Healthy Feijoa Trees

Feijoa

Healthy Feijoa Trees

I have two feijoa trees and every year the fruit falls off while still small and not ripe. What can I do to avoid this happening this summer. I water the trees regularly in the hotter months.

Feijoas flower many months before the fruit is ripe to eat. This usually happens around October and November which means the small fruit is forming at a difficult time of the year. Both soil moisture levels and temperatures are rapidly changing in spring, and winds are often exceptionally strong which can impact on pollination.

Healthy feijoas produce an enormous number of flowers and subsequently small fruit. There is a certain amount of what is termed “natural fruit fall” – in fact, most fruit trees do this to some degree. Consider doing some careful pruning immediately after cropping has finished this season to thin out excess growth, thereby allowing additional light to penetrate the bush. Growth can be very thick and this can also impact the shedding of fruit. 

Consider the variety you have planted - do you have a seedling or a cutting grown named variety feijoa? Cutting grown varieties have a more naturally open habit, larger fruit, and usually a lot less fruit fall than seedling grown plants. 

It would beneficial to mulch under the bush with Daltons Mulch and Grow from early November to ensure that the soil under the feijoas do not dry out too rapidly which can also cause fruit fall. Apply Garden Time™ Fruit & Citrus Fertiliser out to the tree drip line in early spring when plants are coming into growth. Then feed at six weekly intervals until mid-December, recommencing in mid-February and feeding through till autumn.

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