Last edited on February 03, 2024. View history
Soursop
Soursop
How to sow soursop: Direct seed indoors or use semi-ripe cuttings
Sun requirement for soursop: Plant in Full Sun
Soursop is a short, bushy, flowering, evergreen tree in the Annonaceae (Custard Apple) family. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and has broad, glossy, dark green leaves and branches that are hairy when young. Fruit are fragrant, ovoid, dark green, and prickly. They can be up to 30 cm long and have white, juicy, acidic flesh and toxic black seeds. The creamy flesh tastes like a mix of lettuce and tomatoes with hints of sour citrus. Harvest when fruit are still firm but slightly yellow-green and allow to ripen until they are soft to the touch. Ripe fruit are eaten raw, mixed with ice cream or milk, and added to smoothies, drinks, and desserts. Soursop needs high humidity and warm winters: leaves and small branches are damaged by temperatures below 5° C and temperatures below 3°C can kill the tree. Soursop are fast-growing and begin to bear fruit between their third and fifth year. Soursop has many medicinal uses. If starting from seed, use seeds within a month of harvesting them and soak and scarify to improve germination.
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Soursop facts
Lifespan
Height × spread
700cm × 400cmCrop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For soursop, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 13°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 2160 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your soursop will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Photos
Photos
Soursop crops
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 180 to 365 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Annona muricata L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Magnoliidae Magnoliales Annonaceae |
|---|---|
| Life form | tree |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | erect |
| Optimal soil depth | deep (>>150 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | heavy, medium |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
Learn more about soursops
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