Feijoa in NJ zone 7a

[Nick C]

A little bit of protection has done wonders for these guys. Hoping they'll flower again this year after being dug up and transplanted from my heated greenhouse a couple years back.

nice plants, how were they doing in the heated greenhouse for u ?? I suppose they were fruitless since u dug them up ??

They were doing pretty good in there. Just got too big and were taking up valuable space. Also had a scale problem. One of the tress, a "Mammoth" variety, flowered the previous year before I dug it up. I'm thinking it will pick up again this season.

[vnomonee]

The inground feijoas are pushing leaves, they started doing so when it warmed up early this month. So def 6-7f does not kill them although they are very slow to come back.

I am noticing what looks like flower buds on both of my potted feijoas that I started leaving out in March, so it has acquired enough chill hours in zone 7a by doing this. I brought them in if temps were going to freeze (worried about the roots in the pots). But otherwise they were outside since then.

[vnomonee]

Hard to believe these were the same plants 2 years ago

[CarolinaZone]

I have 5 outside in 7b. They have been in the ground 4 years. They have flowered since year two. Maybe this year they will produce some fruit.

[vnomonee]

do you hand pollinate?

I have 5 outside in 7b. They have been in the ground 4 years. They have flowered since year two. Maybe this year they will produce some fruit.

[CarolinaZone]

Nope. I figured the bees or the wind would do it. They are planted in a circle 2 feet apart.

[vnomonee]

First flowers opened on one plant. Hand pollinated, hope these are self fertile.

[vnomonee]

Potted specimens are in full bloom. Not sure if my hand and cross pollination is doing anything. My tropical guava dropped flowers pretty quickly, within days, if they didn't become fruit.

Not noticing any swelling on the first flowers which were self pollinated but the petals have fallen off and the rest is still firmly attached to the stem.

Not pictured, in ground plants are in full leaf but no flower buds anywhere. Since they are all small, can't confirm if they are able to flower after freezing back just yet.

[buddy roo]

Anyone have success in the northeast?

These are all rooted cuttings from 2 plants that were listed as being 7a hardy (taking it with a grain of salt). Unknown variety, sold by 9Greenbox.



No damage so far with 20f, 16f, 18f over night, daily temps have been above freezing.

Tuesday will be interesting. Looks to be the coldest day and night combo so far

what was your method used to root your cuttings and at what time of year?

[vnomonee]

I made a post about that here

https://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=39016.msg415060#msg415060

[vnomonee]

Can confirm now hand pollination definitely will set fruit. These were the first cluster of flowers to open and the buds are noticeably swelling. I will update when fruit is mature.

[tedburn]

Can confirm now hand pollination definitely will set fruit. These were the first cluster of flowers to open and the buds are noticeably swelling. I will update when fruit is mature.

Did your fruit get ripe in z7 ? I' m also in z7 and have some years a Fejoa, which mastered already - 15° C and four frostdays and also set some fruits, but they didn' t get fully ripe up to now.

[vnomonee]

Not yet, have not been frosted either. Hoping they ripen this coming week there will be warm weather.

A picture of one the fruits last week, its actually gotten a little bigger since then. Between both potted plants I have a total of 15 fruit. If you look up "raregrowsNJ" on youtube I have a video showing how the fruit and the plants look right now.




same fruit, swelling up now:

[vnomonee]

Nothing ripe yet. I carefully planted them in the ground,  they were very root bound despite being up potted in the spring. I have no room for such a big evergreen plant in my grow tent this year. If nothing is ripe by Nov 17th I will have to cover them and heat with incandescent Christmas lights, night temps will start dropping below 30f read somewhere the fruit freezes at 28f and will be damaged. Since this variety is not named I'm not sure if the fruit is just late ripening or if being root bound and water starved slowed the growth of the fruit vs in the ground. 

crappy screenshot of a video I took

[vnomonee]

Updated forecast if they are not ripe by Nov 20th I'm picking them off and testing if they will ripen at all inside on the kitchem counter. The fruit actually grew more since the last picture, doesn't help with figuring out what variety it is but I'm assuming bigger fruit takes longer to ripen.

I have them covered with fabric now that still lets light in plus the christmas lights for heat which keeps it above freezing. Nov 20th is hard freeze in the low 20s /-6.6. Fruit freezes at 28f / -2.22. Don't think my lights will keep the trees and fruit above the freezing point, it only adds a few degrees of heating.

[Plantinyum]

Vnomonee, i am curious what happened to your feijoas that were planted next to the house? Any news on those, couldnt find an update on them in your tread.

[vnomonee]

Vnomonee, i am curious what happened to your feijoas that were planted next to the house? Any news on those, couldnt find an update on them in your tread.

The ones by the shed grew back new leaves after dropping everything but didn't flower, those were smaller than my potted plants so still can't say if they will flower after taking that much cold. I'll take a picture tomorrow

[vnomonee]

this morning Nov 2022:



last year before losing leaves:


Plants didn't really grow taller. I completey neglected them, did not even water during drought. They are a little wider than last year, the trunks are more covered with foliage.

[vnomonee]

The covered feijoas with fruit did not freeze this morning everything else not covered like the leaves on fig trees are frosted and damaged.


This is just heating from the lights on at 35f/1.66c off at 45f/7.22c:



outside temp:


inside temp:


So the fabric does provide a good amount of frost protection with heating. I might be able to leave the fruit past the date I planned. We'll see.
I hope my lazy experimenting is helpful to anyone thinking about zone pushing feijoas esp if the fruit does not ripen sooner like on my trees

[Plantinyum]

Thanks for the update!

[vnomonee]

Update: Fruit is mature.



I went to check the fruit today Nov 19th, gave each of them a gentle shake and they popped off cleanly! Would have dropped on their own probably in a couple of days. There were a couple even smaller ones that would not come off the tree so those will not mature in time. Because of the upcoming deep freeze I didn't want to risk damaged fruit if the protection was not sufficient.  I cut open one of the mature ones while still hard, there was clear jelly inside and fully developed seeds, flavor was slightly sweet but mostly sour. I ate the skin too and enjoyed it. At this stage it reminded me of an unripe/hard tropical guava (green skin white fleshed variety) but with better flavor.




I believe I have two different varieties based on the texture of the fruit the 2nd row from the other bush shows more pebbled skin. I did cross and self pollinate but forgot to label which ones were crossed I assume bigger ones are crossed.




I will leave these on the counter until they get soft and post a picture of the interior.

[Pokeweed]

We have 3 fiejoas in the ground that endured 9°F for close to 4 days with steady 15 or so mph wind most of the time. No damage. They are tough. D

[vnomonee]

Good to hear that they can take multiple days below freezing in the single digits. Did they flower and fruit after that 9f winter? 

We have 3 fiejoas in the ground that endured 9°F for close to 4 days with steady 15 or so mph wind most of the time. No damage. They are tough. D

[vnomonee]

Waitied until fragrant, about 3 days since picked. Opened a softer one this morning, the outside of the fruit smells medicinal and almost like mothballs or some kind of cleaner it's a familiar scent? Tried the inside jelly with the flesh, sweet and floral. Tried the whole fruit with the skin, very nice sour and sweet combo. I don't mind the skin at all atleast on whatever this variety is it's good. So while I did pick them before they dropped off the bushes, they were mature enough that they are able to ripen inside after a few days.

Freshly cut. Are they supposed to be more yellow? It did turn a little yellow after oxidizing. 


Gave another ripe one to my father who hasn't had a feijoa in 50 years since leaving Uruguay, he enjoyed it!

Last update:

Another ripe one. My ambient temps in the kitchen are in the 60s so they have lasted pretty long. This one is 8 days from picking and no signs of rot. It was soft and sweet.
More yellow inside: