Feijoa - Acca sellowiana

Feijoa trees are among the most adaptable fruit tree varieties for New Zealand, growing successfully almost anywhere across the country. These hardy fruit trees are naturally pest and disease resistant, making them excellent low-maintenance choices for edible gardens and home orchards. Feijoa varieties are an outstanding source of Vitamin C and dietary fiber, with fruit that tastes delicious raw or cooked - offering hundreds of sweet and savory culinary applications.

Despite their popularity in New Zealand edible gardens, feijoa trees are not native to New Zealand. These fruit tree varieties actually originated in South America, arriving here in the early 1900s. Also known as pineapple guava and guavasteen, feijoa varieties belong to the myrtaceae (myrtle) plant family.

Feijoa trees resemble native Pohutukawa or Rata with their distinctive bright red fluffy flowers, making them attractive ornamental fruit trees for home orchards. These versatile fruit tree varieties are particularly hardy in coastal New Zealand environments and work excellently for hedging in edible gardens. Feijoa trees are impressively frost tolerant, capable of handling temperatures as low as -10°C, making them suitable fruit trees for most New Zealand climate zones.

Growing feijoa trees is straightforward as they thrive in sunny positions and adapt to various soil conditions, from heavy clays to light sandy soils, though they prefer well-drained situations. Feijoa varieties also perform well in containers, making them versatile options for smaller edible gardens or urban home orchards. During particularly dry summers, minimal watering may be needed.

Feijoa trees benefit from light pruning after fruiting - ideally open enough "that a bird can fly through" since they rely on bird pollination. This pruning approach encourages more flowering wood production and improves pollination success for better fruit yields.

While some newer feijoa varieties such as early-season 'Unique' (which bears fruit from a young age), dwarf 'Bambina', and the original 'Sellowiana' are self-fertile, most feijoa varieties require cross-pollination. Even self-fertile fruit tree varieties benefit significantly from pollination with another variety, producing larger, heavier crops. Planting at least two different feijoa varieties in your home orchard solves pollination requirements.

Choose feijoa varieties to suit your harvest preferences, with early, mid, and late-season ripening options available, plus fruit of various sizes and sweetness levels. Feijoa trees are truly easy-care fruit trees, being comparatively disease and pest-free, though they can occasionally be affected by leaf roller, scale, and thrips. Unlike many fruit tree varieties, birds aren't typically attracted to feijoa fruit, and ripe fruit naturally drops to the ground, making harvest as simple as daily collection during the season.

Use our fruit tree selector to choose the best feijoa varieties for your New Zealand edible garden and climate conditions.