All You Need To Know About Feijoas

by Penny at Plant Barn Motueka,
May 17th 2010

Now that we've had some rain and the days are cooling down, I've noticed the feijoas (sometimes known as Pineapple guavas) are falling. I have a Unique in my garden, which is an early fruiting type, but its biggest advantages is it is self-fertile. But there are several other varieties to choose from.

Anatoki starts fruiting as early as the beginning of April. It is a new release which has been bred by local enthusiast Roy Hart right here in Motueka. It has good sized smooth fruit with a sweet mild flavour and is a compact grower.

This is followed by several other Roy-bred varieties:

Kaiteri - a vigorous growing, prolific bearing tree which starts dropping before Unique but continues longer. It is smooth skinned.
Kakariki - has large sweet fruit.
Pounamu - has medium sized, aromatic, dark skinned fruit and keeps well.
Gemini - has small to medium fruit with a strong flavour and keeps well.
Unique - has medium sized fruit that are smooth, soft and juicy and also keep.

These are followed by mid season fruiters:

Apollo - with large uneven fruit that are sweeter than some of the others.
Kakapo - with medium sized fruit with a good flavour.
Mammoth - again medium sized fruit that are semi soft, juicy and grainy.

The late season varieties of Opal Star, Triumph and Wiki Tu fruit into June. Both Opal Star and triumph are medium sized with a mild flavour, however Wiki Tu has large also mild flavoured fruit sometimes weighing up to 300gms. All these varieties are grafted to allow for faster fruit production. Seedling grown plants are slow to fruit and best used for hedging where the emphasis is on a fast growing dense effect.

Feijoas are classed as sub-tropical as they come from Brazil, but don't be deterred. They are frost hardy to -5C and actually need 100-200 hrs of chilling to flower and spring frosts don't affect flowering either.

They grow in a wide range of soils but seem to produce the best fruit on heavier soils preferably with a pH of 6-6.5 rather than alkaline with good drainage, however summer moisture certainly improves the size and quality of the fruit.

They are best planted in a spot sheltered from strong winds as they are liable to branch break when in fruit. This is counteracted if planted in rows as fruiting maybe less.

These days planting can be done any time of the year as they are container grown but is best done from April - September with either a slow release organic fertilizer (blood and bone is good) added to the hole or given as a side dressing in spring once the new growth begins.

For individual trees it is best to plant 4-5m apart or if in a hedge 2m is okay. They can be mulched with bark or grass clippings to contain weeds as well as making it easier to collect the fruit. In their second season they can be pruned up so there is about 500mm clearance from the ground for improved air circulation and fruit collection. Otherwise pruning is not really necessary as the fruit mostly sets on the outside of the bush where the birds have been able to reach the flowers.

Feijoas set more fruit if one or more varieties are planted, but with some being more self-fertile than others it is not always necessary.

Visit your local garden centre to see what varieties are available.

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