Author Topic: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?  (Read 2638 times)

Eclissato

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
    • Perugia, Umbria, Italy
    • View Profile
psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« on: November 29, 2018, 11:54:30 AM »
Hi, I wanna try to grow psidium cattleianum, but I've read a lot of contraddiction on the web, in taste especially.
Are there some cultivar in particular? Which is the most cold resistant? First of all I wanna eat fruit, so transformation of fruit  fall in a second  line of importance for me. Are there cultivar without seeds?

Brebarian

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 36
    • USA, CA, 10a
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #1 on: November 29, 2018, 03:11:24 PM »
I haven't seen any improved varieties of strawberry/lemon guavas. In my own experience:

Strawberry (red) guava advantages: Plant is more vigorous, heavier bearing, fruit keeps a little longer on the counter.
Strawberry guava disadvantages: Smaller fruit, a little more astringent than lemon guava, a little more tart, and the fruit's red color might attract more birds/pests than yellow ones.

Lemon (yellow) guava advantages: slightly larger fruit, softer fruit, better fruit to seed ratio, sweeter.
Lemon guava disadvantages: Less vigorous plant, fruit doesn't keep as well on the counter.

I'd go with the lemon guava, but that's just my two cents from growing both varieties in Southern California.

spaugh

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5126
    • San Diego County California
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #2 on: November 29, 2018, 04:43:00 PM »
I had both and removed the yellow one.  The yellow fruit get sun burn if you are in a hot area and turn to mush to easily.  The red fruit has a much longer hang time on the plant and firmer texture that doesnt go mushy.  And it makes way more fruit.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2018, 05:17:21 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

Galka

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 671
    • USA, FL, OCALA, 9A
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2018, 03:57:28 PM »
I like them both and it will be hard for me to chose between them. Here is my Yellow. The fruits are bigger then Red. I put them in a frig and forgot for nearly a month and they were still good when I found them. The Red ones would be spoiled.





Bush2Beach

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2141
    • Santa Cruz, California Sunset Zone 17
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2018, 09:51:11 AM »
They are super variable across the board. There are ping pong ball sized red and yellow.
There are incredibly productive for their size red and yellow.
Bottom line: most people think yellow tastes better but again so much variability in seedlings.

I want to know what people have successfully grafted on ??, as i have a large red i’d like to top work.

shaneatwell

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1324
    • California, San Diego, sunset 23 and 18
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2018, 01:39:29 PM »
Yellow. You won't bother with the red after it gets medium size and they'll just collect fruit flies.
Shane

Solko

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 316
  • Zone 8b-9a
    • Europe
    • View Profile
    • Visual Art
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #6 on: December 02, 2018, 02:58:35 AM »
Miguel.pt from Portugal has selected better larger fruited strains from both the red and yellow varieties. Try to get some seeds from him.

FMfruitforest

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 391
  • Tropical Fruit
    • USA, FL,zone 10a
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2018, 06:08:01 AM »
I removed my Strawberry guava as the fruit is subpar in my opinion and gets heavily attacked by fruit fly.

TreeTropical

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • USA, Florida, Port St Lucie, 10B
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2018, 10:54:40 PM »
my red is starting to ripen. tastes like a fruit drink but shelf life is short

AndrewAZ

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 366
    • Scottsdale, AZ zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2018, 12:04:51 AM »
I would get the better selected varieties if you can.  I have the lemon guava and the fruit taste horrible.

Eclissato

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 18
    • Perugia, Umbria, Italy
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2018, 06:44:28 PM »
OmG it is an hard problem  :o  so the best choice is to grow psidium cattleianum from a selected seeds? how many years does it takes for the first fruit?  :-X

hellosf

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 53
    • View Profile
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2018, 10:18:21 PM »
If you strain out the seeds from the pulp/juice, they make an excellent italian ice!

Solko

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 316
  • Zone 8b-9a
    • Europe
    • View Profile
    • Visual Art
Re: psidium cattleianum (strawberry guava), red or yellow?
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2018, 07:07:29 AM »
It can fruit in 3 years from seed is my experience.