I don’t think anyone one the forum has had success with the species on the east coast. Mine died, @Gkight kept some on life support but even for his much more mild coastal climate they really struggle.
They’re a PNW kind of plant, like most Chilean species. On the east coast, the best odds would probably be in the southern Appalachins or coastal mid-Atlantic, somewhere still zone 7 or above but otherwise not hot. If you’re in 7b, then feijoa is probably the only guava option.
They do great in southern California as well, not just the PNW. Here in the northern part of the state, mine have taken a week over 100 degrees with barely any leaf burn. But nights here are much cooler than on the East Coast. A lot of our native plants become very susceptible to root rot if the soil stays wet while it’s hot. Maybe it’s the same with Chilean guava.
Oh ok that’s a very good data point. So it’s heat and moisture.
Maybe I’ll have to try one in a pot and use extremely well drained media. I hate to keep spending money on these things though haha
Ok, if I do, I’ll wait till the fall, that was it can establish in the pot before summer arrives. And that way I get to keep one alive for eight months instead of two months.
I wonder if its possible to graft Chilean guava onto a relative from warmer climates. That’s what people living in Eastern Australia do with western species of things like Banksias and Grevilleas. Makes it possible to grow winter-rainfall species in a summer-rainfall climate.
I had a few a couple of years ago. They were destroyed by rabbits and I didnt bother replacing them.
Chilean guava are pretty borderline even for PNW. I managed to keep the variegated one alive (western Washington, south of Seattle) for a few years and thought it was gonna stick around long term, but then one winter it just froze back and didn’t recover. After that, I planted the variety called ‘Villarica Strawberry’ which is a high elevation, “cold hardy” form. The first winter it was fine, second winter it froze nearly to the ground (it did grow back nicely after that though). This winter has been mild and it’s showing no damage, so I’m hoping to get a decent berry crop from it this year. I see nurseries are rating ‘Villarica Strawberry’ as hardy down to 7b, but I would say that it’s not worth growing below 8a unless it will be protected, and occasional winter damage should be expected even in 8a.
For me the issue has only been summers. They have shrugged off lows into the teens but our summer heat dries them out too quickly. My soil is also rather hydrophobic so it’s an uphill battle. One remains alive but time will tell. If this one goes I raise the white flag on growing it.