<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>When the last feijoa has fallen off, you can have a real go at it.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>No difficult techniques needed (as with apples and pears and grapes – thinking a year or more ahead!): Feijoas fruit on new wood that grows in spring.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>So even if you literally whack them with a hedge trimmer (I do that!), next spring’s new growth will give you fruit.</span></span></p>
(NB not recomended in a commercial orchard)

To read Ruud’s full article, follow&nbsp;
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>But what about a tree that’s getting a bit too high?</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>Easy: you can really cut them back quite hard, because they’ll grow again; but seeing you’re going to do some surgery, you might as well do it real well: thin some of the branches inside the tree; That opens up the interior and gives the new growth a bit of space.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>It also gives the birds a bit of wriggle room to move.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>Birds – like blackbirds and silvereyes – are the main pollinators of the feijoa flowers!</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>(hence the colour red – birds can see red well)</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>If you see a blackbird violently attacking the red flower stamens in late spring, don’t panic! It’s doing its job.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>For those of you that consider having a feijoa tree in the garden, here are two tips:</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>1) plant two trees next to each other (they require crosspollination)</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>2) Plant them now, while there is still some warmth in the soil – otherwise they’d sulk most of the winter.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>Sunny, well-drained soil – little bit of fertiliser each spring, topped by compost of good mulch, to keep roots moist during dry periods.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>For the sixteenth floor, may I suggest a reasonably large pot with quality Living Earth Tub mix and the variety Bambina, a small grafted plant with small feijoas that can be eaten skin-and-all.</span></span></p>
<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″><span style=”color: #222222;”>Just a bit of liquid fertiliser and regular watering – you’ll love it!</span></span></p><a href=”https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/saturday-morning-with-jack-tame/audio/ruud-kleinpaste-feijoa-pruning-what-you-need-to-know/” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>this link</a><img src=”http://www.feijoa.org.nz/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Kleinpaste-300×185.png” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”185″ class=”alignright size-medium wp-image-924″ />