Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae)

Leona starts with ...
Anyone here grow Chilean guavas? If so, has yours fruited yet? I have a little hedge of them, but mine are still young, smallish plants. Are yours in the shade or part-shade or full sun? How long did it take for yours to fruit, and how big were they? I am getting impatient already LOL

Brad says...
Hi,
I read that Myrtus Ugni, Ugni Molinae, Chilean Guava or a heap of other names are supposed to fruit in their 3rd year adding 1kg of yield per year. Some set some fruit in their 2nd year. I don't know if that is in full sun, but assume its for producers so probably so.

Someone from Daleys planted one according to http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/newsletter/october2001.htm
so I'd love it if they can tell us if and how much fruit it produced. Also what do they taste like (sherbet bombs if you believe one description I read)?

I came here trying to find out if and how you should prune them in first few years while they are growing before fruiting. I eventually want a hedge but am not sure whether to prune regularly (like lavender) or leave it to be pruned after fruiting. If I can't get advice, I'll do the latter, although I'm tempted to try propogate cuttings.

Thanks for any and all help,
Brad

Edward says...
Hi
I planted several bushes about 3 or 4 years ago. Those which are in part shade have grown to about 60 cm high, but look a bit straggly and show no sign of flowers. Those in full sun look more healthy and have just, finally, produced a lot of flowers and now have small berries. I am now waiting for the berries to grow to maturity so I can taste them.
My conclusion is that Myrtus Ugni needs full sun, and so I'll be transplanting the other bushes.
As for soil pH, I think my soil is fairly neutral (pH7).

Edward

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Leona says...
Thanks heaps for that - I will be replanting mine in a full sun position too!

Teddy says...
Have chilean guava growing in Tassie.They have fruited in the first year,and are growing well in dry conditions in full sun.

Brad says...
I've now lost 2 of these plants in successive years right at the tail-end of the Perth summer. 2 cuttings I propagated are alive in pots on a very shaded verandah. Anybody managed to get Chilean Guavas to fruit in Perth (hot summer)? If so please describe soil, sun/shade, water, fertilizer etc

Brad

amanda says...
So Teddy - you have gone quiet...are u going to tell u more about your Ugni's? It would seem you have a botanically advanced one - or a very green finger?

ex-kiwi says...
Hi rose - lucky u!! I'm totally green cos' i can't wait to try mine! I was raised in Ngaio - where r u? Tell us more about what u have done with it please? - NZ is a completely different gardening environment to OZ - maybe we can learn something?

Lacebark says...
I ate chilean guava from my Granny's garden in New Plymouth (NZ) for years as a child, and have been chasing them lately in Perth.
They taste something like intense strawberry with cranberry flavour, sweet with a little acid. They are also called NZ Cranberry, I guess for that reason.
She had them growing in full sun, in a sheltered position. Soils ? Loads of bulk organic matter mixed in before planting, and a deep mulch after to buffer the heat in summer, I'm guessing.
I plan to plant a hedge on the sse side of the house, avoiding the late summer afternoon sun.
I am chasing plants in Perth, so if anyone knows where I can buy from, that would help.

Julie says...
Phoenix Seeds have seed of Ugni. No idea how long they would take to grow from seed. phnxseed at ozemail dot com dot au for a catalogue.

They have lots of interesting plants if, like me, you enjoy the challenge of growing from seed.

Do they need a lot of water?

CA says...
Hi,
I got a Chilean Guava from diggers about three years ago. I am growing it in a pot, grows well, but has never flowered. Does anyone know what I can do to make it flower?
Thanks

meow says...
Okay- I went to my local nursery and bought a chilean guava today. They said it's fine to plant now just to water lots through the heat (if we have more coming in Melb- it's cold!).

Anyway- they had two types. One regular Chilean Guava that said on the tag it can grow up to 5m and another called Cherrie Berrie (some branded name) thathad 60cm listed as it's height. Given I wanted a little shrub I went for the Cherrie Berrie.

But here's the thing- it's real name is Mrytus (I'm presuming they mean Myrtus) Ugni which just makes it a regular Chilean Guava. Anyone know anything about Cherrie Berries and whether it will infact grow small or if it'll need cutting just like the regular Chilean Guava?

j says...
I picked about 4 chilean guava's up from Bunnings pick me edibles section for 10$ each.

CA, mine have flowered but no fruit. I have put them in bigger pots and used Citrus fertilizer of all things and they have grown a good ten or so centimetres bigger since in a 3 month period. They will be going into the ground during autumn. Also, they seem to be fine with full sunlight.

meow says...
Ohh- scratch that! I just had another look. It's not flowering and it says it'll grow up to 2m (still less than the other one that said 5m)! I was mixing up the 60cm with a dwarf pomegranate I also bought.

meow says...
Off topic with the dwarf pomegranate but I don't think the fruit is edible is it?

CA says...
Thanks Amanda,
If it doesn't flower this spring it is off to the compost for my Chilean Guava!

amanda says...
Thanks Brad... maybe patience is they key!?

Amy says...
Mine grow in full sun & I got fruit in the first year after planting. They're currently in clay soil & watered regularly. I haven't given them any special treatment but they've just shot away. Must be something they liked! I'm about to take them out & replant them as part of a hedge, so hopefully the transplanting doesn't knock them around too much.

Amy says...
pH is approx 6.5-7 (checked this morning...we're literally digging them out today & replacing the old clay, so wanted to get a reading of the soil they'd been growing in up to now). Not sure if it's like this further down but it was this at the surface (the ground is heavily mulched with newspaper & bark chips, so not sure if that has an effect on pH or not).

They have finished flowering now & the fruits are still tiny. I've attached a pic of a developing fruit (taken this morning) for you to see.

***edited to add*** That fruit is, of course, very tiny (if you compare the leaf in the pic to one on your plant, you'll get a better idea of scale). At the moment, you have to look very closely to see the fruit. When they get bigger, they're more obvious (although still small).

Pictures - Click to enlarge
Picture: 1

Brad says...
They're sounding more and more like they need to be grown like blueberries. Acidic soil with Peat for moisture and a dislike of intense heat.

Amanda the taste description that hooked me from Glowinski and quoted in Diggers was "sherbet bomb"

Amy says...
Amanda...I got mine from Diggers. They have a sort of sweet strawberry taste. But more complex. Very intense. The kids adore them.

Given mine cope with the 40+ temps we sometimes get, heat probably isn't too big a factor. Mine also get exposed to some pretty strong wind from time to time. And they're in full sun. I think the key might be watering - mine are heavily mulched & watered regularly.

Jake says...
Hi Guys, thanks for all the posts - some very interesting information indeed. If anyone is at all interested i bought 3X 3 year old Ugni molinae - Chilean guava a season ago. Once in they established well. With the UK being very different, they absolutely adored full sun, the soil around here is bewteen 6-7pH (Clay loam) and fairly dry. At the end of the summer each plant fruited profusely - early autumn. The fruit are indeed a well balanced sugar/acid cranberry/strawberry explosion - intense - a very exotic taste for visiting freinds and family.
I bought mine from an on-line nursery in Chelmsford, Essex - Floraselect - check them out, they have a huge array of garbdening shrubs and fruit tree and bushes.
best wishes and good luck to you all,
jake

Amy says...
Just thought I'd post an interesting update...we were at my parent's house in New Zealand & they have a Chilean guava as well. This year it had the hugest berries I've ever seen on one - much bigger than mine ever get & they say it's the largest they've ever had as well. They were around 50% bigger than a blueberry. The taste wasn't quite as intense as normal but still nice & with more of a lemony under-taste than mine get.

I asked if they'd done anything unusual to them this year...Dad doesn't fertilise them. The only thing they said was different was they'd had a lot of rain recently. Other than that, they're grown in full sun in the corner of their vege patch. So the watering is important for fruit production. Mine certainly do better when they're on the timed irrigation compared to hand watering.

amanda says...
Great link Vic. Amy - my strawberry guavas do this too. More water = much bigger fruit - but the taste gets "diluted" too much for my liking.

I just lost the last of my 3 chilean guavas - after a 2yr struggle. I suspect the heat and drying winds just slowly took their toll - they never really took off.

Tess says...
My friend's bushes are now in full fruit in Southern Tasmania. They're grown in a similar way to blueberries, near the house and missing the hottest sun each day. They're a couple of years old and would be all of 45 centimetres high, absolutely laden with berries that are very easy to strip off the stalk. The smell is the knock-you-over aspect that I'd plant them for; (I'm currently trying to shoot cuttings)
it's an intense toffee and strawberry smell that literally swamps the place late afternoon.

snottiegobble says...
There was big hype & promotion about ugni in Tassie on Landline a few years ago so a lot of folks went out & bought up big & planted them by the acre. Its good to know there has been success with them in Tassie at least.
Amanda, I think youre right, its too hot on the mainland. We tend to think of Chile as tropical, but like ocas & babacos, ugni must grow up in the Andes where it is much cooler.

krazykangaroo says...
John, I grow mine under shadecloth and no direct sun at all and they fruit really well. I live in Western Vic. They grow well from cuttings so perhaps you need to try again if you have no luck with cuttings.

I love these fruit but can't cook with them as they don't make it back to the house.

J says...
My 4 plants flowered prolifically about a month ago but most of the flowers seem to have fallen off. They get a good amount of sunlight and have almost doubled in size within the last six months. Sounds like its a great growing position (north east) but a crap spot for the plants to fruit.

JohnS says...
Hi Brad
Why seed? I started with a single bush from a nursery and was impressed with the fruit (& the negligible impact of Mediterranean fruit fly - a severe nuisance in Perth if conventional guava are grown.)

& so I tried seed propogation. Dead easy - but only in the cool of Perth's winter.

After 12 months provided you've promptly potted-off the juveniles into a quality growing-medium the stronger plants will be about 40 cm in height.

BJ says...
They are the worst fruit for fruit fly. I've got thousands of those ferral guavas on the hills behind my house - all are laden with fruit and every fruit has hundreds of larvae in it. Trying to stop the fruit flies at this time of year is completely futile...

Best time of year to be a chook though!

Edward says...
Brendan, this looks like the Hawaiian guava sold by Daleys. It is very nice indeed. We have one growing in Sydney and I spray the young fruit with Lebaycid, and later put plastic bags over them till ripe. Works well.

Rowena says...
I have a 2 year old plant, in a largish pot filled with potting mix in the veg garden, and I have just picked about 4 cups of "cranberries" and made relish. Just grows and fruits with no trouble.

geoff says...
where can I get chilean Guavas in perth