago

    Honeyhart, named and registered by CRFG for Orton Englehart who deserves credit for many -hart registered trees. Also inventer of rainbird impulse-type sprinklers. Unfortunately one nursery fails to identify cherimoya cultivars correctly, also identifying macadamia seedlings with a named cultivar identity.

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