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10+ year old pineapple guava never produced fruit..... until now?!

last year

I have 4 pineapple guava trees planted along my fence that were planted 10+ years ago. They produce tons of flowers every year but have never produced fruit. I have tried to hand pollinate them with no luck.
I live in a part of California where I see these planted everywhere so I know they grow here.
Anyways, I have been out of town the last few weeks and noticed today that two of the plants have a bunch of small fruits starting to appear.
Is this normal? What can I do to try to make these produce fruit again? Isn't it the wrong time of year?

Comments (3)

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
last year
I'm not sure one can state much about the fruiting of pineapple guava/feijoa that IS normal!

While subtropical in origin, they are quite cold tolerant and are grown here successfully in zone 8. But while they need a certain number of chill hours to produce fruit, too cold a winter will limit fruit production. Conversely, so will too high summer temps - periods in excess of 90 degrees. Drought can also be a factor. Ideally, most reliable fruiting will occur if located coastally or in a fully Mediterranean climate. And with any necessary irrigation

Then there's the pollination issues. Some cultivars are self fertile......most are not. Do you know what cultivar(s) your 4 trees are?

Depending on climate and type, feijoas can flower from mid spring into early summer and fruit can ripen anywhere from four to seven months later. Fruiting in midwinter is not unheard of.
Ryan Donahue
Original Author
last year
I am located in zone 8B....I think? I'm in Paso Robles, CA. I see lots of them locally that produce fruit so I know I'm in a zone that can.

No clue what cultivar the trees are from. I bought them all at the same store so I assumed they were not self-fruiting and the 4 trees were all from the same location and just clones of one another.

I bought them as 5 gallon trees so it just seems really odd that after 10 years they finally decided to do something. The other odd thing is there hasn't been any flowers on them since the spring.
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Thanks Larry, yes it's definitely much warmer outside than inside...we're still in the upper 80's to mid 90's and be stay in the 80's for at least another 6 weeks or more. I don't keep my a/c set too low or I would have to sell the house to pay my electric bill,lol... I'll try a couple in a day or two...some of them feel like they're starting to give a little when I gently squeeze them, although I'm not smelling the strong odor I've read about. Will update on how they taste.
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Sara, that is probably not a disease unless it came fast and you missed it. Big box stores are notorious for putting any label on any plant, so it could be an ornamental grape, a muscadine grape (which needs a cross-pollinator), or who knows what. If your plant still has some leaves on it I would compare the leaf shape with a Fredonia leaf online - grape leaves are a good ID tool. Overall the odds are high that it is not a Fredonia. Scott
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We have had 2 bushes for about 8 to 10 years and finally they are producing fruit..a lot of it. So far, the squirrels have not caught on to the fact that it is edible.I hope they remain ignorant until I can taste some of the fruit. I have never tasted them and am not sure what to look for as far as ripeness.....This is the only fruit other than the pomegranates and the kumquats that the squirrels haven't finished off before we could pick it. The persimmons I brought inside to ripen before they ate them all. As you can see, Kassiebum, I am no help to you..I am hoping to eat a few rather than get rid of them, unless, of course, you want us to send some squirrels your way? Lina.
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Comments (41)
Could be a Catch-22 here, will the plants fruit poorly from repeated repottings or fruit poorly because they are seedlings, even in the ground? It is a hard call. An extended stay in a larger container could be successful, or maybe not. At the current rate of growth, your plants could be hard to transplant in 5-10 years. I certainly would not have attempted to do mine at years 10-15. Although my plant has always been sprawling, most plants I have seen in PDX are much denser and have acute branch angles. And mine might be sprawly because it is essentially a foundation plant, plastered against the side of the house, no morning sun. These plants have many fine, fibrous, shallow roots, similar to rhododendron. If kept potted, I would locate them where the plant is largely in sun and the container is largely in shade during warm/hot weather and leave enough pot headroom for a coarse mulch layer providing additional surface root shading and moisture retention.
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Embothrium
last year
last modified: last year
Have a look at this: Feijoa – California Rare Fruit Growers, Inc. (crfg.org)

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