I bought one of these about two years ago and I think too much Summer sun killed the plant.Last year I purchased another from Raintree Nursery.Earlier this Spring,I saw one at a major Seattle area plant sale and took the shrub home.It wasn’t until walking to my car with the plant,that I saw tiny pink balls all over the stems.I’ve never seen them flower and this is how they start.
I’m really looking forward to trying the berries.After all,they were the favorite fruit of one of the Queen’s of England,so they must be tasty,right?Also,most reports are very positive.Does anyone in this forum,grow this or have tried the fruit? Brady
Raintree Nursery plant and first time flowering.Both will stay potted and be put in a heated greenhouse during the Winter,as from what I understand,15-20F is the lowest they can take.
I bought a Chilean Guava at Tsugawa nursery in 2013. I planted it in the ground. It survived the coldest winter in history here in Battleground Washington without protection. Down to 8F if I recall correctly. There was some freeze damage, maybe 25% of the weaker looking stems. No variety name, just “Monrovia”. Last winter was milder, and there was no damage. My hungry deer dont touch it. It has never bloomed so you are way ahead of me.
That’s good to hear about the plant withstanding the low temperature.My plants didn’t fruit yet,probably still too young.
I am attempting to propagate some cuttings. Brady
Interesting Bear, the two I bought and planted in Vancouver died over winter. Maybe I’ll try again. I think I may have gotten a berry or two and thought it was worthwhile. I wonder how hard they are to propagate. I assome they are seedlings so some may be hardier than others.
I have a couple of bushes for a few months, planted in the ground. Too early to tell how well they will fruit here in Northern California and how good are the berries.
Murky I searched Monrovia’s site to identify the variety for this one and failed to discover it. Mine is fairly slow growing, but I do neglect it. It did not get much water this hot summer. The leaves look tough and stiff, not tasty for my deer. You are welcome to some cuttings. I dont know if they grow from cuttings. Maybe I will try too.
From what I read, some need a pollenizing variety and some dont. The flowers themselves are reportedly sweet and tasty.
The trouble with impulse buying is I dont research ahead, on things like what needs a pollinizer. During my recent trip to One Green World, I brought my I-pad and stood around searching on each tree that I thought was interesting. They probably were annoyed at me but no one said anything about it.
Murky, are you aware of any nurseries that offer money trees? That might be an option.
Here is a link to article about Chilean Guava. Apparently there are 2 sub-groups. And, apparently can grow easily from either seeds or cuttings. I also read elsewhere that Queen Victoria liked them.
Is the Chilean Guava close to the feijoa in cold tolerance? I have always wanted to grow them but thought our winters too cold. My feijoa never gets damage but my satuma citrus has been getting hammered the last several winters. Where does it stand in respect to feijoa and satsuma?
I think I just made a big mistake here. I was thinking Pineapple guava / Feijoa which on searcing on the internet is not the same as the Chilean guava. I’m sorry for the error.
Everything I said about my plant, it’s really Pineapple guava.
I’m still kind of confused but in the searches they look different.
Murky, the neighborhood deer would eat my money tree.
I understand, I was originally looking at buying cattley guava but decided it was not cold hardy enough. It looks like Chilean might work for my location. Strawberry, Cattley, Pineapple, Chilean and the tropical guava makes things confusing.
Feijoa take a few years to produce. If you want growth do what I did and give it 10-10-10 and then my dad mistakenly hit it again with 34-00-00 when he was doing the lawn. That small 2 year old bush grew 3 feet that year. I do think you need 2 for pollination, may want to get another just to be sure.
Pineapple Guava are very likable too.I have a Coolidge and a no name that fruited a little for the first time this year.The Coolidge is suppose to be self fertile,but I dispersed their pollen between themselves.They are about the only fruit I grow, that’s hanging on right now and are in an unheated greenhouse,which they probably need this far North to ripen.One fell off the Coolidge last week,it was left to soften a few days at room temperature and was very sweet. Brady
Oh, bummer. Feijoa is definitely hardy here and I have several. Two of them are still holding a couple of their first fruit, but didn’t ripen before the cold. Hopefully next year I’ll get some.
After hearing from multiple people that their Chilean guavas died in locations where they should be hardy I’ve developed a theory. I had planted mine on slopes in two locations with the allegedly less hardy variegated form being planted at the cooler of the two locations. They did well (one died a few years after planting from lack of summer irrigation after I moved away though). At first I thought it was the great drainage provided by the slopes that helped them reliably over winter. However, now I’m beginning to suspect it may have more to do with cold air draining away than water draining away. I got a more cold hardy selection that is still in a large pot located on flat ground and it had a fair bit of leaf loss and browning this winter despite my variegated one on a slope nearby being 100% unphazed by our harsher than usual winter.
I had two Chilean Guava, both were Kapow, they were evergreen and seemed like strong plants, one fruited first leaf and the other didn’t, so self fertile probably. I had them in heavy shade.
The fruit were tiny berries, the inside flesh of the fruit was sweet and aromatic, the skin was very peppery and also resinous like kerosine taste.
I pulled them both out and replaced with gooseberries.
Weird. My variegated one finally made a few fruits for the first time last year after a few years in ground. I got to taste a couple that I think were under-ripe based on color, but I thought they were pretty good. I suppose like anything there will be flavor differences from one cultivar to the next. Mine was also self fertile since it was the only clone blooming last year (my other clone hasn’t bloomed yet).
I’m not sure if they were perfectly ripe but I tasted them weekly and at their peak palatability, they were no good to me. Could be Kapow, or growing in shade, but the resin flavour stuck around way too long for me.
