i’m going to have to keep the guabijus, pineapple guavas and loquats small with major pruning because they seem to grow very fast in my climate.
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Do pineapple guava get all that big? I was under the impression they get to be big bushes/small trees, while loquat are more small-to-medium trees.
It’ll be very interesting to see what sizes these guabiju reach and how quickly.
There is a feijoa at Bok Towers in Winter Haven that is easily 15ft tall. They have the center cut out so it looks like a giant tumbleweed. I wish I took a picture. But they have the pontential to get pretty big. Not like a big tree, but a large shrub.
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I think that depends what small to medium means per person. A neighbor has one that I’d say is at least 15x15ft, I keep mine pruned which also helps with more fruiting spurs. I think for sure they can get pretty massive though. I know @swincher has posted photos of trees that look to be 30-50ft tall but it’s hard to tell from the photo.
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They can be very large trees eventually unless you have one grafted on quince, which I think dwarfs them a lot. The tallest loquat I’ve seen in Seattle is probably around 50 ft tall.
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i’m keeping all my fruit trees small so i don’t have to use ladders to reach fruit, spray for pest control, pruning, etc. if given the room, these trees can get big enough to be unmanageable, and for me that would be more than arm’s reach.
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I’ll share my experience with Guabiju so far. I have been growing it from 2017 onward in pots in my local climate and they started to fruit last year. They are trees that start of growing very very slow and then after a couple of years become incredibly vigorous.
The main challenge in my climate is that they cannot be grown outside and I realize now that they are also not really suited as potted plants, because they want to be large trees.
Also pollination is a problem. But they ripen quickly after flowering and I haven’t had any problems with fruit not ripening on time.
The fruit is like a small longan or lychee - you pop the skin and eat the soft and sweet pulp, but spit out the seeds. In that regard the fruit is good and sweet, but just doesn’t really have the interest, flavor or added value compared to other fruits to make it worthwhile to grow a tree for 8 years just in order to get some meager crops of small fruits…
That had just been my experience so far, otherwise the tree is solid - no problems with insects, disease or fungus at all.
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I know it’s scary with older potted plants that you’ve spent such time caring for. So maybe it wouldn’t be worth it to test it with them, however have you tried any in ground planting of Guabiju in perhaps a protected location? How a plant does in a pot during winter isn’t really indicative of how it would do in ground. I’d say you lose a full zone from the roots being all above the “frost line”.
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