I live in Germany on the Baltic coast (USDA 8b). In winter it can get as cold as 5 F / -15 °C for short periods. As we have a large garden, I would like to try growing feijoas along a high, south-facing stone wall. I have already ordered 2 plants of the Nikita variety. A high cold tolerance, early ripening and a very good taste of the fruit are particularly important to me. What I am missing, however, is another pollinator variety that has similar characteristics to those already mentioned. Early ripening varieties are easy to find on the internet (e.g. Mammoth, Kakariki or Arhart) but these varieties are either not sufficiently cold-resistant or are difficult to obtain within the EU (often only NZ or USA). I therefore have the following questions:
With two Nikita plants, do I necessarily need another variety for cross-pollination or can these two plants also pollinate each other for better fruit quality?
Which varieties can you recommend for the growing conditions mentioned?
Can a self-pollinating variety also pollinate a variety that is dependent on cross-pollination?
I am near Mannheim, also trying with 2 x Nikita (already in the ground). Before purchasing them, I was thinking of Marion and Mammoth, as they seem to be the next in terms of cold hardiness (and availability in Europe!).
And an encouraging video, in case you have not seen it:
There are supposedly Feijoa growing also in the Botanical Gardens of Heidelberg and Weinheim.
Thank you very much for your quick reply, Ariticu! Yes, I already knew that video. Very edifying! Unfortunately, in the video is not mentioned which variety it is. Or is it?
The variety Marion (medium ripening variety) is certainly also one of the more cold hardy varieties, but the variety Mammoth (early ripening variety) is said by some in this forum not to be as cold hardy as, for example, Coolidge or Nikita.
In Europe, you probably have to make a deal to either choose a sufficiently cold hardy but medium ripening variety if you are looking for a suitable pollinator for Nikita. Or you have to deal with only medium taste.
But what about pollination between two Nikitas? As far as I understand cross-pollination, any other feijoa plant will do. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a different variety, does it? That would be the solution.
No, in the video he mentions no variety, I assume it is just a random seedling. I am not far away, I may go there in autumn to get a fruit and see whether I can germinate the seeds.
Many thanks for the good explanation evilpaul and thanks also to you sub for the interesting link! After this, Unique seems to be a good, self-fertilized variety. However, it ripens about four weeks later than Kakariki and Nikita. This could already be too late for our temperate zone.
Somewhere in the Internet i read a short commentary from a gardener that Nikita seems to be at least partially self-fertile because he only had one plant and it bore fruit. However, this does not seem to be the optimal solution, as the fruit quality and quantity obviously suffers under that conditions.
I always come to the same conclusion: the Kakariki variety would be probably the most suitable for me. Its frost hardiness is similar to that of Nikita. It is also one of the earliest ripening varieties and the taste of the fruit is good. Does anyone know anyone in the EU who has one or two of these plants for sale?
Obviously the sweet guavas are the only one worth to grow under my opinion ( it doesn’t matter the climate zone) When the people start to built their orchards is an usual mistake to buy whatever guava/feijoa variety and later realize is awful , I did such mistake and already removed some plants.
Nikita is easy to find in Europe,
Unique is also sweet but smaller than Nikita.
Kaiteri looks to be as interesting as Kakariki, however seems not to be available in Europe, if someone know where ……thank you in advance
There is a quite active Italian Feijoa FB group. They discuss many interesting varieties, including Kakariki. I have no FB account, but maybe someone may be interested in asking around there:
I also have 2 Nikitas from the Spaniard and the fertilizer problem. The Marian from Mesarburtes is tiny and 3 years behind the Nikitas in size. I couldn’t find Kakeriki or Kaiteri in Europe and nobody wants to send them to me from abroad (USA/Canada/Australia).
In the meantime, I have doubts as to whether Marian will flower early enough to fertilize Nikita.
I was also thinking about Apollo as a pollinator - but I don’t know whether Apollo is sufficiently frost-hardy. Does anyone have any experience?
If anyone has a source for an early-maturing, early-flowering, hardy feijoa variety, such as Kakariki, Kaiteri or another suitable variety, I would be very grateful.
