Feijoa

[edself65]

Pineapple Guava Feijoa sellowiana - while walking my dog I found these fruit on a landscape plant that had been delected through our summer drought. So with a little care the fruit would probably be a little larger. The fruit were harvested from the ground. The really firms ones had a minty pineapple flavor that was nice. The ones that were a little soft and starting to wrinkle had a sweeter flavor with less mint. It really seems worth growing.

Ed

[Californiatropicals]

Feijoa is a great edible plant!  It's tough, low maintenance and produces great fruit! I love the bitter, sweet, and tangy flavor of feijoa! With all the fruity undertones!  The flower petals are also edible and have a sweet flavor! The plant is also very handsome! I've been harvesting feijoas since august.. it's like the never ending harvest  and all I did was aggressively hack the shrubs and fertilizer and water this spring!  Right now it's blooming again!   

I'd recommend varieties grown for fruit and not for ornamental purposes. Ornamentals may produce fruit, but usually won't as profusely or as regularly as a fruiting variety. Another benefit, the fruiting varieties can get fruit that's more oval shaped, up to 5 inches long and 2 inches wide!

[Luisport]

Hi! Yes i agree, feijoa is a great great fruit and tree, and you can do a lot of things with feijoa, even wine! http://feijoafeijoa.wordpress.com/

[BMc]

I love feijoa! But it's purely ornamental here. They rarely fruit and when they do you couldn't keep the fruit flies out by casting them in aluminum. Can't wait until the season starts in February. I got a few jars of preserved feijoa for the off season, but they were gone in a few weeks😢

[PltdWorld]

That's a nice find!  I've noticed landscapers using them quite a bit in SoCal... a dozen or so were just planted in the divider on a nearby street.

As for ours, only a few remain... we had some in our salad last night with a passionfruit vinaigrette dressing.

They're a versatile fruit, but best of all they can be eaten out of hand.

[forumfool]

They are all over Nor Cal. I find most of the seedlings (sold as ornamental) taste great. I have two named varieties and two seedlings and I like them all. Enjoying them more than my passionfruit right now (although I've been eating those for two months so it's a law of diminishing returns I think...)

[Californiatropicals]

They are all over Nor Cal. I find most of the seedlings (sold as ornamental) taste great. I have two named varieties and two seedlings and I like them all. Enjoying them more than my passionfruit right now (although I've been eating those for two months so it's a law of diminishing returns I think...)

You're fortunate, I had a seedling feijoa hat never fruited I finally removed it as it was taking up valuable garden space.

[JeffDM]

I ate my first feijoa a few months back and liked it so much that I planted some of the seeds.
Almost all of them germinated and are now just about ready for transplant into larger pots.

[huertasurbanas]

They are all over Nor Cal. I find most of the seedlings (sold as ornamental) taste great. I have two named varieties and two seedlings and I like them all. Enjoying them more than my passionfruit right now (although I've been eating those for two months so it's a law of diminishing returns I think...)

Hi, our 3 trees are flowering right now, this is one from the frontyard:



the petals are exquisite, I agree; a friend tried them and he liked them a lot too.

the last season we tried fruits from 2 of these trees and were very tasty; this season we will try fruits from another one on the backyard too that had not fruited yet.

Also, a man gave me feijoas from an unknown tree (bigger fruits) and they were horrible; so, it's true they vary a lot from seedling to seedling.

Very easy to grow from seed, I sow almost 60 and now I have 30 happy little feijoas growing here; and sometimes they were neglected...

[thao]

Is coolidge a good variety to get? Saw one at Lowes was thinking of getting it, but thought, maybe next time after some more research.

[Californiatropicals]

Is coolidge a good variety to get? Saw one at Lowes was thinking of getting it, but thought, maybe next time after some more research.

I have coolidge and Nazemets, I prefer the nazemets as it seems to be a more vigorous producer, however coolidge's fruits seem to be large, Also out of the two, my coolidge is flowering again right now. Not to the extent it did in the spring.. but it's still interesting. I am curious to see if any fruit will come of this fall flowering.

[thao]

CT

Is coolidge a good variety to get? Saw one at Lowes was thinking of getting it, but thought, maybe next time after some more research.

I have coolidge and Nazemets, I prefer the nazemets as it seems to be a more vigorous producer, however coolidge's fruits seem to be large, Also out of the two, my coolidge is flowering again right now. Not to the extent it did in the spring.. but it's still interesting. I am curious to see if any fruit will come of this fall flowering.

Did you get both of yours at the big box store or a nursery?
May have to ask you to air layer one for me or can they be propagated just from hard wood cuttings?

[HMHausman]

Is coolidge a good variety?

I'd like to know too.  I have Coolidge because it is supposed to be self fruitful.  We need more cold than the tree is getting to bloom.  Bloom has been very sparse and sporadic.  No fruit set here in S. Florida yet.

[BMc]

CT

Is coolidge a good variety to get? Saw one at Lowes was thinking of getting it, but thought, maybe next time after some more research.

I have coolidge and Nazemets, I prefer the nazemets as it seems to be a more vigorous producer, however coolidge's fruits seem to be large, Also out of the two, my coolidge is flowering again right now. Not to the extent it did in the spring.. but it's still interesting. I am curious to see if any fruit will come of this fall flowering.

Did you get both of yours at the big box store or a nursery?
May have to ask you to air layer one for me or can they be propagated just from hard wood cuttings?

Someone else may prove me wrong, but the selections seem to be hard to grow from cutting. Feijoas are able to be grown from cutting, but the best selections dont seem to strike well and are best grafted.

[PltdWorld]

COOLIDGE: I have one that was labeled as Coolidge that produces medium sized round fruits by the hundreds.  It is self-fertile.  The fruit quality is hit or miss - tends to be best when picked from the tree still somewhat hard - if I wait for it to drop, most (but not all) fruit has a perfume smell/taste to it.  However, I still like the tree for it's flower production - flowers taste the same on both trees and this one has them by the thousands.

NAZEMETZ: I also have one that was labeled as Nazemetz that produces large elongated fruit - but is not very productive.  I got maybe 50 fruit off of it this year.  The fruit is of very good quality and does not brown after being opened.  Has a very pleasant taste - complexly sweet with some acidity reminiscent of pineapple (oddly enough).

Both trees were purchased from big box stores, so can't really be sure of their identities, but they appear to match others' descriptions.

I threw some (like 50+ pieces) of the "Coolidge" fruit in the compost bin and now have a bunch of sproutlets, so they appear to be easy to grow from seed.  I have made some weak attempts at rooting cuttings - but just read that results improve with the size of the diameter of the stem (i.e. 1/2" +) and that they take a long time to root.

[forumfool]

I have Coolidge and Naemetz as well. I think those are the main two that are propagated by the wholesalers that distribute in California. Some more info on other varieties here:

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/feijoa.html

[thao]

Thanks BMc and PltdWorld,

Maybe i'll just buy an already establish tree. I actually saw both variety(Coolidge and Namemetz) for sale, will go look, if either one of them is still left. Trying cuttings will be for another day.

[ScottR]

I agree with BMc, cutting only seem to take on some varieties, I've tried for years with different times of year and all to no avail. Only one of my varieties takes from cuttings or (has), and that is a variety that is called pineapple guava, has round fruit! my friend Jack S. has some Edenvale varieties that I tried quite a few times to start from cutting but none took! Have had luck before grafting though. I grow different varieties now by seed it's amazing that within 3-4 yrs sometimes sooner, they fruit and grow pretty fast.

[Californiatropicals]

I've tried propagating from cuttings many times. I've never had any luck. Even though sometimes the cuttings will have green leaves for a few months and i'd be rubbing my hands together thinking "aha! I did it!"  but sure enough, no roots had developed. From what I've read, you used to root cuttings with "bottom heat" and misting. This isn't an easy one to root, and I've gown lots of stuff from cuttings. For the money spent at a big box store, Feijoa are actually a bargain.  I bought my feijoa at home depot, and i am nearly certain they were both laverne nursery tree

[PltdWorld]

HD has them for right around $20 most of the year in 5gal and they are usually already producing fruit.  I believe at least one of mine had the LaVerne label on it.

That said, if anyone wants to try growing the sproutlets into plants, I can mail a few - just pay for shipping.

[fruitlovers]

I agree with BMc, cutting only seem to take on some varieties, I've tried for years with different times of year and all to no avail. Only one of my varieties takes from cuttings or (has), and that is a variety that is called pineapple guava, has round fruit! my friend Jack S. has some Edenvale varieties that I tried quite a few times to start from cutting but none took! Have had luck before grafting though. I grow different varieties now by seed it's amazing that within 3-4 yrs sometimes sooner, they fruit and grow pretty fast.

Pineapple guava is a variety name? I don't think so because it's also the common name. That would really be confusing!

[ScottR]

Yes I miss spoke there calling the feijoa that I bought 30 some odd years ago was just called 'Pineapple guava" which is common name used to describe feijoa  sellowiana in nursery trade. Hard to get anything past you Oscar!

[mangomike]

I have propagated feijoa from roots -- basically I took an existing plant and exposed the crown below the point where the roots begin branching off; then I severed a few and left them in place until they sprouted top growth.This is more easily done with plants in a 5 gal to 15 gal container. After a season of growth I removed them and potted them up.This method works well for true guavas also, and would probably work with many other Myrtaceae. I know people graft feijoas, guavas, Surinam cherries etc. but I have always found them to be difficult, when the root method works so well.

Another advantage is that there is no danger of losing the variety from the graft dying, since the entire plant is the variety.

[mikesid]

I have a 'Nazametz' I fruited here in South Fl. when I lived in Lake Worth. Tasted like spearmint with pineapple, very good flavor... It fruited while it was still in a pot. I finally gave it its own place in the yard here in Boynton Beach. Since then it hasnt flowered but it also was very neglected to the point of losing all its leaves. It is now responding well. I do think these need some cold temps to set good fruit though..

[PltdWorld]

I have propagated feijoa from roots -- basically I took an existing plant and exposed the crown below the point where the roots begin branching off; then I severed a few and left them in place until they sprouted top growth.

This sounds like marcottage or layering?  Or is this something different? (if so, I'd like to hear more!)

It seems that airlayering is a preferred method of propagating proven feijoa cultivars.