10-30 Ruby Supreme Guava.

[huertasurbanas]

first off i have an open mind and definately realize that some people like a certain fruit or variety of........that being said i had a guava a couple of years back and the fruit had a really bad aroma (oder)?? i dug it up and was done with it. do these new cultivators have that same attribute? is that quava and its just not for me?

I really think it depends on the guava. I like guava in general but I've had some that were not good. Keep on trying until you find one you like because there are good ones. The ones with the white insides that are meant to be eaten green are pretty good.

Hey, I just tried 2 types: yellow skin, pink flesh: BEAUTIFUL!, loved it, totally! (70gr), and a bigger one, yellow skin, white flesh (230gr): not so tasty, but it was overripe

You should keep trying!

Also, if you use chickens below your trees, they will eat the larvae that produces the fruit fly... maybe.

[johnb51]

It seems like it's pretty hard to kill a guava tree.  I had a Ruby Supreme planted in a too shady spot, and by the end of winter it was covered with sooty mold with no green leaves left.  I cut it back to 12 inches of trunk, pulled it out of the ground with just a few roots, and stuck in a 7-gal. pot.  In no time it was covered with little leafy sprouts.  I trimmed them all off except for three, which have grown into little branches.  Now I'll probably make cuttings with those and start 3 new trees.

Cool. Looks like it hates sooty mold. Mine had sooty mold too.

And the sooty mold came from being in the shade because when it had full sun there was no sooty mold.  (Does that make sense?)

[murraystevena2]

I heard from my university profesor that the hard fleshed varieties are much more resistant to fruit flies than the soft varieties and that is why all most all asian varieties are hard fleshed. At my university (cal poly pomona) they have an old guava germplasm collection that has been abandoned. In there they have more than 50 varieties of guavas and I would often go in there to try the different types. After trying a bunch of types I decided I like the softer types more than the hard types. In my greenhouse I have one pink fleshed variety that is the best guava I have ever had (not sure where I got it) and is extremely sweet and tasty with no aftertaste and taste to me at least some what like a cherramoya (from my mom I found out that that tree will have a lot of fruit this year), fruit are large and pear shaped. I am growing 8 to 10 other varieties of common guavas Psidium guajava and it is by far the best I have ever had. In the campus collection the pink fleshed ones werent as good as some of the yellow fleshed ones. The best eating one there was from a small yellow pear shaped ones.

[JF]

I like red/pink flesh soft guavas but the most flavorful in my collection is the ultimate Mexican cream. I juice and make marmalade of most of them because I get guava out real quick because of the strong intense flavor. The nice thing about a guava tree is that you can prune it and manage the size and get a good crop every year.

[gnappi]

I have a ruby supreme in the ground for over 4 years and I haven't seen a single fruit from it. It dies back, gets scale, whitefly, sooty mold... it's a mess. Most of the stuff in my yard does real well, the RS is real finicky. It's coming out of the ground.

[LEOOEL]

I love the Ruby Supreme guava. It's just too bad the susceptibility it has with fruit-fly worms. Much more so than the Giant White guava (I have both types).

I really hope this 10-30 Ruby Supreme guava does pan out to be as resistant to fruit-fly worms as the Giant White guava, as I like the taste and color of the Ruby Supreme better. If this is the case, then I definitely want it.

[gunnar429]

I have a ruby supreme in the ground for over 4 years and I haven't seen a single fruit from it. It dies back, gets scale, whitefly, sooty mold... it's a mess. Most of the stuff in my yard does real well, the RS is real finicky. It's coming out of the ground.

I know this is an old thread, but I couldn't agree more.  Sooty mold, scale, die back, and the fruits don't even seem to be that good...from what everyone is saying.  I know there are some die-hards out there, but I didn't grow up in the tropics...and I can put something better in that spot.

[Cookie Monster]

I haven't had much problem getting them to set fruit. My experience has been:

 - The "regular" Ruby x Supreme (6-29, most common one sold in fl) is great tasting but gets heavily infected with fruit fly if not bagged.

 - The 'bug-less" Ruby x Supreme (10-30) is indeed resistant to attack by fruit fly but has a weird bitter flavor near the rind (in my yard at least).

[Tropicalgrower89]

Mine is dead in the city dump. The tree for some weird reason just didn't grow at all and it just died back. When I pulled it out, there were no signs of nematode damage or root rot.

[Cookie Monster]

Strange. Mine grew like a weed but the fruit wasn't as good as I was expecting.

Funny that a plant listed as an invasive exotic is hard to grow :-).

Mine is dead in the city dump. The tree for some weird reason just didn't grow at all and it just died back. When I pulled it out, there were no signs of nematode damage or root rot.

[From the sea]

i have a regular ruby supreme the fruit flies love them, but the fruit are large so i get a lot off of them.

[Doglips]

Mine seems to be the bellwether for drought stress, it is the first plant that tells me to get on the ball and bump up the watering schedule.

I stressed the heck out of mine this winter (lost 98% of the leaves) and it looks like it could make a full recovery (little early to tell yet for sure).

When the plant is happy, grows like a weed is a good descriptor.

[gunnar429]

at what stage should the fruit be bagged to rhwart infestation?  when almost ripe, when small guavalets? ?

thanks

[HMHausman]

at what stage should the fruit be bagged to rhwart infestation?  when almost ripe, when small guavalets? ?

thanks

The earlier the better.  Wait til ripening to get better crop of fruit fly maggots.

[gunnar429]

Thanks, harry.
should the bags be transparent or brown paper bags?

[HMHausman]

Thanks, harry.
should the bags be transparent or brown paper bags?

Actually, the material is less important than the openings/mesh size.  Brown paper bags work fine though....if the hold up to the weather that is.

[Doglips]

They sell bag specifically for this.  Waxed brown paper.  It breathes, and can handle getting wet.  The reduced light on the fruit is supposed to slow fruit maturation giving better fruit quality.

Panty hose or the sock booties used in shoe stores soaked in kaolin clay works on larger insects not positive about fruit flies.

[LEOOEL]

I have a recently planted 'Ruby Red' and a Thai-White.

The 'Ruby Red' gets infested with the fruit fly, which is a shame because it's not just a great tasting fruit, but one with a beautiful red colore (inside) too. If the '10-30 Ruby Supreme' circumvents this, then I'll suspect that I'll be getting it.

The Thai-White guava tree has no problem with the fruit fly worms, it's just that so far it hasn't been been very productive and it does have some sooty mold on the leaves.

I love guavas, I love the taste, they are fun to eat, but the problems that I've been having with these two varieties is just no fun at all. I'll be doing something to shake them up a bit, but I just don't know what. Maybe I'll be fertilizing them heavily with dog poop and vegetable/fruit leftovers. I'm also considering propagating them from seeds.

[Das Bhut]

just bought a Ruby Supreme and didn't want to start another thread, any new information?

[gnappi]

just bought a Ruby Supreme and didn't want to start another thread, any new information?

Yes, I pulled the two I struggled with and now focus on other things :-)

Oh, the "Mexican Cream" sold at the big box stores are nothing like the online descriptions. The seeds are like a rock and they don't have a hint of sweetness, those (more that half a dozen) are gone also.