Planting the sweet and sour sousop takes a lot of patience and care. Here’s what you need to keep in mind.
The prickly soursop is native to Africa and South America. The soursop tree is one of the most planted trees in the United States, and it’s very easy to see why. People love the fruit for its distinctive bittersweet taste and its many nutritional benefits.
If you’re looking to plant soursop, here are few things you need to keep in mind.
pH of the Soil:
Quick chemistry refresher; pH is a scale that ranges from 0-14. It indicates the acidity of a sample, with zero being highly acidic and 14 being the least acidic (highly alkaline). All caught up? Let’s continue.
acidic. Experts claim that a pH of 5 - 6.5 is perfect for growing soursop trees.
There plenty of indicators you can buy from your local drug store to determine the pH of your soil. If you find that your soil is alkaline, you can always add a sphagnum peat to increase its acidity.
Space:
Another area of concern for green thumbs looking to plant soursop trees is the required space. Before we even begin to answer this question, you need to understand that the growth of the soursop tree is extremely rapid. Within 3–5 years of seeding, the plant matures enough to yield its first crop.
Despite its rapid growth the tree doesn’t take much space. Granted that a mature soursop tree can be as high as 25–30 feet tall, you can still easily plant it in your backyard because the tree has incredibly shallow roots!
Conditions:
The humidity and temperature requirements of the soursop tree can often be a deal-breaker. You may have the space and the perfect soil for the tree, but if the temperature and humidity conditions aren’t met, the tree simply won’t grow!
Although the tree grows both at sea level and on elevations as high as 3000 ft. (above sea level), the soursop tree has a small temperature range within which it thrives.
If the temperature rises above 80 °F (around 27 °C), pollination will occur. However, if the temperature falls below 40 °F, the leaves will turn brown and your soursop tree will begin to die.
Similarly, the soursop tree produces the best harvest when subject to a relative humidity of 70 – 80%. More or less humid conditions will result in less abundant yield.
Are you looking for fresh and ripe soursop? We at TKO Farms consider ourselves experts in soursop farming. You can always get in touch with us to learn more about our crop and yield.
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