Feijoa

I have a couple of these on the garden, but 1 only big enough to flower, has anyone grown them before ? I get flowers but no fruit . The tree is around 4 to 5 years old. They get hard frosts every winter but recover well. They don't have frosts when they flower.

 

Hi jardiner. I have had a Feijoa for about 5 years and this is the first year it has flowered. Acording to the RHS Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers they are frost hardy but need a sheltered, sunny site and light, well drained soil. Mine is in a sheltered, shady border in clay. It will not fruit if the summer is not hot, also it may need to be cross pollinated. I think you`ll find that the leaves and flowers are both edible and are used in salads. David.

 

I've been growing them for a while now.
As far as I can tell cross pollination is a must, I have three seed grown plants about 15 yrs old and they all flower.
I pollinate with a small brush and have set fruit but I'm not sure our summers are long enough or hot enough to produce edible fruit, especially this year, even last year the fruit fell off in november not really ripe.
You should perhaps have better luck there jardiner.

 

Hi Pete, I was thinking about trying these from seed - so to get the flowers I'll need 2 plants minimum?

By the way, I saw some lovely 5-6ft examples at a local garden centre in full flower - only �£140 each...

 

Not to get flowers OB, but I think you need two to get fruit.
�£140 quid is a bit steep.

 

"only" :eek:

 

Doh, I was obviously having a blonde moment - I meant fruit!

Yes I thought �£140 was a bit over the top. They had around a dozen of them and as I remember 3 were reserved for one customer and 5 for another. �£700 on 5 plants?! Ouch!

 

Just a reminder of the flowers, its worth growing just for them.