7 Years and Counting...Feijoa

[puglvr1]

I've had this Pineapple Guava ( Feijoa sellowiana) tree planted since Nov. 2006. It started blooming the very next spring though the blooms were not many at first. Every year it blooms a little more than the year before and has yet to FRUIT!! Okay, I think I've had 3 fruits from it about 3 years ago...I've hand pollinated it and still NADA. I have another one (both of them are seedling)...the other one fruits every year...but this tree does NOT! Go figure!

This year its blooming like crazy...most blooms I've seen on this tree...I'm going to bet I won't see any fruits again this year...very frustrating! If the tree isn't so pretty and the blooms are very showy too! I would never dream of chopping the tree, I just wish it would set fruits  **sigh**

[PedalaiMaster]

Maybe cut off some of the branches and graft already fruiting guava trees of varieties you like.

[puglvr1]

Thanks PM...unfortunately the reason I bought seedlings was because NO one in my area sold Feijoa's at all...the only nursery that it and was told it was a NO name (seedling) variety...plus I totally suck at "grafting",lol...tried several times and NO luck! 

[TREESNMORE]

Were the seeds from the same fruit. You can get different quality fruit from the same fruit. Some trees are self-sterile, and others are self-fertile.Your tree that does not produce could be the pollinater for the one that does. Dont cut it down .Try to graft some self-fertile budwood to it .I can get the names of some varieties.  Just read your post . I would not cut the tree down

[bsbullie]

When I live in Gainesville, Fla in the 80s and early 90s, Feijoa were a commonly used landscape hedge.  Not sure of they still are but might want to check with nurseries closer to that area for named varieties.

As far as named varieties, Julia Morton lists some.  http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/feijoa.html

As far as PM's comment goes, I am fairly certain when he said "guava" he meant the genus Psidium...which I am not going to say anything more, just going to leave it at that...

[luc]

Great looking trees , would be a sin to cut them down .....I have the same problem here so I just eat the flowers .


 

[puglvr1]

Treesnmore...the tree and the bush were bought from 2 different sources...so I'm going to have to say they are not from the same Seeds...One is a Tree (single) trunk which are the pictures I posted and one is a bush with a couple of trunks ( picture I didn't post). The Bush that I planted fruits yearly...but NOT the single trunk tree 

I would never consider cutting the tree down...its very pretty and I'll keep it even though it doesn't fruit...

Thanks Luc!! It is a very pretty tree and I don't mind growing it just for that reason alone...but I can't say I'm not disappointed that its not holding any fruit.

While doing some research I read about someone that had a seedling for over 10 years before it started to fruit...so maybe I shouldn't give up just yet 

Thanks Rob for your suggestions...I don't have any more room to plant another Feijoa...I'm still looking for a spot for my Maha,lol... 

[TriangleJohn]

I have a row of them in my zone 7b garden - all seed grown from a local garden where there was a big flush of fruit one year (2005 or 2006). All the fruit looked the same and may have come from one tree (I didn't pick the fruit, someone brought them to me to eat). I kept 6 seedlings and now have them planted in the ground. They bloom like crazy and I hand pollinate them like a mad man. I average about 5 fruits per bush, which is hardly worth the effort. Some of the bushes give really round fruit, some give egg shaped fruit. The kicker is that a different bush planted up near the house in a flowerbed, a bush that was purchased and not seed grown also blooms like crazy and gives a few fruits each year - but its fruit taste way better than the seed grown.

When I've viewed video of feijoa farms in Brazil their bushes don't seem to have a lot of fruit either. Maybe this is plant that just doesn't fruit much.

[PltdWorld]

I have two feijoa of the same age planted within 20' of each other that fruit at very different rates - while they are different varieties, the flower at about the same rate.  The primary diffrence is that the one exposed to more wind and less sun fruits less heavily than the other.  They both receive the same amount of water and share the remaining environmental factors equally (i.e. pollinators, temperature, altitude, etc).

[nullzero]

I would not chop it down, unless space is such a premium. You can always eat the flowers, which I hear taste very good and can be used easily in salads.

[PltdWorld]

The flowers are delicious!  And you can eat them after the stamen shows sign of pollination - having your cake and eating it too.

[mikesid]

I had one in a pot I hand pollinated and got about 20 fruits...I just put it in the ground the past year after careful neglect...It dried out a few times and dropped all its leaves but its rebounding...I never saw another flower on it since I moved (probably because I never watered or fertilized it)...this was the first fruit tree I purchased (from Excalibur) approx 9 years ago...I think mine is a Nazemetz...though I can't be sure..not round but egg shaped fruits...

[MarinFla]

I bought a 3 gal grafted one from Walmart some time back and returned it because I was given the impression you had to have cross pollination. I am not sorry at all that I took it bac but now I have to question that info....... are they self pollinating?

[fruitlovers]

I bought a 3 gal grafted one from Walmart some time back and returned it because I was given the impression you had to have cross pollination. I am not sorry at all that I took it bac but now I have to question that info....... are they self pollinating?

I think most cultivars of feijoa require cross pollination from a different cultivar. There may be a very few that are self pollinating, but they are the exception. Main problem with them though is not this, but lack of chill hours. Tropical places are not good for fruiting them. They really need a sub tropical climate. Here they do great at above 2000 foot elevation. No fruiting at sea level. Shy fruiting at about 1000 foot elevationl.

[MarinFla]

I bought a 3 gal grafted one from Walmart some time back and returned it because I was given the impression you had to have cross pollination. I am not sorry at all that I took it bac but now I have to question that info....... are they self pollinating?

I think most cultivars of feijoa require cross pollination from a different cultivar. There may be a very few that are self pollinating, but they are the exception. Main problem with them though is not this, but lack of chill hours. Tropical places are not good for fruiting them. They really need a sub tropical climate. Here they do great at above 2000 foot elevation. No fruiting at sea level. Shy fruiting at about 1000 foot elevationl.

I guess it would be good to have a friend with a walk in restaurant style fridge with a grow light

[Greenhaven]

I bought a 3 gal grafted one from Walmart some time back and returned it because I was given the impression you had to have cross pollination. I am not sorry at all that I took it bac but now I have to question that info....... are they self pollinating?

I think most cultivars of feijoa require cross pollination from a different cultivar. There may be a very few that are self pollinating, but they are the exception. Main problem with them though is not this, but lack of chill hours. Tropical places are not good for fruiting them. They really need a sub tropical climate. Here they do great at above 2000 foot elevation. No fruiting at sea level. Shy fruiting at about 1000 foot elevationl.

Local info. has it that they need 100-200 hrs of chill, and that those grown in cooler areas have a better taste. We have several varieties here with varying degrees of self-pollination, with one called "Unique" being touted as the only true self-pollinator - but even this one will fruit better with x-pollination.

There's some fellow who did a 15 yr trial with seedling Feijoa's near Sydney (with goal of producing new Australian cultivars) - he stated they all eventually fruited. He reckon's one of the biggest problems when lack of fruit is poor pollination, as the stamens are deep and pollen often does not reach even when plenty of bees etc., and the best pollination is by birds. To get the best results he opened up the trees to allow birds better access to all flowers.

[puglvr1]

All Great information...Thanks!! I have never seen birds pollinate this tree as a matter of fact I've never seen Bees either, which is weird?!? since the flowers are very attractive but maybe there's not enough scent to lure them?

One thing I can definitely say is I have enough chilling hours here...so that is not the problem. Poor pollination is definitely my best guess as to why I see NO fruits 

[mikesid]

Also, when I pollinated mine I didn't use a q-tip or paint brush...I took two flowers while still attached to the plant and made them pollinate each other...that way the stamen of one can get into the other and not have to use a bulky q-tip or paint brush...maybe these damage easy...I only have one cultivar and was able to get fruits this way

[PedalaiMaster]

Thanks PM...unfortunately the reason I bought seedlings was because NO one in my area sold Feijoa's at all...the only nursery that it and was told it was a NO name (seedling) variety...plus I totally suck at "grafting",lol...tried several times and NO luck! 

Oh, well some kinds of grafting work better than others, just make sure to get the cambium(green) layers to match up very well. If not matching then ehhh... dead graft. A good beginner graft is the cleft graft, I used this on apple trees and the grafted tree set flowers first, no leaves nothing but the branch and flowers. Most of them set fruit but I only left one which become a tasty Dorset apple. As for the lack of feijoa's in your area, try asking for nice scionwood of fruiting fejoa's once you get good at grafting.

[puglvr1]

Mike, that's an interesting way of pollinating, Thanks! If I get bored I might just try it...

PM, maybe one of these days I try grafting again...but I really am horrible at it,lol...thanks!