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GuavaGuava

Guava

Info Sheet

Cattley (Strawberry) Guava, Feijoa (Pineapple Guava) & Tropical Guava

Cattley Guava (Strawberry Guava)

Psidium cattleianum, (aka P. littorale; P. chinense)

Native to the lowlands of eastern Brazil, cattley guava is an outstanding

evergreen hedge plant for central Florida because it is cold hardy to about

22-24º F and has good salt tolerance. Bushes grow moderately slow to

15x15 feet. The plant prefers full sun

and tolerates poor, even alkaline, soils,

but will produce more if grown on good

soil and mulched. Young plants require

regular moisture. It tolerates a high water

table, but may be killed by flooding.

Grown from seed, cattley guava usually

is true to type. Red fruit cattley guava

tends to be a compact, bushy shrub

whereas the yellow has a more upright

and open growth habit. Both also make

very nice container plants and will bear heavily in a pot. Both kinds flourish

in full sun.

Fruit season is from June to August. The yellow fruit are larger and

sweeter than the red. Both fruits are about one inch long and are aromatic,

spicy, sub-acidic, and strawberry-like. Red-skinned fruits have white flesh

more or less reddish near the skin. Yellow-skinned fruits have faintly yellowish

flesh. In both types, the flesh is aromatic and surrounds the central juicy,

somewhat translucent pulp filled with hard, flattened-triangular seeds.

Feijoa (Pineapple Guava)

Feijoa sellowiana

Feijoa is a slow-growing, bushy evergreen shrub that can be trained to a

small tree with a single trunk, espaliered, or pruned to form a dense hedge

or screen. Without any pruning, the shrub may reach 15x15 feet. They

respond well to pruning, however, and can easily be shaped to any desired

form. They make an excellent hedge. Feijoa takes full sun to part shade and

will thrive with little care in most well-drained soils. They are hardy to 10ˆF

and are very salt tolerant. To produce fruit, feijoas need 100-200 chilling

hours below 45ˆF, so they will only produce fruit after cooler winters in

central Florida. Heat stress in the summer may cause them to drop fruit

prematurely. They rarely have any disease or pest problems, don’t need

much fertilizer and usually don’t need supplemental watering except in

drought conditions.

The edible flowers are very attractive, about an inch cross with white

petals and showy scarlet stamens. The edible fruits are round or egg-

shaped, 1-3 inches long, with waxy blue-green or gray-green skins and

juicy greenish white pulp. In Florida, they harvest from August-October.

The fleshy white flower petals are sweet and can be added to salads. Pluck

them carefully and the fruits will still develop. The fruit emits a strong long-

lasting perfume, even before it is fully ripe The thick, white, granular, watery

flesh of the fruit has a delicious minty-pineapple or pineapple and strawberry

flavor. The fruits are usually eaten by

cutting them in half and scooping out the

pulp with a spoon. They will drop when

ripe, but you can pick them a little sooner

and let them ripen in the kitchen. The feijoa

is native to subtropical Paraguay,

Uruguay, northern Argentina and southern

Brazil.

Guava, Tropical

Psidium guajava

Guavas are among the most versatile of fruit trees. Probably native to

southern Mexico and northern Central America, they are now found all over

the world and thrive in both dry and humid climates, at high or low altitudes,

in heavy clay, marl, light sand, gravel bars near streams, or on limestone;

and tolerating a pH range from 4.5 to 9.4!

They grow rapidly into a large evergreen bush or small open tree to about

15 x 15 feet, although in ideal locations, trees can grow as high as 30 feet.

They have fair salt tolerance. Guava trees tolerate fairly wet soils and some

flooding. They are even quite

drought tolerant. They can be

frozen back by low temperatures

of 25-28ˆF but usually re-sprout

and may begin producing again

in about a year. Older trees, killed

to the ground, have sent up new

shoots which fruited 2 years later.

Guavas grow in full sun to full

shade, though fruit production

decreases in less light. With the

exception of the ‘Indonesian Seedless,’ guavas can be “bush pruned.” All

guavas can also be container-grown. Fruit flies and whiteflies are common

pests.

Pruning trees improves the shape of the plant and will help them produce

larger fruit and a heavier crop. Fruit ripens between July and September.

When immature and until a very short time before ripening, the fruit is green,

hard and very astringent. With the exception of the ‘Vietnam,’ which is picked

and eaten green, guavas are yellow-skinned, though the flesh of ripe fruit

may be white, pink, yellow, or red depending on variety.

Guava fruits are highly nutritious. They are especially rich in vitamin C.

Some varieties have five times the vitamin C as fresh orange juice. The fruit

can be eaten fresh, made into a refreshing drink, or processed in many other

ways. The entire fruit can be used, the hard small seeds eaten right along

with the pulp. There are jelly guavas, which contain enough natural pectin

for making jelly, and sweet guavas. It is probably native to southern Mexico

and northern Central America.

Varieties

• ‘Barbie Pink’ - Rated as one of the best guavas and planted all over the

world, this variety was developed by Hopkins Tropical Nursery and named

after Barbara Hopkins. Flowers are sweetly aromatic and fruit is large with

a slight pear to oval shape with light pink flesh. Seed count is small relative to

the size of the fruit.

• ‘Indian Red’ – Fruit has a strong aroma, of medium to large size and

pear-shaped. The yellow skin often develops a pink blush when ripe. The

red flesh is medium thick and has a sweet flavor. Seeds are numerous but

small. The tree is fairly productive in fall and early winter.

• ‘Indonesian Seedless’ – While most guava trees are rounded, the

Indonesian is more columnar in form. There is also little uniformity to the fruit

size of this variety. The small to large fruit are also of irregular shape. The

seed section, however, is very small (about ¼ inch), and only rarely contains

seed. The fruit has a pleasing pear-like flavor and texture.

• ‘Peruvian White’ – . This variety is one of the best white fleshed guavas.

It produces a medium-sized rounded fruit. The tasty fruit is very aromatic

and pleasing to the senses. The fast growing plant generally produces in 2-

3 years.

• ‘Redland’ – This medium-sized fruit looks like a Bartlett pear when fully

ripe. It has pink flesh and a good number of seeds. It is high in pectin and

excellent for making jellies. It has the strongest “guava” flavor of all the

guavas.

• ‘Ruby Supreme’ - ‘Ruby Supreme’ - Ruby Supreme is one the sweetest

guavas. The fruit is red fleshed, medium-sized and rounded. The tree

generally bears delicious fruit after two years.

• ‘Tikal’ - This very nice fruit is rounded and has deep pink to almost red

flesh. The sweet fruit has a smooth texture and a pleasing flavor that is not

overpowering. It has a relatively small seed cavity.

• ‘Tropical’ – These all produce good fruit, but they vary in size, shape,

flesh color and taste because they are seedlings resulting from new crosses

between guava hybrids.

• ‘Vietnam’ – This large fruit has an almost apple-like crunchy texture. The

fruit is large and sweet, but must be eaten green. It has a small seed count

relative to the size of the fruit.

Planting Instructions

Prepare the soil by adding 1 part organic matter—such as our Rockledge

Gardens Planting Mix—to 1 to 2 parts existing soil (use more Planting Mix

in sandier soil). Use this mix to backfill the hole. Add a few cups of Espoma

Citrus-Tone and some Bio-Tone Starter Plus (see directions) when

planting. Work these into the soil alongside of the rootball while planting and

sprinkle some on the surface. Reapply Citrus-Tone around the tree surface

every 2 months. These organic products will serve to stimulate root growth

for quicker establishment.

The planting hole should be wider—but no deeper—than the rootball.

When planted, the tree should be no lower in the ground than it was in the

pot. If higher (recommended for poor draining areas), it should be bermed

up gradually.

When removing the tree from the container, use care: do this right next to

the hole you have just prepared. Examine the tree roots closely for injury. If

any of the roots are crushed or broken, cut them at a point just inside of the

injury. If there are roots encircling more than one-third of the root ball, cut

these by making 3 vertical cuts spaced equally around the rootball. This will

not harm the tree if it is properly watered. Prune any broken branches just

beyond the branch collar. Before planting, scrape a small amount of soil and

root hairs away from the sides of the tree. If some of the dirt should fall off of

the rootball, don’t panic! Carefully place the tree into the hole and backfill with

your mixture.

Gently place the tree into the hole, again checking that the soil at the top of

the root ball is level with the soil in your yard. Fill in the sides of the hole

around the rootball and gently firm the soil mixture around the base of the

tree.

Eliminate air pockets by using a gentle stream of water from a hose. Form

a ridge or berm of soil 2 to 3 inches high around the margin of the hole to

serve as a reservoir when watering. This berm should have a diameter a

little wider than the pot the tree was growing in.

Watering

When temperatures are hot, water your tree daily for the first two weeks

by filling the water reservoir (or use two gallons of water per inch of trunk

diameter). In cooler weather, water every other day. Weeks 3 and 4, water

every other day (twice a week in cooler weather). Continue reducing in

two-week stages until you’re applying water only once per week.

During the dry season and periods of drought, you should supply even

mature trees with an inch of water weekly in warm weather (every two

weeks in cooler weather).

Maintenance

Guava is easy to grow, and requires little maintenance to become a

healthy, happy tree. Fruit size and quality depends to a large extent on

proper nourishment and an adequate water supply at the time of fruit

development. A month after planting, begin feeding with Sunniland Citrus

Fertilizer. Start with no more than 1/4 pound at monthly or bi-monthly

intervals, increasing the rates in line with plant growth (see bag instructions).

To supply necessary minor elements, Citrus Nutritional Spray should

also be applied as needed. We also strongly recommend spraying citrus

trees often with Maxicrop Liquid Seaweed, especially in February and

November, to boost the immune system of the tree. Liquid Seaweed and

Citrus Nutritional Spray can be applied together. There are no serious pest

or disease problems with these fruits other than the Caribbean fruit fly.