I’m going to plant one soon,near Seattle.
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For /Seattle | Portland fall planting, just keep some compost handy so you can put a few inches around the new planting if temps go under +25 for an extended period. And do the planting before the soil gets too wet in November rains.
If you currently have a potted plant, I would wait until spring as there will be very little root growth before then and the pot should suffice for now.
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I have several grafted varieties in small (1 gallon) pots. Is it necessary to protect the pots from cold temperatures (like 20F that we get in the middle of winter?)
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Yes, that is too cold for small 1-gallon pots. Even if the roots do not freeze, there may be extensive burning of the leaves and the plant would have to do double-duty next spring: re-leaf and grow more roots. Green leaves feed root growth.
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I’m going to plant 2-3 feijoa in the ground soon. In the front yard because they are such attractive shrubs. Hopefully the neighbors won’t notice the edible crop (ha, ha). What do you recommend for spacing? Is 8 to 10’ on center reasonable spacing? (I have a small yard). Also, I want to prune them to 7 feet tall so I don’t need a ladder. Does this sound reasonable or are you harvesting 100% of them from the ground?
Also, are you finding that squirrels, rats, voles or raccoons eat most of your crop? Thanks much!
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Your proposed spacing is fine. Feijoa are often planted as a hedgerow with adjacent plants eventually overlapping. So I suppose 3 or 4 feet would be the minimum.
Keeping to 7 feet tall should still allow plenty of lower branching and fruit production.
Ground harvest is fine, as fruit recently on the ground are definitely ripe, but will bruise unless the ground is soft via grass or thick mulch. Fruit is also ripe when it easily comes off the bush when bent sideways. This of course requires test-bending each fruit. If ground is soft, easier to just shake the bush and see what falls.
Squirrels here are a pest of feijoa. They do not consume them but shred them into tiny pieces looking for fat or oils, like in a nut.
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Does using another fruit, an avocado, see the fruit size of this 4 year old seedling better?
So, what do you think ?
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I think your fruit compares equally in size to an avocado, and is good-looking fruit.
Also, the picture is a good example of the varying shapes of feijoa fruit on the same bush.
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Did you get a chance to measure the sweetness/brix?
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No, I didn’t weigh the sugar.
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That’s Pretty early. They aren’t anywhere close to this size here.
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This is on a young 31.5 inch plant grafted in September 2022. This is big for a 1 year old plant grafted.
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Beautiful. How does it taste?
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Gadzooks! Feijoa ripening in the North of France before those in the USA. I would love to know what the secret is. All the studies I saw said that heat makes the fruit ripen prematurely before they develop full size and flavor.
But you’re cooler than Portland, and much cooler than the Southeast usa or southern California…
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Yes there are several parameters which explain this fact a little.
We had a lot of heat this year. Lots of 101 degree Fahrenheit heat waves.
This is not the only reason. This fruit is a Kakariki, a very early variety.
That’s not all.
The plant was grafted in September 2022, just before fall here. As a result, in the spring the grafts often produced buds… obviously no growth during vegetative rest. As a result, the young plants were in a greenhouse in spring. I went out after this flower.
The flower was about 15 days ahead of the outdoor plants.
The fruit as you see it grew in 1 month outdoors. But it fell into my hand while handling it. I hope I’m not the cause of the fall. That’s why I haven’t eaten it yet.
But it has fragrance, light in color. For me he is mature. But it’s its seeds that interest me. I pollinated it with Kakapo, a variety with a truly exceptional taste.
The plant is small, only 31.5 inches.
The fruit weighs 155 grams. This is a pretty fruit for such a small plant.
The other fruits of all other varieties are still at the stage of growing outdoors.
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Has anyone planted any feijoa plants about seven feet away from black walnut trees? I planted a couple of seedlings roughly that distance away and they’ve grown just fine over the last five months, but I’ll be replacing them with smaller, named cultivars next week and I’m hoping that they’ll be tolerant of the juglone that the walnut trees produce and endure the competition for nutrients.
I haven’t myself, but @ramv grows more varieties of feijoa than anyone on here (maybe?) and he’s got a huge black walnut.
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The West Coast black walnut is a different species from that in the U.S. south.
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