The Fruiting Feijoa Tree – Feijoa sellowiana

The Feijoa – A brief history;
The Feijoa Tree (Acca sellowiana) is indigenous to south-eastern Brazil and Uruguay where they grow naturally in subtropical to warm climates. The Feijoa belongs to the plant family Myrtaceae, so is related to the South American Guava and surprisingly the New Zealand Pohutukawa, Rata, Manuka and the NZ Ramarama (Myrtus). The Feijoa was named in honour of Joam da Silva Feijo, a Director of the Museum of Natural History in Pelotas and Fredrich Sellow who first collected Feijoa plants from the wild in southern Brazil (1850’s).

Feijoa's were first introduced into New Zealand in 1908. They came into this country as seed and the exact origin of the seed is unknown. In the 1920’s, Alexander Allison and Hayward Wright imported improved varieties from California. Hayward Wright was the Nurseryman who cultivated today's classic commercial kiwifruit variety. Kiwifruit from that big fruiting cultivar, known as 'Hayward', are now exported all over the world. The NZ DSIR and Hort Research have since released many outstanding NZ bred or selected Feijoa cultivars. New Feijoa cultivars continue to be discovered and developed by NZ Growers and Plant Breeders.

An interesting fact on the pollination of the Feijoa flower;
The flowers of the Feijoa do not produce nectar and are not that attractive to Bees and insects. They are pollinated mainly by birds. In New Zealand the bird species for pollinating Feijoa flowers are Blackbirds who are attracted to the bright red flowers and feed on the sweet juicy petals (try one). So don’t worry if it appears birds are eating all your Feijoa flowers, they are actually doing you a favour! Hand pollination is another method of ensuring a great crop of fruit. Pollinating the flowers by hand will provide almost 100% fruit set and improve the fruit size and eating quality. To hand pollinate, you would take a pollen filled flower from variety A and apply that pollen to the stigma of variety B (and vice versa).

Feijoa "Wiki Tu" A Highly Prized Variety!

It's the best home garden variety you could grow and will surely become a highly valued and prized fruit tree in your garden. So prolific fruiting – wait until you see the size of the fruit (up to 300gms) and taste them. They produce really huge impressive fruit and the flavour is so sweet and juicy, melt in the mouth flesh. They are truly fantastic.

Very compact growing – very bush and compact growing to around 2m tall, it would grow at least half to one third the size of normal Feijoa varieties. It can be easily trimmed yearly to be kept even more compact and shaped if you desire. The plants in my garden are 15 years old and are only 2m tall. I give them a light trim in late winter.

Wiki Tu was developed by the late Dr Phil Gardener of Levin. Dr Phil was renown for his high quality Rose nursery, Avenue Roses, in Levin. He pioneered the virus free rootstock standard which is prevalent throughout the NZ rose growing industry today, and was the the recognised NZ expert on rose viruses. In his later years he became involved in sub tropical plant breeding. He became the foremost authority on Banana cultivars in NZ. Feijoa Wiki Tu was one of the outstanding plant varieties he bred.

Wiki Tu fruits best grown in pairs or in gardens with other Feijoa varieties near by to assist with fruit pollination. It will thrive in the garden and also grow well in larger tubs because of its compact habit. Feijoas enjoy warm sheltered positions with their roots growing in cool moist rich, free draining soils.

For all its wonderful attributes, Feijoa Wiki Tu is not a variety easily available.

Feijoa "Apollo" A large fruiting variety!

This NZ bred cultivar is renown for its very large (up to 260g) aromatic sweetly flavoured fruits of excellent eating quality. Its flesh is smooth in texture, soft and very juicy. Growth habit is upright, strong and vigorous. Apollo is an early/midseason fruiting variety. Cross pollination with another variety of Feijoa is essential for a rewarding crop of large export grade fruit. Makes a great cross pollination partner with Feijoa Wiki Tu (the largest fruiting Feijoa youll ever grow).

Feijoa "Opal Star" Compact habit, egg shaped fruits, great for tubs also!

This NZ bred cultivar has consistently medium to large shiny egg shaped fruits with unusually smooth juicy flesh. Flavour is aromatic, sweet and slightly spicy! Growth habit while young is upright & spreading with strong vigorous branches. It matures into a strong compact tree that needs little pruning. It’s a late season variety and the fruit have good keeping qualities. Very good variety for growing in large tubs also. Cross pollination with another variety of Feijoa is essential for a rewarding crop of large grade fruit. Make’s a great cross pollination partner with Feijoa Wiki Tu, another naturally compact growing variety.

Feijoa "White Goose" massive yeilds of large sweet fruits, 2 to 3 times the average yeild of other varieties

More info coming on this very rare NZ bred variety.