Tracking Feijoa in the PNW

Thanks for your list! Good to know that VdeB tastes so good. I started one last year. Also started a Lattarula …but no fruit yet.
My only other start is Acciano. It has one figlet, still hard as a rock. Hoping it will make it in time.

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August 15. Continuing to gain some size. These are my most advanced varieties. Others are a bit behind.



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I found this one had dropped off. Rather disappointing.

Damage to that stem end indicates an animal may be involved. Squirrels will go after anything green and roundish, like nuts, quince, bay tree fruits, and feijoa. I have been concealing my best feijoa fruits the past few years with squares of bubble wrap and rubber bands.

One night years ago there was an opossum in the bush. Most years their scat is in the yard.

Unlike catalog descriptions, feijoa is not pest free. Mammals, birds, plant bugs and weevils all take their turn on various parts of the bush. At least we do not have the fruit fly specific to the fruit like in NZ/AUS.

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Yes, a squirrel was seen digging near the plant involved. I will start bagging the few fruit I have.

I currently have two ‘Apollo’ fruits wrapped, it is the first fruiting year for that bush.

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Status August 27th

Kaiteri

Kakariki

Abbadabba

8 ball

Arhart

Takaka

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Those are similar to the current size range of my fruit in Portland.
Will have to graduate to 50-cents or dollar coins soon.
Sprinkler has been running under the bush for about 2 hours.

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Envious of all the beauty and fruit! I’m in coastal far nor-cal and have 3 year old Alberts Pride, Alberts Supreme, Alberts Joy, Edenvale Improved Coolidge and two 4 year old seedlings. While they are very healthy, and I hope growing appropriately for their age, I have had no blossoms on anybody yet. Cry for me.
So at what age did y’all start seeing the first blooms? For me the fruit is secondary, never tasted one, but those are some pretty blooms!

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Your grafted trees should start producing next year. Seedlings may also start fruiting soon since they are already quite mature. maybe in 1-2 years.

I have one seedling that started producing this year but the fruit appears to be stalled in its growth.

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‘Apollo’ first bloom in year 5, Christmas tree+ size. Purchased as 2-foot tall, tiny-branches.

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@LarryGene, was it a grafted tree or seedling?
My Apollo bloomed one year after grafting as did nearly all my other feijoas.

None of my grafts from early spring 2021 flowered this year, but neither did the bush they are growing on (which might be a seedling or rooted cutting/air layer, the seller wasn’t even sure since he bought it wholesale as just a “feijoa”). The fact that @LarryGene’s Apollo (which I assume is grafted) took that long, while @ramv’s grafts usually flower in their first year, makes me wonder what exactly triggers feijoas to flower. Do you use any particular fertilizers that might be promoting earlier flowering?

I usually use a low middle number fertilizer (low P) which in theory should promote foliage and strong roots.
Feijoa generally get the urea (45-0-0) treatment. But the ground was already very fertile to start with.

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I don’t know the propagation method for either of my bushes.
‘Apollo’ was purchased from OGW, someone there may know.
There was no obvious graft junction.

I have never fertilized either bush; the entire planting area was amended.
‘Apollo’ has grown like a weed every year.

One amendment component was 4-way soil mix that includes cow manure,
but the odor was faint and the nutrient numbers are likely in the low single digits.

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Nikita fruit are runting out. As usual. 3rd year in a row.
My largest and most mature bush. I will rip it out next year if this continues.

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I saw a very large feijoa bush in a front yard next to Alki Beach over the weekend, and it looked like it was dropping nearly 100% of the fruit at the same runty stage. Don’t know the variety, though. I thought maybe it wasn’t being watered enough, but maybe it was just Nikita or some other variety not suited to our climate.

Instead of ripping it out, you should graft Larry’s variety onto it! I should be able to share a couple small scions in the spring.

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Its very disappointing as it is supposed to be a very early variety.

Meanwhile the abbadabba next to it has decent sized fruit. Some other varieties have sizes similar to California grown fruit!

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My Nikita and Mammoth have flowered for maybe 3 years now but haven’t sized up and matured any fruit :frowning:

I bicycled around the neighborhood this afternoon to check on known feijoa bushes in front yards and parking strips. Literally ‘tracking’ feijoa. This is about 2 months post-bloom, viable fruit should be evident by now. This is in a 10x10 city block area, about 1/4 square mile.

Of 5 locations and 9 bushes total:
bushes varied from 3x5 to 10x12 feet
the largest bush had heavily bloomed, all others had light to no bloom
the largest bush had no viable fruit
6 total bushes had no viable fruit
2 bushes had scattered fruits, 1 to 2 dozen
1 bush had one fruit

only one location with 2 bushes is well-tended (evidence of weeding and watering)
all 9 bushes had adequate to vigorous new 2022 growth of good color

It has not rained here in 63 days.

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