The Feijoa is sometimes called the pineapple guava, from its unique taste. Although it is in the same Myrtaceae family, it is not a guava.
Becoming increasingly popular as a commercial crop, the fruit has the taste and aroma of strawberry, pineapple, lemon, passionfruit and guava. The oval fruit is green as it develops and stays this way as it ripens. Most fruits are about 50mm long, but some commercial varieties can be up to 75mm long.
Fruits will ripen from March through to June, and the tiny edible seeds are embedded in a jellylike centre. The spectacular purple, dark red and white flowers have sweet, delicious petals that also make a superb ingredient in sweets and drinks.
The trees are very attractive and can be planted to form beautiful flowering and fruiting hedges, screens or windbreaks. The grey-green foliage is wind tolerant. They espalier well and can be trained as a small standard tree, or a multi-trunked specimen. They are well suited to pot culture, and even seedling trees will produce flowers and fruits after as little as three years.
Netting is recommended to prevent bird and fruit fly attack. Trees can grow as high as 4 metres, but can be pruned to between 2-3m. They can tolerate temperatures down to -10C - typical of the region of origin in southern Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina.
Feijoa trees like slightly acid to neutral free draining soil, and are not tolerant of water logging. They can be quite drought tolerant, but best results are achieved when kept watered to establish, and during flowering and fruiting. While they fruit in warmer climates, the best flavour develops in cooler areas. If you think your area may be too warm for full flavoured fruit, grow them for their sweet, edible flowers
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