Or I like to make them when they aren’t! This is a run of the mill Pineapple Guava. Now I need to track the cultivar!
It is most likely a seedling rather than a named cultivar. If you like it, you can name it. (Or name it in advance if you have extra names to burn)
An unclear variety…hmmm…I name it…murky 
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Thank you for the guffaw!
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I was out for a walk today. I noticed just now the apartment complex on my way has Pineapple Guavas planted all over. Never seen fruit though!
During bloom time,maybe take a small paintbrush and transfer a little pollen between the plants. Brady
I agree with Jafar that it’s most likely a seedling. It may take 5–6 years for a seedling to start fruiting and chances that fruit will be any good are below 20%. Also, at least a couple different varieties are needed for pollination (with few exceptions like Coolidge which is partly self-fertile).
From what I read, grafting feijoa is not too difficult and usual cleft should work pretty good. I have 12 named varieties, so you know who to ask for scionwood if you decide to topwork your “standard”. 
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They do take time to fruit. We have a hedge of them I planted 4 years ago. Just this last season we finally got some fruit. Tried hand pollinating…doesnt help. Despite what I read they must handle pollination on their own because I did none last year and still got a nice fruit set.
Stan, you da man! 
I think you already have a named variety. Monrovia is known for the variety “Pineapple Gem”. You might just call Monrovia and ask, but I believe they propagate by cuttings. Feijoa is very very slow growing from seed. A 1yr old plant is generally about 6-9" tall and thin as a toothpick.
Thanks Scott. I emailed Monrovia. Let’s see if I get a response.
Pineapple Gem is suppose to be a very good variety according to the CRFG and may be the round one shown in Bill Merrill’s(aka GreenGardenGuy1) video about them.I’ve tasted that and the fruit was delicious.
I’d really like to get cuttings of PG.Maybe I’ll ask Bill.
I’ve also propagated a cutting of mine using fog or mist and will do some more this year. Brady
Stan, what varieties do you have? Tell me more about grafting. I tried one time with zero success. The bark is so flaky and thin, and they are evergreens. Very different than the things I am used to grafting.
I believe most of the commercially sold cultivars are on their own roots.
I have a few seedlings plus I think Nikita, Mammoth, Coolidge and maybe Robert and Nazemetz. I don’t recall exactly. The named cultivars are small and in varying health.
Yeah, I’ve grown from seed. They aren’t difficult to get going, but they are very slow. Its fun if you have the time, or are already set up.
I have Apollo, Abbadabba, Albert’s Supreme, Edenvale Supreme, Flavia, Mammoth, Marion, Moore, Nazemetz (2 bushes), Nikita, Our Best Round, Triumph, and three seedlings from Rolling River. Abbadabba and Albert’s Supreme are Mark Albert’s selections, Flavia is Don Polensky’s selection, Our Best Round is Menlo Growers’ selection. Seven bushes (Apollo, Abbadabba, Albert’s Supreme, Edenvale Supreme, Flavia, Marion, Moore) have been planted about a month and a half ago, I bought them from Patrick Schafer at the CRFG exchange in Santa Rosa. The rest have been planted two years ago (spring 2014). Only Mammoth has fruited already (two fruits last year). I didn’t do any hand pollination.
All trees grown by Patrick Schafer are grafted on a seedling rootstock. By Patrick’s instructions, I planted them with the graft union below the soil level (to avoid suckers from the rootstock), so now you would not be able to distinguish them from a tree propagated from a cutting.
Here is some info I found online and in other sources about feijoa grafting and other propagation methods.
Temperate and Subtropical Fruit Production - Google Books
“Cleft and whip grafting of seedling stocks, once they have reached pencil thickness, has been suggested. Graft union formation may be assisted if the plants are kept in a worm (25°C) mist/fog environment. The rooting of woody material has been reported as difficult and research has shown softwood cuttings, taken at the appropriate time, might be more successful.”
“Hardier than you think. The Pineapple Guava,” by Jack E. Rice, Laurinburg, North Carolina. Fruit Gardener, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Reprinted in Fruit Gardener, Vol. 48, No. 1):
“Simple cleft grafting in early spring with fresh equal diameter wood is very satisfactory, but I have had little success with scionwood mailed to me. Dormant hardwood cuttings have been a complete failure, but I have some success with cuttings taken in early fall.”
Farm Questions Answered: Agriculture, Horticulture - Google Books
We have found the budding of the feijoa to be practically impossible The only successful way of propagating seems to be grafting. The ordinary cleft graft seems to be the best. This we do from December to February.
http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1993-vol-106/134-139%20(SHARPE).pdf
See the “Propagation” section on page 137. In particular:
“Cleft or whip grafts, as for camellias protected by covers, have been quite successful; however, suckering is common and must be guarded against.”
https://www.hitpages.com/doc/4897847694589952/12/
“Cuttings. Leafy softwood cuttings treated with auxin and started under closed frames can be rooted. Rooting under mist is usually quite difficult, otherwise layering can be successful.
Grafting. Scions are grafted to feijoa seedlings using a whip graft or a cleft graft.”
Feijoa
“In France and New Zealand-ground-layering is practiced and rooting occurs in 6 months. Air-layering is usually successful and the layers will fruit the second year. Whip-, tongue-, and veneer-grafting on own rootstock the thickness of a pencil (about 2 years old) gives a low percentage of “takes” but grafted plants will bear in 2 years. Feijoa cuttings are said to be hard to root, but in England and Auckland cuttings are preferred. Young wood from branch tips will root in 1 to 2 months with bottom heat. If placed in sand in a glass-covered box in full sun and kept well watered, they will root in 10 days. In New Zealand, growers are advised to take 4 to 6 in (10-15 cm) cuttings of side shoots in late summer, cutting close to the firm base or pulling off with a heel of older wood which is then trimmed off; and a hormone rooting agent is applied.”
http://www.lifestyleblock.co.nz/index.php/forum/plant-growing-propagating-tips/22294-feijoas (info from Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture):
“Cuttings can be successfully rooted under glass. They should be of young wood from the ends of branches, and about 4 inches in length. Inserted in clear sand over bottom heat they will strike roots in a month or two; without bottom heat they root very slowly. It is sometimes advised to keep them covered with bell-jars until they have formed roots. Layering is used in France to perpetuate choice forms. It is somewhat tedious, but more certain than any other vegetative means of propagation. Those branches which are closest to the ground are bent down and covered with soil for the space of 3 to 6 inches. They require no care except to keep the soil fairly moist, and they will root in six months. Whip-grafting and veneer-grafting are successfully practised under glass, using as stocks seedling feijoas of the diameter of a lead pencil. The scions should be of about the same diameter and of young but firm wood.”
A comparative study of young feijoa trees propagated by different methods:
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Stan,
If that is an open invitation to some of your varieties sometime,I’d like to try grafting and or propagating like what is shown in your information post.
Thanks for the info also. Brady
Brady, sure, I most probably will have some wood available for next winter/early spring.
Excellent post Stan, thanks for sharing and putting in the effort of adding the links too.
Do you have any variety descriptions of the Polensky and, Menlo Grower, and Albert selections?
What did you think of the Mammoth fruit? Have you had other feijoa?
The best fruit I’ve had are from a local forum member who has what is presumably a seedling tree. I’ve probably tried feijoa on 12-15 other occasions. Most of them weren’t worth eating, but neither are most apples. I don’t hold that against the species.
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I’ve seen a few brief comments about Albert’s selections on forums and blogs here and there; this one I saved to my records (don’t remember the exact source): “Albert’s Supreme is considered by some as the best of Mark Albert’s cultivars, combining the great flavor and texture of his original selection, Albert’s Pride, with a larger fruit size.” No specific info about the taste of Polensky and Menlo Growers selections, so I’m just looking forward to tasting fruit from my plants when they start producing.
I ate a spread made of feijoa fruit in Israel and it tasted great. However, I don’t know which cultivar it was made of (it was a few years ago when I knew nothing about feijoas, so this was a complete novelty to me). I don’t have much experience to compare against, but the Mammoth fruit from my tree were very enjoyable. I waited until each fruit dropped to the ground, to make sure they were completely ripe. Large oval fruit, smooth skin, excellent aroma, very good taste, not gritty.
Hi I was wondering if anyone knows where I could buy any of the Albert’s Supreme feijoa plants?
Thanks,
Ed Self
Walburg, Texas