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Hmm, still looks a little different from mine. Weāll have to swap seeds or something later on.
Iāve also got seeds started for P. logipetulatum and P. robustom, which should be respectively more and less hardy than P. cat. var. lit. (man that thing needs a good short nameā¦ The common name is what, like lemon strawberry guava? Sheesh.). Iām inclined to make crosses between the three of them, and then trial the F2s for hardiness.
Iām about to be an even worse influence: theyāre not self-fertile, you need at least two.
That being said, if you donāt mind waiting, I can just send you seed or some cuttings.
Man, Iām so jealous right now.
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I also have the former seeds starting, and boy countless others.
On the passiflora will maypop not pollinate it? Or any other passiflora, I know very little about the whole family
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Have you any Sete Capote? I have a small plant that I got after ordering seeds, if youād like I can send you some seeds of them if you care to try them. Luis seems to think itās super cold hardy
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So these hybrids should be 50/50 or majority maypop. They are like third or fourth generation from the initial crosses. In addition to the maypop (P. incarnata) they should have either P. cincinnata or P. edulis, or both, in their ancestry. But, and hereās the clincher, these are tetraploids. All the initial parents were diploid, but they original breeder doubled their chromosome counts. P. incarnata hybrids have very poor fruit set and fertility, the chromosome doubling was meant to help with that, and as a side bonus made the flowers bigger. It is not completely fixed. The named cultivar I have, Marjorie Sherwin, rarely produces pollen, and one of the unnamed ones has a weird flower form where the stamens are often completely vertical, which combined with the flowerās large size, means that bumblebees rarely manage to actually touch them. I think the hummingbirds, who really like these flowers, do mange to pollinate those ones fortunately. So overall the fertility is definitely good enough. I initially hand-pollinated with mixed results, but once the resident hummingbird took over (and dude, she basically lived on those vines. She was also a bully, chasing away any bumblebees who dared approach her passionflowers) and the vines got to like their third flush of flowers, fruit set was good.
But anyway, because of the chromosome difference, any ordinary species passiflora would be very unlikely to be able to pollinate these plants. You need another tetraploid, preferably one that makes pollen haha.
I sowed some seeds last week. It was from Luisā comments that I decided to try it out, along with guabiyu.
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Where did you get the guabaju? I think I ordered some but I canāt remember
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To second @Gkightās response, avocados donāt do well in pots long term, and would need a very large pot (50+ gal, maybe 100+) to support enough growth to have much hope of fruit. And they also donāt do well being moved indoors and outdoors (any leaves that form indoors will never really harden off and will get sunburned outside).
If your friend is willing to protect the tree with a frost cover and heat source any time itās below about 22Ā°F for a few years, and any time itās below 18Ā°F long-term, then itās a worthy thing to attempt one in the ground. I am familiar with coastal MD (I lived near DC and my In-laws lived in St. Michaels), and I suspect that some winters there may not even be a need for protection. But when it is needed, the tree will die to the ground if unprotected.
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I got mine from Anderson Tropicals. Theyāre the ones Iām not sure are going to make it. If they donāt, Iāll probably just wait until an actual plant come available from any of the handful of places that carry it.
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Did you grow your guavas from seed? If so, how long did they take to flower/fruit?
I have seeds started for Black Chilean Guava, Psidium cattleianum, an unknown Red Guava (supposedly like a Strawberry Guava with bigger fruits) and Psidium Robustum. Iāve heard guavas have relatively slow germination times overall, although some of them have popped up.
I am currently trying to start some seeds of a few different varieties.
Longipetiolatum, Robustum, Myrtoides
But none of the plants I am currently growing I grew from seed. The strawberry guava was a tiny little I assume cutting grown I got in 10/22, and now itās going to fruit this year
The Chilean guavas from OGW at different times
And Barbie pink from JFE and it fruited the first year I had it, it was a pretty thick trunk when it arrived tho. More than 1ā trunk and well over 4ft but cut to fit in the box.
How quick did your seedlings germinate?
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Unfortunately, I am bad at recording keeping, so I donāt have exact times for you (trying to work on that). My Chilean and my feijoas (the not guavas) both popped up a little over a month (sowed start of Feb, began popping up mid Marchish). A couple of the Strawberry guavas popped up at the beginning of this month. The Robustum have not sprouted yet, and the only Psidium Sp. Red thats sprouted is the one I accidentally dropped into my Ice Cream Bean pot. I probably need to move them around the greenhouse, the ones that have sprouted have been the ones with better access to light.
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I suffer the same fate but also trying to improve. Lately Iāve been writing on the container the plant date so at least I have some record to when to expect to see germination
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Yeah, I started a spreedsheet a few days ago when I pulled some plants out of stratification. Iāve just learned to be patient. I planted my sugar apple seeds in late October/early November and they just popped up 2 weeks ago. Unless I see it dry up or rot, Iām just gonna keep watering it.
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Iām not a fan of fabric pots. The drying out is an issue as well as the handles are only good for a season or so. Iām not sure whether it is the nigh constant moisture or UV sunlight, but iāve come to learn the handles are pretty much for decoration only after a season.
@GKight Iām jealous of your Chilean guavaās. Iāve got a couple small ones still hanging on, but after these die (which I assume is just a matter of time), Iām done.
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Shade them or dappled light and keep em wet and they may bounce back
But whenever ones in the past started to fade, nothing I did seemed to revive them so youāre likely right
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I reached that same conclusion awhile back. I had one bush put on lots of flowers, no fruit, and then the next winter it was killed by 16Ā°F. Iāve never even tasted one! But if they are that hard to keep alive, then I figure they arenāt worth my time unless they are the worldās greatest fruit (I donāt think anyone claims that).
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Queen Victoria made such a claim, if the nursery catalogs can be trustedā¦
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Funny that yours die in winter and ours in summer, what odd requirements these fickle little guys have
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Do Jaboticabas and blueberries like the same condition (other than sun)? My blueberries have fruited and grown pretty well with my soil and well water, so I assume my red Jabo should be fine. I know they like rain water, but weāve had next to no rain for like 2 months, so itāll just have to wait till the rains start coming.
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