I have had lots of trouble keeping insects out of the everbearing strawberries. I am going to plant june bearing strawberries in their place next year after the first picking. Between the japanese beetles and everything else it doesn't seem to be worth it. The japanase beetles started eating the berries and then destroyed the plants. They didn't even touch the june bearing plants which grew 20' away.

"Can't seem to tell if there might be a rot issue from the look of the base of the trunk." In most cases at least with rhododendrons (which are in the Erica family along w/Arbutus) there is no visible sign of oomycetic growth. There might be leaf spots, and there might not, if there are they can be caused by different species of Phytophthora. The only sign is the leaves dying in much the same way yours are. Leaf spotting is a sign of sudden oak death in Quercus, of course. I am concerned about the wall; if nothing else the reflected heat could have warmed the moist soil even more than it otherwise would have; encouraging the root rot. If you're in the warm parts of SoCal like the inland valleys you would have wanted to find a more open, airy spot for any Arbutus. (or any Ericaeae for that matter) This post was edited by davidrt28 on Sat, Mar 29, 14 at 18:39

Ill, I find them **delicious**, as long as there are no maggots! They are sweet, juicy, tender, strawberry-like and the crunchy seeds are edible too. I bet they would make a nice preserve. Usually they are grown from seed, but can be started from cuttings. Since fruit flies ruin the fruits in much of S. Florida, the trees are often grown simply because they are beautiful. The foliage is glossy, dark green, the flowers are cute and white, and the bark peels off in a most pleasing manner! I loved my big Strawberry Guava tree, and tried everything I could to keep the fruits from the flies, including encasing the entire tree in insect netting, bagging the fruits, spraying the tree constantly, but nothing worked. My big tree never had any seedlings around it. My current tree is in a half whiskey barrel, and is about 10' tall and lush. I don't even attempt to eat the fruit anymore, I feed them to the chickens. Bummmer, because I really like them. I now also have a "real" Guava tree, a Ruby X Supreme. The Strawberry and Pineapple guavas are related, but not the same plants. I hope I can save the fruits on my newest tree by bagging them-they are much larger fruits and do not grow in big clusters like Strawberry Guavas do. Lisa Here is a link that might be useful: True Guava link

Grrrrr, hubby cut a cantaloupe earlier this week and left the rinds in the kitchen garbage, to take out the next morning. I opened the cupboard the next morning to put something in the trash and out came a flurry of fruit flies! He felt bad, since he has put watermelon rinds in overnight with no problems. Years ago when I fed the worms more food than they could keep up with I would get fruit flies. I don't get them anymore, as I freeze all the food before feeding, to kill any eggs. A small jar with cider vinegar and a drop of dishwashing liquid always works for me. Earlier this week I saw a segment on tv where the lady said to put a piece of fruit in a dish, cover with plastic wrap and puncture just one hole. They fly will get in and won't find his way out. I tried that, as I had one lone fruit fly that I couldn't catch/trap. I watched him hang out on the piece of pineapple, then he would disappear. A little while later he went in again, and again, he wasn't there. I figure he was flying in and out of that hole just to feed. LOL