Today, I'm going to show you how to grow
feijoas, a really hardy fruiting tree and so easy to look after.
You're going to need some citrus and fruit tree
fertilizer, garden mix, sheep pellets, some seaweed
tonic, a bit of mulch and feed, a stake and some ties,
and of course, your feijoa trees.
So first of all, just going to soak our tree
in a bucket of seaweed tonic.
And that's going to help prevent against any transplant shock.
I'm planting this feijoa at the end of an existing row here.
So I've just given it about a meter and a half
so that it's got room to grow up.
With this hole, we want to make sure it's
about twice as wide as the pot and just a little bit deeper.
That's looking pretty good.
Next, want to get a good layer of garden mix
in the bottom of the hole.
That's going to be a good, rich base for our tree.
Now we just check our height, flush with the top.
Perfect.
Next is a layer of sheep pellets.
It's a good natural fertilizer, going
to break down and help feed the tree.
Mix those through a little bit.
All right.
This one's a little bit root bound.
Give it a light tease around the edges to loosen up those roots.
It's a good idea to stake feijoas
if you're in an exposed or windy situation
because they are prone to snapping.
Put the stake in before we do the backfill
so we can keep an eye on the root ball
here and not damage any of those new, young roots.
Right, now we're ready to backfill,
but just making sure not to get the level of the soil
higher than the pot was originally.
Give it a little light press-down.
Perfect.
Drive that in a little bit further.
It's nice and firm.
Find a good, strong point on the tree.
Just tie it off.
And we're going to give that a good watering in.
Lastly, just chuck on some mulch.
It's going to help keep the weeds away
from the bottom of the tree and help retain some
of the moisture in the soil.
Once you look into it, there are actually
loads of different varieties, all with slightly
different fruit qualities.
On the whole, there are three common types
that are great to get started with,
Apollo, with medium- to large-sized fruit,
delicious and pretty quick to grow;
Mammoth, which produces huge fruit with thick skin
and gets about three meters; or Unique,
which is the best one to plant if you only want one feijoa
tree, as it's self-fertile, so you're almost guaranteed fruit.
If you have the space, plant more than one feijoa
to help with pollination, which will give you more fruit.
Autumn and spring is the best time to plant,
but if you get snow over winter, best hold off till spring.
Once established, they'll do well all
over the country in sunny spots with well-drained soil.
If possible, keep them in sheltered spots,
as the trunks or branches can snap in exposed areas.
Feijoas can also thrive in pots, so look for smaller varieties
if that's what you're after.
Water often when first planted or fruiting.
Also, feed every couple of months with citrus
and fruit tree fertilizer full of potassium
for great fruiting.
It'll take about two years for good fruit production.
And they'll be ready to harvest late summer into autumn.
And it's best to let them ripen on the tree
rather than harvesting too early.
When they pull off easily, they're good to go.
Right, this is a pretty established feijoa tree, really
easy with pruning, it's really just to shape them.
But this also helps with allowing some air movement
throughout the plant for wind and bird pollination
and helps the sun ripen the fruit.
Now, I've just done this for an example.
But when you are pruning, make sure you do it
early in the season.
The cuts that you're going to make
is where the flowers and the fruit are going to form,
so you don't want to disturb the cycle.
Feijoas love most New Zealand gardens.
Enjoy how easy they are to grow at your place
and get stuck in today.
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