Split the difference I’d say but closer to a foot
1 Like
Fruitwood Nursery sells cuttings on Albert’s varieties and I would love to add them. Has anyone tried rooting cuttings? I have read that you can, but I haven’t seen anyone post results.
I’ve tried a few times, but only with really small (a few mm across) cuttings. None have ever rooted. They do seem to be fairly slow to desiccate, but also slow to grow in any way.
I’ll be trying some grafts next year.
3 Likes
I’ve tasted multiple NZ varieties grown at 2 different locations - PNW and CA Bay Area.
I can say that the NZ varieties are much larger than CA wild seedling and Albert varieties. They are also much earlier. But they have less flavor and sweetness.
Even wild seedlings in CA are generally better than NZ varieties.
Maybe my NZ varieties need to mature but sthe Albert varieties are not much older and so far are tastier.
4 Likes
Fruitwood and Marta @ reallygoodplants.com are the only ones offering scionwood. The crfg groups in California often have grafted plants, but you obviously have to be in California.
The plugs are about 8-10 inches tall when I ordered feijoa plugs from them. The scionwood grafts ok but rooting feijoa that’s not attached to a plant seems difficult from all research.
5 Likes
I haven’t yet ventured into grafting, and should probably start with something easy like apples, but I am tempted to jump into it with Feijoa cuttings with my local friend’s Abba Dabba (onto a seedling). We tried to reserve Mark Albert plants thru the CFRG a couple years in a row now, and it’s never worked out. It seems very difficult to get these plants.
I know I’ve seen some good Feijoa grafting threads on this forum and I’ll be studying up.
Any thoughts as to whether different Feijoa varieties vary in graft-ability? And if so, any thoughts on how Abba Dabba ranks? Or any of the other Albert varieties?
If I’m going to be babying grafts, I might as well go for extras and share. Would love for these Albert varieties to be more widely available, but a little bit worried that Feijoa grafting may be tricky for me. I’d love to propagate / share our Moore as well.
Call me crazy but I think you can sorta tell the variety by the leaves.like if it’s going to be like the parent.a while back I bought 55 mostly nazemetz n some coolidge from verne nursery.you can tell them apart by the leaves.atm I have 600(different varieties)in pots, seedlings from fruit wood.
3 Likes
Anatoki just finished ripening the last feijoa of the year. Overall, my first impression of this variety is good. Very uniform round shape, super juicy, and remarkably thin skin. Almost the entirety of the fruit is the flavorful flesh inside, and even as I scooped against the interior skin it was far less bitter than others. I also tried the skin, while still bitter, much easier to eat. Fruit size is pretty good for the first year, I am usually happy with at least 80-100g fruits. The only thing I’d like is more sweetness, they seem to typically be more on the tangy side than some of my other varieties.
7 Likes
I haven’t noticed any difference in grafting ability between varieties
As long as your technique is good, they all seem to work the same. The trick is figuring out when to graft. For me, they either mostly fail or mostly succeed depending on when I graft. Also whether the graft is shaded or fully exposed can change the outcome from the rest…
2 Likes
Thanks. I’ll comb the threads to see what kind of timing worked best for folks with climates similar to mine.
I just recently got some pineapple guava seedling plugs from them. They were huge. The largest was about two feet tall, excluding the roots. They had to bend it to get it in the box. The others were about 15-18 inches. I was really impressed and pleased. I also got some seedling persimmons, which were tiny things, maybe eight inches, about what I expected all the plugs to be. So I might have just gotten lucky on the pineapple guavas. But even if they were smaller, I would have been pleased because they are so much cheaper than any other option that I’ve found.
3 Likes
I read that too and was not sure what to think about it, but I decided to give Fruitwood seedlings a shot. My thought was that their plants have all been selected for their fruit, rather than for their ornamental qualities, and I know at least one of their parents, so they are likely produce good fruit even if the Albert’s Pride seedling is not quite the same thing as Albert’s Pride. Worst cast scenario would be that I graft it over to a named variety in a few years. Also, the seedlings that I got from them were huge and cheap.
2 Likes
the ones on the left came from one bush. the one in the middle was from a bush i don’t recall hand pollinating and the biggest one on the right came from a bush i did not hand pollinate at all because i didn’t see any flowers. i didn’t try the long ones yet and i am wondering why they are shaped like that instead of egg shaped like the others. i thought all seedlings would have the same shape. i harvested about 2 dozen from my bushes (mainly from 1 bush) and gave most away to family and friends. most of them said it tasted like guava. i think the less ripe ones taste like cattley guavas but after i had tried some riper ones, it does have a more interesting taste that resembles pineapple and banana. i harvested some very small ones and the largest one is the one on the right, 2 ounces. i do hope they get bigger. i try to eat as much of the inside as possible even though the closer i get to the skin the more bitter. i read that the skin is medicinal, do any of you eat the skin?
3 Likes
You can improve the size by thinning and water as the bush gets older.The skin is thinner on some varieties than others. I tend to eat the skin the sweeter the fruit is. The tartness of the skin balances the sweetness of the inner flesh really well.
5 Likes
Was amazed by the size of the fruit off of our first Edenvale Improved Coolidge harvest, off a tiny bush. Fruit weight ranging from 120-170g. Have not tried these yet.
The smaller ones next to it are from Moore, which we’ve been eating for weeks (delicious).
Edit: realizing this thread is about the South. Which is not us. We’re in Bay Area, California. I’ll try to be more mindful of what I post where 
9 Likes
Interesting. I’ve not seen anyone post that variety so i was curious about the size. I might try grafting that one in the spring down here. Hows the taste?
I always eat the skin. It’s supposed to have anti cancer and antioxidant properties. I love its unique taste - like Dr Pepper
1 Like
I eat the jelly first then snack on the skin later been thinking about making jeow next year for the skin since they’re tart 
ok so i have many seedling bushes, but the fruits from one bush is the best tasting i’ve had so far, the fruit was really sweet and tasted just like pineapple, and the closer you got to the skin the more tart it was but not really bitter, i even tried some of the skin which was only slightly bitter. i only had 3 fruits from that bush but i wish they all tasted like that.
3 Likes
None of the new Zealand varieties have bitter skin. At least, none of the ones I’ve tried. I wonder if watering practices can lead to bitter skin like with cucumbers and such.
1 Like