Feijoa Review (Video)

[Jared]

I have a bunch of temperate fruits coming up in my series, so here's the last tropical for a while.

http://youtu.be/dH59FuHUDvw

[jabomano]

One of the best tasting fruits. I grew about 5 named varieties when I lived in Pennsylvania. Grew them in a greenhouse in the winter.

[fyliu]

The first one I've ever had was from Vons, a local supermarket, and it cost $2.50 back then. It's also from New Zealand. It's really nice that you can get them in such good condition. The white part around the jelly turns brown when it's past it's prime.

[stuartdaly88]

Good review Jared:) I found you description of the fruit good and accurate.

My faverite thing to do with feijoa is scoop out a good amount of fruits and ad to that a quarter to the same amount of banana(according to taste) then freeze all that in a tray.
When frozen break up the frozen pulps and put in a blender
Add some plain or vanilla yogurt(also according to taste) and blend it up.

Instantly one of the most delicious ice-creams I have ever had:)

[Jared]

The first one I've ever had was from Vons, a local supermarket, and it cost $2.50 back then. It's also from New Zealand. It's really nice that you can get them in such good condition. The white part around the jelly turns brown when it's past it's prime.

I read online that some people prefer them overripe because they get sweeter. I tried it that way, it just tasted stale.

Good review Jared:) I found you description of the fruit good and accurate.

My faverite thing to do with feijoa is scoop out a good amount of fruits and ad to that a quarter to the same amount of banana(according to taste) then freeze all that in a tray.
When frozen break up the frozen pulps and put in a blender
Add some plain or vanilla yogurt(also according to taste) and blend it up.

Instantly one of the most delicious ice-creams I have ever had:)

Sounds amazing, I'll definitely give that a try next time I see them for sale.

[gnappi]

I know how the "zone pushers" feel. I have three feijoa in the ground that I had hoped we would get some cool spells sufficient to get fruit from them but, alas not a single fruit. Darn warm weather of south Florida. :-)

[huertasurbanas]

Perfect review, thanks, at my town they do a lovely icecream

[stuartdaly88]

To me this is really a special fruit. I may not have tried as many as Jared or most members of this forum but even when I do one day(have to keep hoping!) I know it will always be a awesome treat.
I also hold it in high esteem as it was the first time I got my fiancee to taste a "weird" plant and she was actually amazed at its awesomeness, I will always hold that fruit memory extremely dear
Now she is excited about the other things I am growing too:)

Have you guys seen the varieties in NZ? all I can say is wow they look good and one was freaking huge! Like cricket ball huge!

[Bush2Beach]

I have a bunch of temperate fruits coming up in my series, so here's the last tropical for a while.

http://youtu.be/dH59FuHUDvw

Feijoa Pineapple Guava is not a tropical fruit. It was supposedly named by Wilson Popenoe on his travels through Europe where he might have felt it needed a more appealing name.

[King]

I got this Nazemetz feijoa tree at Home Depot and planted it last August. Right now, it has around 6 fruits on it.  This is the biggest one.  Its still pretty small.  Its not really cold yet in Northern California- so I think it will be ripe in December. 

I can't wait to try this feijoa. There really is no reason we should be importing them in America, we should be growing them.  They are supposed to grow great in Northern California, and on the Southeastern coast in places like Virginia and the Carolinas.  They are supposed to be highly drought resistant and don't require much water.

[fyliu]

They are supposed to be highly drought resistant and don't require much water.

How much do you water yours? I'm just curious what the water requirement is to have fruit.

That's what I keep hearing for some other plants as well. For jujube at least, you do have to give it a good amount of water if you expect to have fruit to eat.

[King]

They are supposed to be highly drought resistant and don't require much water.

How much do you water yours? I'm just curious what the water requirement is to have fruit.

That's what I keep hearing for some other plants as well. For jujube at least, you do have to give it a good amount of water if you expect to have fruit to eat.

I don't really water my feijoa tree all that often. Probably only once every week.   Even in the summer, I don't water it that often.  Feijoas have small leaves with a waxy sheen to conserve water.  I did hand pollinate it though, and Nazemetz is one of the few self pollinating varieties.

[Jared]

I got this Nazemetz feijoa tree at Home Depot and planted it last August. Right now, it has around 6 fruits on it.  This is the biggest one.  Its still pretty small.  Its not really cold yet in Northern California- so I think it will be ripe in December. 

I can't wait to try this feijoa. There really is no reason we should be importing them in America, we should be growing them.  They are supposed to grow great in Northern California, and on the Southeastern coast in places like Virginia and the Carolinas.  They are supposed to be highly drought resistant and don't require much water.

Looks great! You're right that we should be growing them here. It took me years of hunting around the markets in NYC before finding the one in the video. Big flavorless green guavas are all over the place in NYC, but somehow Feijoas are very rare. Shouldn't be.

[stuartdaly88]

Another thing no one has mentioned yet the flower petals are thick numerous and delicately sweet, amazing in salads:)

[JFranco]

Feijoas this size I had never seen! Cultivated here in Portugal, from a tree raised from seed.

João Franco.

[huertasurbanas]

They are supposed to be highly drought resistant and don't require much water.

How much do you water yours? I'm just curious what the water requirement is to have fruit.

That's what I keep hearing for some other plants as well. For jujube at least, you do have to give it a good amount of water if you expect to have fruit to eat.

I don't really water my feijoa tree all that often. Probably only once every week.   Even in the summer, I don't water it that often.  Feijoas have small leaves with a waxy sheen to conserve water.  I did hand pollinate it though, and Nazemetz is one of the few self pollinating varieties.

I know 3 big 50 or so years old trees at my city that, if there is no rain for 2 months in summer, they will not fruit at all.

! No longer available

I water mines

[stuartdaly88]

This is a variety that looks massive! The pic is from incredible edibles a NZ site.
It's called golden goose

[greenman62]

i just bought one a couple of months ago from Top Trops
its only about 2ft tall now.
ive read they either dont fruit, or do much better with another one nearby for pollination. ??
should i really have a second one ? i am running out of room.
maybe i can graft a couple of varieties to it ?

Also, i am in New Orleans - zone 9
how much  are chill requirements ?

[King]

My feijoa tree finally dropped some fruit on the ground, so I picked it up and tried my first feijoas ever.





These are Nazemetz feijoas. The largest was about 3 inches tall.  They were juicy and watery.  The texture is gritty like a kiwi or a pear.  It mostly just tasted like kiwi to me, the flesh around the peel tasted more sour. The peel tasted like a sour kiwi with a pine needle minty aftertaste. 

I do like these, its a nice fruit to have during the winter, I couldn't taste any pineapple in it.  It has a long lasting refreshing aftertaste.

[fyliu]

The first time I ate one my mouth had a refreshing slightly minty aftertaste.
Some people, like myself, don't eat the skin because of the texture and acidity.

[greenman62]

so, i did a bit of reading, since i have 1 seedling about 3ft tall
 -from toptrops.... i have no idea if its a named cultivar ?
it appears it will need a mate, unless i hand pollinate.
it seems, depending on the area, birds do most of the pollination... strange.

anyone know where i can get a cheap seedling / 3gal or so ?
i dont want to spend too much, since i have no idea if this will hold fruit.
they say it will abort them at high temps., also, pollination problems etc...
------------------------

    ///   (Just a few snippets... more on the site)    ///

Feijoas are hardy and tolerant to temperature extremes from -7°C to 40°C.
Flower production is poor in areas with fewer than 50 hours of chilling. Optimum number of chilling hours is 100-200.
Feijoas prefer cool winters and moderate summers (25°C to 33°C).
The flavour of the fruit is much better in cool areas.
Without any pruning, the shrub may reach 4.6m (15 ft) high and 4.6m (15 ft) across.
A healthy mature feijoa tree can produce around 200kg of fruit each season.
Some grafted cultivars of feijoa are self-fertile. Most are not, and require a pollinator.

While the tree is renowned for its drought resistance, the fruit need a lot of water to set and can drop due to high temperatures and low water.
Labels state that trees will fruit after three years, but some trees can take longer to mature. I’ve also read that if a tree does take longer to mature and fruit, then it is often a very heavy bearer as a result.

SEEDLINGS VS GRAFTED CULTIVARS
 I find forums littered with comments from people whose trees have not flourished, not flowered and not fruited. The response is uniform: they have most likely purchased a seedling and will do much better if they try a grafted named cultivar.

Chilling hours – it’s a reality that feijoa plants require 50-100 hours of cold or chill to set the fruit. Their natural climate is temperate highlands, so they simply do not fruit in warmer or really cold climates.
Heat – particularly in Australia, days of excessive heat in the 40s are highly damaging to fruit crops
Nitrogen – most plants need nitrogen, however, nitrogen causes excessive vegetative growth and can result in a potassium deficiency causing fruit to drop. Read the labels and avoid N-based fertiliser around fruit production time.

https://feijoafeijoa.wordpress.com/growing-feijoas/

[stuartdaly88]

so, i did a bit of reading, since i have 1 seedling about 3ft tall
 -from toptrops.... i have no idea if its a named cultivar ?
it appears it will need a mate, unless i hand pollinate.
it seems, depending on the area, birds do most of the pollination... strange.

anyone know where i can get a cheap seedling / 3gal or so ?
i dont want to spend too much, since i have no idea if this will hold fruit.
they say it will abort them at high temps., also, pollination problems etc...
------------------------

    ///   (Just a few snippets... more on the site)    ///

Feijoas are hardy and tolerant to temperature extremes from -7°C to 40°C.
Flower production is poor in areas with fewer than 50 hours of chilling. Optimum number of chilling hours is 100-200.
Feijoas prefer cool winters and moderate summers (25°C to 33°C).
The flavour of the fruit is much better in cool areas.
Without any pruning, the shrub may reach 4.6m (15 ft) high and 4.6m (15 ft) across.
A healthy mature feijoa tree can produce around 200kg of fruit each season.
Some grafted cultivars of feijoa are self-fertile. Most are not, and require a pollinator.

While the tree is renowned for its drought resistance, the fruit need a lot of water to set and can drop due to high temperatures and low water.
Labels state that trees will fruit after three years, but some trees can take longer to mature. I’ve also read that if a tree does take longer to mature and fruit, then it is often a very heavy bearer as a result.

SEEDLINGS VS GRAFTED CULTIVARS
 I find forums littered with comments from people whose trees have not flourished, not flowered and not fruited. The response is uniform: they have most likely purchased a seedling and will do much better if they try a grafted named cultivar.

Chilling hours – it’s a reality that feijoa plants require 50-100 hours of cold or chill to set the fruit. Their natural climate is temperate highlands, so they simply do not fruit in warmer or really cold climates.
Heat – particularly in Australia, days of excessive heat in the 40s are highly damaging to fruit crops
Nitrogen – most plants need nitrogen, however, nitrogen causes excessive vegetative growth and can result in a potassium deficiency causing fruit to drop. Read the labels and avoid N-based fertiliser around fruit production time.

https://feijoafeijoa.wordpress.com/growing-feijoas/

The flower petals are succulent and slightly sweet(greet in salads!) Birds love to eat the petals and i assume their crop feathers transfer pollen this way:)

[pschill444@aol.com]

have had good luck with cuttings taken in Nov.-Dec. , if space is limited try adding a rooted cutting to your potted plant or grafting later.       Patrick

[fyliu]

Patrick, you take the cuttings to root or graft?
I've had success grafting but haven't tried rooting.

[barath]

Just to weigh in on the seedling vs. cultivar question with pineapple guava -- I recently attended Mark Albert's (the CRFG Feijoa expert) talk and he went into some detail about how he thinks that many of the problems of self infertility, poor fruit, etc. have been bred out of pineapple guavas now, and that nurseries haven't caught up.  He pointed out that some of the cultivars they're propagating are ones from many decades ago when there wasn't much Feijoa diversity in California nor had much selection taken place.

That means that your best bet is to start with fruit from a good variety (such as one of his selections -- the various "Albert" varieties) and then grow from seed.  Not only is it much easier than rooting or grafting (which is generally a pain with Feijoa), but you'll get more plants and advance the process of selecting new fruits.

For a while I had been trying to collect "good" cultivars, but now I'm taking his advice and planting seeds from good fruit.