Feijoa - Acca sellowiana

Feijoas grow almost anywhere in New Zealand, are fairly pest and disease resistant and are an excellent source of Vitamin C and dietary fibre. They taste great raw or cooked and there are hundreds of sweet and savoury ways to use the fruit. 

You may be surprised to learn that the Feijoa is not a New Zealand native, but rather arrived here from South America in the early 1900's. It is also known as pineapple guava and guavasteen – and it is part of the myrtaceae (myrtle) plant family.

They look a little like the native Pohutukawa or Rata with their bright red fluffy flowers they make very attractive ornamentals, and they are hardy particularly for coastal environments and suitable for hedging. They are fairly frost tolerant and can handle temperatures as low as  -10 degrees. Feijoas thrive in a sunny spot and are not fussy with the soil conditions, handling heavy clays to light sandy soils, but prefer a well-drained situation. They can also thrive in a container. If the summer is particularly dry a little watering may be needed 

A light prune after fruiting, so that a bird can fly through (as they are bird pollinated!) is recommended. This will help produce more flowering wood and make pollination more successful. 

While some of the newer cultivars, such as early season Unique (which also bears from a young age), the dwarf bambina and the original sellowiana – are self-fertile – but most varieties of feijoa require a pollinator. Even self-fertile varieties will benefit from pollination with another variety, producing larger, heavier crops. Planting at least two different varieties solves the problem.

Choose varieties to suit your fruit needs wiith early, mid and late season ripening varieties and fruit of various sizes and sweetness. Feijoa's are an easy care fruit tree being comparatively disease and pest free, but can be attacked by leaf roller, scale and thrips. Birds aren’t attracted to the fruit and ripe fruit drops to the ground so it's a daily check during the season, but an easy harvest.