Can Sugar Apple Seeds Be Planted? Learn the Correct Planting Method

Sugar apple, also called sweetsop, is a fruit shaped like the fleshy topknot of Shakyamuni Buddha, and it mainly grows in the warm, humid regions of the south. So most people who are familiar with sugar apple are concentrated around its places of origin, but as sugar apple continues to be promoted in the market, the number of people and regions growing sugar apple is also gradually expanding.

Can sugar apple seeds be planted?

Yes. The method for planting sugar apple seeds is as follows:

1. Wash the seeds clean, then soak them in water, using just enough water to submerge the seeds. Change the water every day and soak for 6-8 days until no impurities can be seen.

2. Choose a pot of appropriate size without holes (or seal the hole at the bottom of the pot), fill it to nine-tenths full with potting soil, and spray some water on the surface so that the top layer of soil feels moist.

3. When planting, place the seeds with the sprouting point facing down, and arrange them neatly in rings starting from the outer edge of the pot and slowly working toward the center. Sugar apple seeds have a smooth surface and are not easy to pick up with tweezers, so a little patience is needed.

4. Next, use wheat rice stone or other small pebbles to spread a thin layer over the surface. Spray back and forth a few times with a watering can so that the soil and seeds are completely moistened. Then it is time to wait for germination. Remember to spray water once a day.

5. After about three weeks, the seeds break through the soil and grow into seedlings.

How to plant sugar apple seeds

1. Sugar apple seed treatment

Sugar apple is planted directly as seedling trees, so the source of the seeds is very important. The seeds should come from large, well-shaped fruits on high-yielding, high-quality mother plants of a superior variety (common sugar apple), and it is best to use fruits set by artificial pollination of the same variety. Wait until the fruit is fully mature, when the fruit turns pale green-yellow and the seams between the small fruit sections are obvious, then harvest and collect the seeds. When growing them as grafting rootstock, the requirements for seed collection can be lowered. After the seeds are taken out, wash them clean, remove empty and small seeds, dry them and sow immediately. Seeds to be sown in the following spring should be fully sun-dried, then placed in polyethylene plastic bags and sealed for storage.

2. Sugar apple sowing time

In regions where winter temperatures are relatively high, sugar apple is best sown in August to September, immediately after the seeds are harvested and dried. Fresh seeds have a higher germination rate, and the seedling growth period is long, which helps cultivate strong seedlings. To cultivate strong seedlings, before sowing the seeds can be soaked in 200 mg/kg gibberellin for 24-36 hours, which can bring emergence forward by 3-5 days. After the seedlings have 6 leaves, spraying the leaves twice with 5000-6000 times diluted Aiduoshou can effectively increase the rate of strong seedlings. Because sugar apple seedlings are relatively sensitive to frost, special attention must be paid to cold protection and heat preservation for autumn-sown seedlings. In other southern subtropical regions, it is best to sow in spring, generally after the local low-temperature rainy weather has passed and the weather has become sunny, warm and relatively stable.

3. Sugar apple sowing method

Stored sugar apple seeds should be sun-dried before sowing to promote germination. The nursery should be chosen in a sunny, well-drained, fertile sandy loam, with gently sloping flat land being best. Before sowing in the nursery, the land should first be deeply plowed and sun-dried for 1-2 months, then decomposed organic fertilizer and a small amount of lime should be used as base fertilizer, broken up and mixed evenly, and then trenches should be made and beds raised. Either drilling or broadcasting may be used, with 7-8 kg of seeds per mu. Cover with river sand or fine soil, press slightly firm, then water thoroughly and cover with grass or plastic film. The seedbed should be kept moist, but it also fears waterlogging, so care must also be taken to strictly prevent excess water, so as to avoid causing root rot. After germination, uncover the grass or plastic agricultural film to avoid bending the seedlings.

4. Sugar apple seedling management

1. Watering and fertilizing: During the seedling stage, water about once every 3 days; in case of drought, once a day is needed. After 6-8 leaves, thin manure water or 0.5% urea solution may be applied, and the concentration can then be gradually increased. In the later nursery stage, potassium fertilizer or compound fertilizer also needs to be applied as a liquid, to help cultivate strong seedlings. Weeding and loosening the soil should be done before fertilizing.

2. Pest and disease control: During the sugar apple seedling stage, insect pests occur relatively rarely, but diseases occur frequently, especially root rot. Therefore, during the seedling stage, attention must be paid to control, preventing excessive shading and waterlogging, and care should be taken to apply thiophanate-methyl as a liquid for prevention.

What season do sugar apples ripen in?

The sugar apple production period is in summer and autumn, with autumn being the main harvest season. Every harvested fruit contains the drop-by-drop sweat and toil of the farmers! During every winter and summer vacation, you can see farmers' children putting down their schoolbags, picking up pruning shears and going into the fields to prune branches, so that the sugar apple can sprout, bloom, be pollinated, and finally form one large fruit after another at the right time.

Harvesting sugar apples

Seedling-grown sugar apple trees bear fruit 3-4 years after planting, and enter the peak fruiting period after the 6th year. The fruit ripens from late August to September. When the fruit has not yet softened and split open, the fruit color has slightly turned green-yellow, and the skin shows slight white marks, it can be cut off with the stem for harvest. After harvest, it needs 3-5 days of after-ripening before it can be eaten. Fruit that has not ripened hard has no commercial value because it cannot after-ripen normally.

Sugar apple seeds can indeed be planted, although growing from a single seed into a mature tree takes a fairly long time. But growing a tree and harvesting fruit inherently takes time, so as long as you wait patiently and plant it carefully, there will be a reward.