Overview

Cultivate the exotic with our premium Pierce Cherimoya live plant. This magnificent grafted tree offers a unique opportunity to grow one of the most delicious tropical fruits right in your own backyard or greenhouse. The Cherimoya ‘Pierce’ variety is renowned for its large, flavorful fruits, often described as a blend of pineapple, banana, and strawberry, with a creamy texture that melts in your mouth. Originating from the Northern Andes, this species thrives in subtropical climates, making it a prized addition for enthusiasts eager to expand their edible landscape. You’ll receive a healthy, vigorous specimen, ready to establish and eventually bear its delightful bounty.

Our Pierce Cherimoya live plant is a carefully selected, grafted tree, ensuring true-to-type fruit production and often earlier fruiting compared to seed-grown plants. This particular variety, ‘Pierce’, is known for its robust growth and reliable yield of high-quality fruit. Imagine harvesting your own fresh cherimoyas, bypassing the often-high prices and limited availability at specialty stores. This plant is not just a source of incredible fruit; it’s also an attractive addition to any garden, with its lush foliage providing a tropical aesthetic.

Key Benefits

Investing in a Pierce Cherimoya live plant offers a multitude of advantages, from the joy of homegrown produce to enhancing your garden’s biodiversity. Here are some of the standout benefits:

• Exotic Fruit Production: Enjoy the unique, creamy, sweet, and tangy flavor of fresh cherimoya fruit, a true tropical delicacy that is hard to find in regular grocery stores. Growing your own ensures peak ripeness and flavor.
• Grafted for Quality: Our grafted cherimoya tree guarantees the ‘Pierce’ variety’s superior fruit characteristics and promotes earlier fruiting, allowing you to enjoy harvests sooner. Grafting also ensures genetic consistency.
• Ornamental Appeal: Beyond its fruit, the cherimoya tree boasts attractive, lush green foliage, adding a beautiful, tropical touch to your landscape or a large container planting.
• Nutrient-Rich Harvest: Cherimoyas are packed with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, offering a healthy and delicious addition to your diet straight from your garden.
• Rewarding Growing Experience: Cultivating a tropical fruit tree like the growing cherimoya provides a deeply satisfying gardening experience, connecting you with nature and the joy of self-sufficiency.
• Adaptable Growth: While preferring subtropical conditions, with proper care and protection, this tropical fruit tree can be grown in various climates, including in containers for indoor/outdoor rotation.
• Unique Culinary Uses: Fresh cherimoya can be enjoyed on its own, added to smoothies, desserts, or exotic fruit salads, offering versatile culinary applications.

Plant Care & Growing Tips

Caring for your Pierce Cherimoya live plant requires attention to its specific needs to ensure vigorous growth and abundant fruit production. Cherimoyas thrive in a subtropical climate, ideally with warm days and cool, frost-free nights. They prefer a location with full sun to partial shade, meaning at least 6 hours of direct sunlight per day, especially in cooler climates. In very hot, arid regions, some afternoon shade can prevent leaf scorch. Ensure good air circulation around the tree.

Watering is crucial, particularly during dry spells and when the fruit is developing. The soil should be kept consistently moist but never waterlogged. Allow the top inch or two of soil to dry out slightly between waterings. Overwatering can lead to root rot, while underwatering can cause fruit drop and stunted growth. A well-draining soil mix is essential, ideally a rich, loamy soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH (6.5-7.0). Amend heavy clay soils with organic matter to improve drainage and aeration. Fertilize your grafted cherimoya tree with a balanced fertilizer formulated for fruit trees, starting in early spring and continuing through the growing season, following product instructions carefully. Reduce fertilization in late fall and winter.

Protect your cherimoya from frost, especially when young. Temperatures below 28°F (-2°C) can cause significant damage or even kill the tree. If you live in a colder climate, consider growing your tropical fruit tree in a large container that can be moved indoors during winter. Pruning should be done in late winter or early spring to shape the tree, remove dead or crossing branches, and encourage fruit production. Hand-pollination can significantly increase fruit set, as natural pollinators may be scarce. Keep an eye out for common pests like mealybugs and scale insects, and treat them promptly with horticultural oil or insecticidal soap if necessary.

Size & Details

This offering is for one Pierce Cherimoya live plant, a vigorous and healthy specimen. The tree stands approximately 1 to 2 feet tall from the soil line to the top of the foliage, providing a substantial start for your tropical orchard. It is a grafted tree, which means it will typically begin fruiting earlier than a seedling and ensure the desirable characteristics of the ‘Pierce’ variety. Your plant will be shipped securely in a 3-gallon pot, with its root system well-established and ready for transplanting into a larger container or directly into your garden, depending on your climate and growing conditions. Cherimoya trees are known for their moderate growth rate, eventually reaching heights of 15-30 feet in ideal conditions, though they can be kept smaller with pruning. Expect fruits to mature in late fall to early spring, typically 3-5 years after planting a grafted tree.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Q: How big does this plant get? A: This Pierce Cherimoya live plant is currently 1 to 2 feet tall. In optimal conditions, a mature cherimoya tree can reach 15-30 feet in height, but it can be maintained at a smaller size with regular pruning, making it suitable for larger containers or smaller garden spaces.
• Q: What size pot does it come in? A: Your grafted cherimoya tree will arrive in a sturdy 3-gallon nursery pot, providing a healthy root system and a good head start for growth.
• Q: Is this an indoor or outdoor plant? A: Cherimoyas are best grown outdoors in subtropical climates (USDA zones 9-11). In colder regions, they can be grown in large containers and moved indoors during winter, acting as a beautiful and productive tropical fruit tree for indoor/outdoor rotation.
• Q: How much sunlight does it need? A: The Pierce Cherimoya live plant thrives in full sun to partial shade, needing at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily for best fruit production. In very hot climates, some afternoon shade can be beneficial.
• Q: Is this plant easy to care for? A: While not as demanding as some tropical plants, cherimoyas require consistent watering, well-draining soil, and frost protection. With proper care, growing cherimoya is a rewarding experience.
• Q: What condition will it arrive in? A: Your cherimoya plant will arrive healthy, with good roots, carefully packaged to ensure its safety during transit. It will be a live plant, ready for immediate planting.
• Q: When is the best time to plant a cherimoya tree? A: The best time to plant your tropical fruit tree is in the spring after the last chance of frost has passed, allowing it ample time to establish before winter.
• Q: Will it survive winter in my zone? A: Cherimoyas are sensitive to frost. They are generally hardy in USDA Zones 9-11. If you are in a colder zone, you will need to provide winter protection or grow it in a container that can be brought indoors.
• Q: How long until it fruits? A: As a grafted tree, your Pierce Cherimoya live plant can start producing fruit within 3-5 years of planting, much sooner than a tree grown from seed.
• Q: Can I use cherimoya fruit in cooking? A: Absolutely! The fruit from your cherimoya fruit tree is delicious eaten fresh, chilled, or used in smoothies, ice creams, pies, and other desserts.