Agreed! I don’t know if Fruitwood Nursery is the one place you’re referring to, but even though their scionwood is currently out of stock, they also sell seedlings and have a ton in stock now:
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Soo…the fruit on Takaka appear to have slowed down growth. I had hoped for September fruit, but not sure what the issue is. It could be the heat in the SouthEast putting the trees in slowdown. Or maybe this is normal. I do remember that Feijoas put on the last part of their growth in the last 60 days or something like that.
I’ve also noticed quite a bit of leaf drop as well.
I had hoped for earlier ripening, but if Takaka is fruiting in October, that sets later varieties like Mammoth into Thanksgiving and Christmas…
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You’ll probably get fruit in late September/early October from the earliest varieties. They ripen around that time in the Sacramento area which is probably as hot as your location.
Mammoth might be in late October where you are…
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Leaf drop: one-year or older leaves from plant interior is normal. Yellow or brown.
This year’s green leaves dropping may be sign of drought or low water stress.
When you give the bush a good shake, only yellow and brown leaves should drop in quantity.
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I have Takaka, Anatoki, Kakariki, and Nikita. All of which are first year trees except for Nikita. My Takaka made one large fruit and I think it dropped prematurely in August, unfortunately I left it on the counter too long and it spoiled. My Kakariki just dropped two fruit today on the last day of summer and they taste great! First time eating one and I am very impressed. Nikita has more fruit than any other variety, but they are still very small perhaps due to the lack of rain this year.
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Wow–that’s far earlier than I would have expected. I’m just a little south of you and while I didn’t get any fruit this year on mine, the NZ varieties did flower a bit, so I’m thinking next fall (or late summer, it seems) I’ll get to try my own pineapple guavas.
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I was just as surprised when I found them on the ground. I was worried they weren’t fully ripened. Hopefully you get fruit soon, my larger tree flowered last year but didn’t set until this year. The cross pollination of the other varieties probably helped. Stay patient! I didn’t plant mine in a sheltered location so I do hope they survive long term. I have heard some claim they have survived single digits. It is uncommon to see single digits where I live, but it has happened. An annual minimum in the teens is to be expected besides those historic La Niña winters we had.
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That’s awesome. Did you manage to weigh them or can you estimate the sizes? Supposedly clay soils make the fruit smaller…
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No I forgot to weigh them, I was too eager to eat them. 
The fruit is starting to size up. Most of them not much bigger than a kumquat. Still have a couple of months to go before the end of the season.
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So this is in response to a message from @Midazolam06
I have noticed that some of the older classics like Mammoth and Apollo don’t seem to be offered anymore or as much. That’s probably because they all get supplied by Northwoods, which suggested to one of our other members (@ramv or @murky I think) that they were going to stop offering those and concentrate on the newer NZ varieties. Most of the newer varieties are all early. So the fruit all comes at once.
Since most of those are early, that leaves a real gap in the mid season varieties. Those of us in the SouthEast probably shouldn’t rely on the later ripening like Waingoro because of how soon the temperature drops over here as opposed to the West Coasters. So if you can’t find Apollo anymore, what do you do?
I found a nice table from Waierere Nursery in New Zealand that lists the ripening times of several varieties here: Feijoa Varieties at Wairere Nursery - Buy Online
Fabulous Feijoa Varieties
Variety
Anatoki
Harvest
Very Early
Month
March-April
Size
Medium
Flesh
Sweet and mild
Variety
Antoinette
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Medium-Large
Flesh
Sweet and juicy
Variety
Apollo
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Sweet and delicate, fragrant
Variety
Arhart
Harvest
Early
Month
March-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Sweet and juicy, mild flavour
Variety
Bambina
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Small
Flesh
Dwarf tree with smaller sweet fruit
Variety
Coolidge
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Medium
Flesh
An Aussie hybrid with a mild flavour
Variety
Den’s Choice
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Medium - Large
Flesh
Oval fruit, strong flavour
Variety
Gemini
Harvest
Early
Month
April
Size
Medium
Flesh
Slightly gritty but overall sweet and tasty
Variety
Golden Goose
Harvest
Mid-Late
Month
May-June
Size
Large
Flesh
slightly acid, very sweet - long shelf life.
Variety
Huia
Harvest
Early
Month
April
Size
Large
Flesh
An older variety that produces well
Variety
Kaiteri
Harvest
Very Early
Month
March-April
Size
Large
Flesh
Exceptionally sweet
Variety
Kakapo
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Medium
Flesh
Sweet, juicy and strong flavour
Variety
Kakariki
Harvest
Very Early
Month
March-April
Size
Large
Flesh
Very sweet
Variety
Kumeu
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Sweet and juicy
Variety
Mammoth
Harvest
Mid-Late
Month
May-June
Size
Medium
Flesh
Slightly gritty but overall sweet and juicy
Variety
Manawatu
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Medium-Large
Flesh
Tasty
Variety
Marion
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Slightly gritty but overall soft and juicy
Variety
Opal Star
Harvest
Late
Month
May-June
Size
Medium
Flesh
Slightly gritty but overall soft and juicy
Variety
Pounamu
Harvest
Early
Month
April
Size
Medium
Flesh
Rich flavour, tangy and tasty
Variety
Ramsey
Harvest
Mid-Late
Month
May-June
Size
Large
Flesh
Smooth non gritty
Variety
Triumph
Harvest
Late
Month
May-June
Size
Medium
Flesh
Slightly gritty but overall soft and juicy
Variety
Tulls Supreme
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Smooth fragrant and sweet
Variety
Unique
Harvest
Very Early
Month
March-April
Size
Medium
Flesh
Smooth, soft and juicy
Variety
White Goose
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Sweet and juicy, heavy cropper
Variety
Wiki Tu
Harvest
Mid
Month
April-May
Size
Large
Flesh
Firm, meaty fruit, slightly tart
Variety
Harvest
Month
Size
Flesh
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So if Apollo is scarce, you may want to try one of the other Mid season varieties.
Looking at these, there’s one that’s being offered right now.
That one is Marion , which is a mid season large fruited variety that is currently at restoring Eden Nursery. I think they have a few dozen of those.
I’ll add some photos of my current trees soon as well…
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A review of Marion was on Marta’s website:
Feijoa tasting on October 23, 2021
Candy - Juicy, little grit, good balance of very sweet and some sour, very good fruit.
White Goose - Mostly smooth, little grit, melting flesh, sweet with little acidity, good fruit.
Lickver’s Pride - Very sweet, lots of aromatics, very little acidity, little grit, very good fruit.
Den’s Choice - Very sweet, lots of aromatics, very smooth, no grit, excellent fruit.
Marion - Very sweet, aromatic, smooth, excellent fruit.
Marjane - Extremely sweet with some acidity, aromatic and smooth, excellent fruit.
Tagan II - Sweet-sour, aromatic, smooth and creamy, very good fruit.
Edenvale Late - Sweet-sour, some grit, good fruit, needs more time.
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Just to make sure I understand, it sounds like any mid-late season variety (i.e., Waingoro, Apollo, etc.) would stop development and drop off in the mid-southeast (Tennessee) as it would cool down sooner than either the deep south or West Coast, so the early varieties are truly the best (and only) option to fully develop and ripen in this region, correct? If that’s the case, it looks like I have to choose between Kaiteri and Kakariki to add to my Takaka and Anatoki. Is there really any discernible, consistent taste difference between these two to make a choice?
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Waingoro is late. Apollo is a mid season variety.
Apollo, Marion, dens choice are all mid, which means they should ripen a month after the early varieties, all things being equal.
If you’re doing 3 trees,I would do 2 early and 1 mid. If you do all 3 early, you’re gonna get swamped once they hit full production with 100 or 150 pounds of fruit all at once.
With 1 mid, in a good year, you’ll get a third of the production a month later. If you get a freak early Arctic blast, you’ll still get the fruit from the 2 early ones.
There are taste differences, but they appear to be subtle, especially since the 4 you named are all recent introductions. The main improvements are in fruit size, and smoothness or lack of grittiness, with some sugar increase.
You’ll notice a difference between the older and the newer types, but between the newer types, not so much.
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One of the most useful websites in my research is weatherspark, which lets you compare 2 cities’ climate.
So you’re right in track with our Portland Growers from Spring growth until October sometime. So barring any early hard freezes, you should make the November harvest a good percentage of the time. I’ve found that my Feijoa take light frosts well as long as they are well watered leading int it…
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@manfromyard Thank you so much for your research and explanation! I’ll admit that I had somewhat written off the less-often named varieties (i.e., Marion, Coolidge, Nazemetz, Ramsey, etc. ) as being somewhat inferior due to not being as widely publicized as the newer NZ varieties. But based on your info and what I found looking elsewhere, I’m sure Marion would be a great substitute for Apollo and thankfully, it’s available! I appreciate your help!
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No problem. Please try to keep us updated with your results. This board is a great source of information filled with helpful people, and it really helps to keep those of us in Non California land updated with how these new varieties work with our climates. I would also really love to have a Southeast scion exchange event at some point. I do have a baby Apollo that I just got and It’s really critical that we keep some of these open source/ heirloom varieties alive.
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Very funny you mentioned about extending the harvest because I was just thinking about this! I was considering mammoth and apollo to round out some of my harvest, anyone know which is better overall? I am leaning towards Apollo at the moment. Thank you for the resources, I actually use weather spark occasionally.
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Many of my Feijoas have a long flowering season. I feel they will keep producing well into December and January if our weather permitted it. I still see many small Feijoas on my so called early varietybushes which will never ripen.
So basically even early season varieties may not be a bad fit.
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Which do you have? Kakariki and Kaiteri are super early.
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