Acca sellowiana
Feijoa
Common names: Pineapple guava, Brazilian guava
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Hardiness
- Hardy down to −10 °C
- Pruning
- Apr
- Harvest
- Oct–Nov
- Flowering
- May–Jun
- Spacing
- 200 cm, rows 200 cm
- Water need
- Medium
Photo: Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Feijoa, botanically Acca sellowiana, comes from southern Brazil, Uruguay and northern Argentina and is also called pineapple guava. It is an evergreen shrub that usually reaches 1.5 to 2 m when grown in a container and up to about 4 m in the open ground. The leathery leaves are dark green on top and silvery-felted underneath, so the foliage is ornamental all year round. In May and June it produces flowers with white petals that are pink to deep purple on the inside, and a tuft of red stamens. The resulting fruits are green, egg-shaped and 4 to 8 cm long, with a sweet-tart flesh that tastes of pineapple and guava. The flesh can be eaten raw by spooning it out of the skin, or cooked into compote and chutney. The fruits need a long, warm autumn to ripen, which works in wine-growing areas and in warm years, while in cooler regions the plant often produces only its attractive flowers. The sweet petals can also be added to salads or desserts.
Care instructions
Place the feijoa in a full-sun, warm, wind-sheltered spot, ideally in open ground against a south-facing wall in a region with mild winters. In a container it may stay outdoors from mid-May (calendar week 20) until November, and bring it indoors when night frosts fall below minus 5 degrees Celsius. Water evenly and let the top layer of soil dry out between waterings, as it does not tolerate waterlogged pots. Where possible, plant two different varieties side by side, since pollen from a second plant leads to noticeably more fruit set. Ripe fruits drop from October onward: pick them up from the ground and let them ripen for a few days. Prune only moderately, because heavy pruning removes flowers and therefore fruit.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
HarvestOct–Nov
FloweringMay–Jun
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
humus-rich, well-drained, loamy
The feijoa likes humus-rich, free-draining soil that stays evenly, lightly moist but never gets wet. Sandy loam is ideal, and slightly acidic to neutral soil suits it best. On strongly calcareous soil the leaves can turn yellow. In a container, use a structurally stable container-plant compost, loosened with sand or expanded clay, and put a layer of gravel drainage at the bottom of the pot.
Feeding
Medium feeder
Months
Apr–Aug
In spring, give the feijoa mature compost or rotted manure under the crown and mulch with leaves. In a container, feed with a liquid fertiliser for flowering plants every two weeks from spring to midsummer and stop in late summer so that the shoots ripen. Do not feed in winter quarters. Too much nitrogen gives plenty of foliage and fewer flowers.
Pruning
The feijoa needs little pruning. In April, when the worst frosts are over, remove frost-damaged, diseased and crossing shoots and thin out overly dense areas. Shorten long shoots only slightly. Hard pruning takes away your flowers and with them the fruit.
Overwintering
Outdoors, mature feijoas survive short frosts down to about minus 10 degrees, best against a sheltered south wall with a thick layer of mulch over the roots and fleece over the crown. Young plants are more sensitive. In a container, overwinter the feijoa in a bright place at 5 to 10 degrees and water only sparingly. A warm living room does not suit it.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
- Cuttings
- Layering
The easiest way is to raise feijoas from seed: squeeze out the flesh, wash off the seeds, sow them in spring on moist seed compost and cover them only with a hair’s breadth of soil. Seedlings turn out differently and usually bear fruit only after several years. Plants true to type come from cuttings of semi-ripe wood in late summer, which root slowly and not reliably, or from layering. If you want reliable varieties, buy well-rooted plants from a nursery.
For your garden
Grow Feijoa yourself
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