I think the nursery listed is in Bulgaria.
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My experience growing them in west Oregon is they are much hardier than the labels suggest. Mine have lived through ice storms, heavy snow and lots of frost with temps into the low teens and never showed any signs of stress.
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@csirogeza I managed to found the EX Czech nursey:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170323095923/http://exoticfruitplants.eu/index.php?route=product/category&path=69
They used to have another .cz domain, which closed and re-directed to the above pages. All of them are closed now and Iâm not sure whether operate by another name and domain link.
Never the less, if you browse the page they do advertise that their plants grow outdoors in Czechia, which it does makes sense, since Feijoas were commercially cultivated and produced in several East European and Caucasus countries, like Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan to name a few.
The main challenge here would be to find some willing greenhouse to import those varieties.
In any case, there are some awesome members such as @jsteph00921 , where hopefully could sent and trade some seeds from their frost tolerant fruits instead.
I have also looked for the Polish nursery but I was unable to locate their link or name, I do recall that operated under a Polish name and didnât offer any options to purchase their plants in English. Hopefully some Polish member can be more insightful.
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So do you grow them yourself? Of course you are in 9b so frost tolerance isnât too big a concern for you.
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I grow feijoas in an arid/Mediterranean area, but I also know people growing them in much colder areas in Greece, with at least -16C for several nights, they survive and also bear fruits on the same year.
The same applies in ex Soviet countries, but I donât have any direct sources to link with. Wishfully other members can jump in an share their experiences.
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I started this thread long ago and have been trying to grow feijoas outside again so far with success (my plants even bloomed for the first time outside). I know 2 people who have fruiting feijoas in Austria (and of course Hungary).
The Czech nursery you were mentioning is not really operating anymore. The owner doesnât have time to do it since he lives/work abroad now. Lots of orders were unfilled (but paid) in the past so itâs reputation is not the best. I think the ownerâs brother still sells plant but small scale.
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Thank you for letting us known Paul, we were also trying to make purchases when he used to operate by a different name, but it was very hard to do business with him.
In case those people in Austria and Hungary would like to share some insight for fellow growers in similar climates, that will be amazing.
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I had several mature Nazemetz, several Coolidge and one Mammoth here in Texas 8a. They were all fine to about 10F. Had a bad winter to 0F for two days. Killed the Mammoth. Top killed the others. One or two Nazametzâs and a Cooledge didnât die all the way to the ground with the thick lower trunks surviving. Note there was snow and some leaves around the base in those cases likely providing some insulation. The other Nazemetz and Coolidge trees with no snow or leaves around the base were killed to the ground. They grew back either from the surviving trunk or from the underground part of the trunk. Mammoth was completely killed. So in an extreme cold if you at least insulate the base of the tree (or the whole bush if small) you can probably save some of the trunk. Saving some of the trunk resulted in a very robust regrowth in one year back to a good size bush. The ones killed to the ground grew back but not quite as fast, so took two years for those to be back at a good size bush. We just had an 8F freeze this winter for a day and just in case I put a tarp over them as this temp is borderline for tree top survival. Seemed to work (or 8F is not low enough to top kill, donât know which). So Mammoth is more cold sensitive probably to around 10F from my experience as it has survived this but may be the limit. The others may handle a few degrees lower than 10F, but 0F it will total top kill. If you get below 10F put tarps over them if you can as it may help. 0F it would probably be a good idea to bury the plant in mulch or dirt as high as you can get it. The more the trunk above ground survives the faster the grow back. Hope this is helpful. I wasnât aware of how cold sensitive they were so foolishly didnât protect at 0F. Now if below 10 I drag out the tarps just to be safe and/or help as much of the tree survive as possible. These trees were about 6 years old. If you have a small young bush they might be more cold sensitive, but even my small plants survived 10F along the way. If the plant is young and thus small it would be easier to mulch up to the top of the plant. Of course remove the mulch as the cold snap passes. Snow itself has not really hurt these, so some snow cover over them probably can provide some insulation thus might be a good idea to leave the snow in place and not brush it off the plants even though this may bend branches down even breaking some. I have not had large amounts of snow to test how well it works as a whole plant insulator. As an aside ice storms when the temps were in the teens may damage some branches and cause some leaves to die, but otherwise has not hurt the plants. In this case it is a good idea to get out there and get some of the ice off the branches to prevent breakage when it is not at a kill temperature. That was my very frustrating experience. Those trees were making a lot of Feijoas every year so hated having to wait for them to grow back but at least they grew back relatively fast.
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Yes, feijoa grows back rampantly from cold, breakage, or pruning. There are so many sprouts from below the damage point that I thin them to the strongest few sprouts.
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Thank you for your report Darby64! I am in 8A Texas also and currently growing 3 seedlings from Fruitwood Nursery. I plan to keep them in containers for now. I had 3 others in pots but lost them to winter storm Uri in 2021.
How is the fruit quality given our summer heat?
Also, when do they typically ripen for you?
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Iâm also in 8A, and got some from fruitwood. I was impressed with the size and price.
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Fruitwood Nursery seedlings are already flowering for me after 18 months or so. Iâm growing them in containers. Moved them to the garage only when temps dipped below 25F or so this past winter. Since all 3 had some flowers I was able to cross pollinate with a small paint brush. Keeping my fingers crossed!
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We experienced our first frost in East Tennessee about two weeks ago and some of the leaves on my Kaiteri turned to a dark purple/black color. Is this assumed frost damage cosmetic in which the leaves turn green again and donât proceed to fall off after more frosts?
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You should have waited with the planting after the winter. Yes it is cold damage, the leaves will most likely fall off later. I would consider putting it back in pot and replanting in April or soâŚ
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How cold did it get during this freeze? My feijoa hedge was exposed to many hours at 15 degrees last winter and had no problems. Some people have told me the damage can be difficult to see, but if there was any it wasnât discoloration like you noticed on yours. And they had a robust growing season and produced many fruits this autumn. This week they have been exposed to 5 nights in a row with temps below 25 and have no cold stress whatsoever. Even the fruit was undamaged.
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The early morning low was about 28 degrees, and I found a recorded morning temp at the beginning of this month of 21 degrees shortly after I planted it. The other 4 cultivars appear completely fine as well as my 2 seedlings in pots outside. No leaves have dropped yet, but if I notice a string of temps in the teens, I might have to place some large buckets over them at night for protection.
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Sudden variation in temperature can cause problems â more than just the absolute low temperature.
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The implication is the Midazolam06 plants were put in-ground in October.
Zone 7a may cause dieback in some years for feijoa planted in open ground.
The flowering potential is said to be affected at higher temperatures than the foliage.
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Do you find that the smaller leaves at the tips of the branches get slightly yellowish or lighter green during the winter in the Pacific Northwest?
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