Gilroy Mall feijoas

 Back in December of 2016, I tasted feijoa fruits from the plants at Gilroy Mall. A couple of bushes were still abundantly producing tasty fruits. 

Two photos below are from December 10, 2016,

I collected the scions from these in the following spring, grafted onto seedlings and planted them in ground in Vacaville. I named them Gilroy Corner and Gilroy End. These year I have fruits on both plants and they just started dropping the fruits on October 30.

The tasting is from October 31, 2021.

Gilroy End - very juicy, sweet and nicely flavored with a little acidity. Insignificant grit. Very good fruit overall.

Gilroy Corner - does not seem to be ready yet, but it seems to have good potential. I will retaste it later in the season.

Feijoa tasting on October 23, 2021

Candy - Juicy, little grit, good balance of very sweet and some sour, very good fruit.

White Goose - Mostly smooth, little grit, melting flesh, sweet with little acidity, good fruit.

Lickver's Pride - Very sweet, lots of aromatics, very little acidity, little grit, very good fruit.

Den's Choice - Very sweet, lots of aromatics, very smooth, no grit, excellent fruit.

Marion - Very sweet, aromatic, smooth, excellent fruit.

Marjane - Extremely sweet with some acidity, aromatic and smooth, excellent fruit.

Tagan II - Sweet-sour, aromatic, smooth and creamy, very good fruit.

Edenvale Late - Sweet-sour, some grit, good fruit, needs more time.

The grafting material is occasionally available at reallygoodplants.com

Feijoa tasting on October 17, 2021

Albert's Pride - Very nice flavor, little grit, dense flesh
Flavia - Good flavor, low acid, gritty, soft flesh
8 Ball - Juice, good flavor, some grit, may need more time on the tree
Triumph - Low acid, dense flesh, gritty
Apollo - Lots of jelly, sweet, low acid, juicy, low grit, nice flavor
Abbadabba - Not fully ready, low flavor, low sugar, low acid, high grit

Den's Choice - Excellent flavor, sweet, lots of jelly, juicy, no grit
White Goose - Very good, sweet-sour, soft flesh, no grit
Edenvale Late - Excellent flavor, sweet-sour, gritty, may need more time to ripen
Chesterwoody - Very sweet, dense flesh, no grit, overripe by now (this is my earliest cultivar)
Tagan II - Excellent flavor, sweet-sour, creamy flesh with little grit

The grafting material is occasionally available at reallygoodplants.com

Den's Choice Feijoa

 Den's Choice feijoa just started dropping fruits this year on October 15. This is one of the best mid season cultivars. The flesh is smooth, lots of jelly, sweet with some acidity and very pleasant flavor.

Check our sales site if we have the cuttings available reallygoodplants.com

Purple guava makes excellent tea

 Purple guava, Psidium myrtoides makes small purple fruits with large seeds and low sugar content. I almost removed the tree as I didn't particulary liked fresh fruits. They taste very healthy and have a high amount of flavonoids, but not enjoyable to eat. 

The fruits are usually formed in small clusters.

Before digging the tree out, I decided to make a tea out of the fruits, and this saved the tree. The tea flavor reminded me the black currant fruit flavor. They should share similar compounds responsible for this flavor. Purple guava is definitely worth growing for making drinks.

Jujube cultivars

October 10, 2021, pictures

Ant Admire (2 left fruits) and Hidden Gem

Hidden Gem has some pleasant acidity. Ants Admire feels more sweet.

Shanxi Li make very large and sweet fruits

Chico row, #1 makes excellent, very sweet fruits

Check our sales site if we have the cuttings available reallygoodplants.com

Feijoa tasting on October 10, 2021

 My seedlings

I described these seedlings earlier.  All started from Mark Albert’s fruits in 2015, and planted in the ground in 2016. I evaluated this seedling in two previous years, in 2019 and in 2020.  This tasting from today just confirmed that #10 and #7 are still the best fruits. They are followed by 6, 9, 8, and 11, which are OK seedlings but not worth naming. #10 and #7 have high sugar with some acid.  #10 ripens a week or two earlier than #7.  I came up with the name for # 10, Oktoberfest. Looking for a name for #7.  Both will be registered through CRFG this year.

Known cultivars

Apollo - Sweet, smooth, very little acid, very little grit.

Marion - Low sugar, some acid, mostly flat, juicy, gritty. (Turned out that the fruits I tasted here are from the rootstock, and not from Marion, edited on Oct 23) 

Tagan II - Flavorful, but not ready yet, this was the first fallen fruit.

Kakariki - Sweet with some bitterness, gritty.  The fruits are from small plant that made too many fruits for its size.  

Marjane - Very nice clean flavor with sugar and acid, but needs more time, not fully ready yet. No grit, very smooth.

Chesterwoody - Sweet-sour, very dense jelly, no grit now.

White Goose - Sweet with some acid, juicy, smooth, no grit, needs more time to ripen.

Albert's Supreme - Very good flavor, high sugar, high acid, mostly smooth, low grit.

Kaiteri - Excellent fruit, high sugar, some acid, no grit. Best in this tasting.

The grafting material is occasionally available at reallygoodplants.com

Feijoa tasting on October 1, 2021

 Left to right in the picture: Chesterwoody, Marion, Apollo 

The best tasting fruits here are Chesterwoody and Apollo. By now Chesterwoody fruits developed more sugar and flavor, and they are better than 2 weeks ago. Marion flavor is very flat (edit on Oct 23: the fruits I picked were from rootstock branch, not Marion). No acid and low sugar. I hope they will become better in a week or two. Apollo is very smooth and sweet with less acid than Chesterwoody.

Another variety I picked today, but forgot to take a picture is Kaiteri that was the overall best at this date. 

The grafting material is occasionally available at reallygoodplants.com