Culture of the Feijoa

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22819, 28 August 1937, Page 10 (Supplement)

Culture of the Feijoa

Fruit of Delicious Perfumed Flavour

A S a rule wild fruits, or those which • have not been improved by cultivation, are seedy or have scanty flesh. ' The feijoa, taken directly from the wild, is remarkable for the minute size of its seeds, its abundance of flesh and its delicious perfumed flavour. There are several types in cultivation. One may be compact and low-growing, while another will be tall and open and inclined to be straggling in habit. In a ) few years the types will be narrowed down to the best shaped and most productive, but the fact remains that , many feijoa trees have not yet borne . fruit. It has been commonly thought : that wrong cultural methods were the cause of this, but investigation indicates that self sterility may be to blame in some cases. • In its native home, the feijoa is . pollinated by certain birds which visit the flower to eat the fleshy, sweet petals. The stamens and style project to a considerable height in the' centre of the flower. These brush against the , breast of the bird, the pollen grains r adhering to the feathers. When the next flower is visited, the pollen may come into contact with the stigma and 5 so the cross pollination is effected. In the Dominion these birds are absent. ' although it may be noted that sparrows have developed a liking for the eweet petals and may carry out the pollination. In some instances feijoas are self sterile and can only develop fruits when pollen is brought from another

[ A yew tree standing in Caerau j ; churchyard, near Cardiff, and be- \ | lieved to be nearly 2000 years old, ] j teas destroyed by fire recently. • ■

plant. To avoid the dissemination of these varieties, feijoas, known to be self fertile, should only be propagated by vegetative means. Like most other fruit trees, seedling feijoas do not reproduce the parent variety and are less satisfactory than plants raised from cuttings, layers, or grafts from plants producing an abundance of fruit. While young, the plants require an abundance of moisture, and it is desirable to keen a benvv mulch around them to avoid excessive evaporation. The amount of manure which can advantageously be used has not been definitely determined, but it has been the practice, where these fruits are grown in quantity, to give the young trees an abundance of decayed stable manure, and the effect of this seems to be beneficial. There has been a suspicion that large amounts of manure applied to bearing trees would decrease the production of fruit, but the evidence is not convincing. Grafted or layered plants should commence to fruit two or three years after planting. Seedlings may not bear until the fifth year. The fruits fall to the ground when mature and should be laid in a cool place until in a condition for eating, which will be known by the fruit becoming soft and by the perfumed aroma.

Different opinions have been expressed regarding the value of the feijoa as a fresh fruit. Those who liavo eaten perfectly ripened specimens have invariably praised it, while others who have chanced to try imperfectly ripened ones have been disappointed. To be appreciated, feijoas should be eaten at the proper degree of ripeness. Everyone knows that the finest pears are no better than turnips if eaten a triflo soon, or a trifle late, and the same remark applies to feijoas.