Gadenin日本語Get the appTwo things to settle before you dig
Feijoa, also sold as pineapple guava, is not a difficult shrub to keep alive. It is a difficult shrub to get fruit from, and the two reasons are both fixed at planting time. The first is heat late in the year: the wood is hardy down to about 12F (-11C) once established, so the plant survives winters that would kill a citrus, but the fruit needs a long mild autumn to finish and will simply hang green and drop unripe if your season closes early. The second is company. Many feijoas set little or nothing on their own, so unless you know for certain that the plant you have is reliably self-fertile in your climate, plan on two from the start.
That means the planting decision is really a pair of decisions: the warmest, longest-season corner you have, and room for a partner within about fifteen feet (4.5 m). Retrofitting the second plant three years later works, but you lose those three years of cropping, and people usually discover the problem only after a season of watching flowers fall with no fruit behind them.
Everything else about feijoa is forgiving. It takes wind, salt air, poor soil, hard pruning and container life better than almost any other subtropical fruit, and it is evergreen, so it earns its space as a hedge or screen even in a year when the fruit does not finish.
Choosing the site: sun, autumn warmth and shelter
Give it the sunniest position you have, six to eight hours minimum. In a cool-summer climate go further and use reflected heat: the base of a south-facing wall in the northern hemisphere, or a north-facing wall in the southern, adds several degrees through the autumn and can be the difference between fruit that ripens and fruit that never does. A dark wall, paving or gravel around the base all help.
The plant tolerates coastal wind and salt spray, which is rare among fruit, and it is often the only thing that will fruit in an exposed seaside garden. It still fruits better with some shelter, because wind at flowering time discourages the insects and birds that move pollen, and because a fruit that is about to fall bruises badly when it lands on hard ground after a gust.
Soil matters less than drainage. Feijoa wants a well-drained loam with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0 and will not tolerate ground that sits wet in winter; root rot in heavy soil is the commonest way a young plant is lost. On clay, plant on a low mound eight to twelve inches (20-30 cm) high rather than digging a pit, which fills with water and drowns the roots. It has no need of rich ground and will grow soft, sappy and shy of fruit if planted into pure compost.
| Condition | How feijoa responds | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Hard frost to 12F (-11C) | Established wood survives; young plants damaged | Plant in spring, wrap the first two winters |
| Short cool autumn | Fruit hangs green and drops unripe | Use a sun-facing wall and stored heat |
| Coastal wind and salt | Tolerates it well | Plant as a hedge or windbreak, no protection needed |
| Heavy wet clay | Root rot, sudden collapse of young plants | Mound-plant 8-12 in (20-30 cm) above grade |
| Very rich soil or heavy feeding | Lush growth, few flowers | Plant into native soil, mulch on top |
| Deep shade | Grows on, flowers thinly, fruit does not finish | Move it; there is no fix |
Spacing, and planning for fruit that falls
A free-standing feijoa settles at about ten to fifteen feet (3-4.5 m) high and nearly as wide if left alone, and it can be kept at six to eight feet (1.8-2.4 m) with annual pruning without harming the crop. As a clipped hedge, plant three to five feet (1-1.5 m) apart; as fruiting specimens, twelve to fifteen feet (3.6-4.5 m) apart so light reaches the whole of each plant.
Two plants for cross-pollination should be no more than about fifteen feet (4.5 m) apart, and closer is better. Pollen here is moved by birds and by insects rather than by wind, so distance costs you more than it would with a wind-pollinated crop.
Now the detail that determines where you can put it: ripe feijoa is never picked. The fruit releases itself and falls, and you collect it off the ground every day through the harvest weeks. That means the ground underneath is part of the planting decision. Grass or a soft mulch is ideal, because a fruit landing on concrete, gravel or a path splits and bruises. Do not plant one where the drop zone is a driveway, a pond, a deck you walk on barefoot, or dense prickly groundcover you cannot search through.
If you can only have one plant, put it where you can reach every branch from the ground. Hand pollination is the fallback when there is no partner, and it is a job of many small flowers over two or three weeks, not something you do from a ladder.
Getting it in the ground
Feijoa is nearly always sold container-grown and evergreen, so it is planted in leaf rather than bare and dormant. In a climate with real frost, plant in spring so the roots have the whole warm season to establish before the first winter. In a frost-free or nearly frost-free climate, autumn planting is fine and often better, because the roots run through mild damp weather without the shrub having to support new growth in heat.
- Water the pot first, then dig wide Soak the container an hour before planting. Dig a hole two to three times the width of the root ball and no deeper, and roughen the sides so roots push outward instead of circling in a smooth-walled pit.
- Tease out the root ball Feijoa is often pot-bound with roots spiralling around the outside. Pull the outer roots loose with your fingers, or slice down the sides in three or four places with a knife. Left circling, they strangle the plant several years later.
- Set it at the same depth, or slightly proud The top of the root ball should sit level with the surrounding soil, or an inch (2-3 cm) above it on heavy ground. Burying the stem invites collar rot, which is the fastest way to lose an otherwise healthy plant.
- Backfill with the soil you removed Do not fill the hole with compost or manure. Feijoa does not want rich ground, and a fertile pocket keeps the roots inside it. Spread any compost on the surface as a mulch instead and let the worms take it down.
- Water in and mulch, keeping the stem clear Give three to four gallons (12-15 L) slowly to settle the soil around the roots. Mulch two to three inches (5-8 cm) deep out to the edge of the branches, leaving a clear collar four inches (10 cm) wide around the stem.
The first two years, and what to write down
Water deeply once a week through the first two dry seasons, more in a hot spell in a container. Established feijoa is drought-tolerant, but a plant that dries out while flowering or while fruit is swelling drops both, and drought in the first two years is the usual reason a plant sulks for a decade. Keep grass off the root zone entirely.
Do not expect fruit immediately. A grafted or cutting-grown plant usually begins flowering in its second or third year and cropping properly in its third to fifth; a seedling can take five to seven and will not be true to its parent. Remove any fruit that sets in the first two years while it is still small, so the plant spends its energy building a frame.
Start the record on the day it goes in: planting date, the exact position of each plant, which one is which if you have two, and the ground surface underneath. Then, every year, note the date the first flower opens and the date the first fruit drops. The gap between those two is the single most useful number a feijoa grower can have, because it tells you whether your autumn is long enough, and after three years it will tell you that with more authority than any general guide.