Plants capable of producing useful or just bright fruits in rooms or greenhouses have always been considered special stars. Citrus fruits, coffee, avocados have a non-standard both in cultivation and in their decorativeness rival – the magnificent Sellova acka, which is still known simply as feijoa. This plant with beautiful leaves, unique flowering and active fruiting surprises with its decorative effect to the same extent as its usefulness.
Growing feijoa in the room. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com Root 98
Contents:
Feijoa – versatile tub, great all year round
Feijoa fruits have been extremely popular in recent years, their healing properties are considered unique, as well as specific taste characteristics. The attention to edible fruits has led to an increase in the popularity of these plants, which are so generously endowed with them.
Feijoa are fruit trees that grow only in dry subtropics. You cannot grow them outdoors in regions with harsh winters. In contrast to the container culture, changing the form of growth to bush, the plant opens up as a highly decorative large tub or pot, which can be grown in a greenhouse or indoor culture without losing its ability to bear fruit.
Name fejxoa – a popular synonym for an amazing fruit tree Akki Sellova, or akki feijoa (Acca sellowiana), a representative of the Akka clan. The natural area of distribution of akka, covering Latin America, has long expanded thanks to the cultivation of the plant as a fruit crop. Today, feijoa is grown not only in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay or Paraguay, but also on the shores of the Black and Mediterranean Seas, as well as in the Caucasian countries.
In terms of its decorative qualities, Akka Sellova rightly claims to be one of the most valuable and versatile indoor crops. Combining a beautiful crown and interesting foliage with luxurious flowering, healthy feijoa fruits and unpretentiousness that is unique for fruiting giants, the akka stands out pleasantly against the background of competitors and pleases not only with its useful characteristics.
Feijoa – fruit trees, and in room culture – fruit shrubs, which, if desired, form into trunks. Sprawling, thin shoots with sparse branching and light, rough bark form a fairly dense crown. Feijoa is characterized by leathery, light, grayish-green leaves with a glossy sheen. Quite large leaves are located opposite on straight, strong shoots. With a length of up to 6 cm, oval leaves of feijoa grow up to almost 4 cm wide.The leathery, dense, hard surface and their special texture are pleasantly different from classic indoor trees and shrubs. The silvery-gray edge on the underside of the leaves emphasizes the unusual muted tone of the greenery.
The flowering of akka is not just beautiful, but unique. In early summer, the plant pleases with luxurious flowers for almost three weeks. Graceful flowers up to 4 cm in diameter with numerous long stamens are collected in the shields of low-flowered inflorescences, they bloom only on young twigs. White, with a delicate pink tint on the inside, the petals contrast strikingly with the numerous cherry red stamens crowned with light anthers. The center of the feijoa flower looks like a jewel and matches even the most exotic indoor crops in grace.
After flowering, fleshy oval berries of a rich green color with a bluish bloom develop, constantly increasing in size and reaching impressive dimensions of 3-5 cm in length and a weight of 30-50 g. The taste of juicy feijoa berries is quite specific, often reveals only after additional processing and introducing them into desserts. These fruits have a mixture of pineapple, kiwi and strawberry flavors easier to appreciate than to recognize their exotic scent. The beneficial properties of feijoa fruits exceed the taste, because the content of iodine compounds, organic acids and vitamins allows them to be included in the lists of the most valuable dietary products and remedies for the treatment of thyroid diseases.
Despite the fact that only one species of feijoa is grown in a room culture, it is difficult to call a plant monotonous: like any fruit plant, Akka Sellova has many varieties that differ in their decorative and fruitful qualities. In room culture, they mainly use old, compact, time-tested self-pollinating feijoa varieties – “Crimean early”, “Nikitsky aromatic”, “Pervenets 120”, “Ordinary”, “Humpbacked”, ‘Superba’, etc.
Growing feijoa at home
The combination of unpretentiousness and high decorativeness makes the Sellov Akku a unique plant. This fruit crop is more suitable for growing in a greenhouse or winter garden. But even indoors, if it is possible to provide feijoa with a cool winter, it can become one of the main stars. Akka needs systemic care. She does not tolerate improper watering and needs constant attention, but in general, growing a plant is not difficult. And constant decorativeness and bright flowering with fruiting compensate for all worries.
Feijoa, or Akka Sellova (Acca sellowiana). Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com iropa
Lighting for feijoa
It is impossible to grow a room aka, and even more so to wait for its luxurious flowering or fruiting, in the absence of the brightest lighting possible. Any shading for the plant is contraindicated, the feijoa is placed in the brightest places. A plant needs a high intensity of illumination throughout the year, even in winter. Akka is not afraid of direct rays of the sun.
Best of all, Sellova akka grows on eastern or southeastern window sills, in the autumn-winter period it is better to rearrange it on south-facing windows or provide additional lighting to preserve foliage.
Comfortable temperature
Due to the fact that feijoa are cultivated fruit trees, in indoor culture they retain their unique hardiness and can grow in a wide variety of temperature conditions. Akka bushes are not afraid of low temperatures and sudden temperature changes, they grow well even in unstable conditions. But the plants achieve the greatest decorative effect in the cool, at an air temperature not higher than 23 degrees.
A cool wintering is very important for the fruiting of the Sellova Akka. Optimum temperatures are from 10 to 14 degrees Celsius, short-term cold snaps are permissible.
Watering and air humidity
In indoor culture, akka requires careful, regular watering and frequent soil checks. In order to achieve especially abundant flowering and fruiting from a plant, it is necessary to maintain stable moisture indicators, to prevent the soil from drying out or excessive waterlogging. Between waterings, the substrate should dry out only in the upper part. Complete drying out of the soil will lead to partial loss of not only feijoa leaves, but also shoots. It is better to drain the water from the pallets immediately after watering.
Akka does not need to maintain a stable high air humidity, but too dry air negatively affects the decorative effect of the plant. In the heat or during the heating season, it is advisable to spray the plant carefully using warm water. Leaves are cleaned of dust regularly. Feijoa, with the exception of the stage of its flowering, will not refuse a warm soul.
Top dressing for Akka Sellova
Indoor feijoa prefers complex, containing both mineral and organic fertilizers, mixtures and preparations. For Akka Sellov, you can use fertilizing similar to garden plants, changing the composition of fertilizers depending on the stage of development. In the spring, nitrogen and potash fertilizers are used for the plant, in the summer – potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, but complex balanced dressings are still preferable. The plant responds well to the use of organic matter; when growing, first of all, to obtain a harvest, it is better to completely replace mineral fertilizers with organic or biofertilizers.
The frequency of feeding for feijoa is very easy to select. Fertilizers for this plant are applied once every 1 weeks only during the period of active growth, flowering and fruiting.
Feijoa with fruits
Trim sellova akka
To maintain a high decorative effect, indoor feijoa will need regular pruning. It is recommended to start it already at the stage of growing young plants, first by shortening the central trunk by a quarter or a third of the height, and then pinching the lateral branches in a timely manner to obtain a powerful skeletal base.
The formation of root shoots negatively affects the fruiting of feijoa, side shoots and root suckers are best removed if you want to get a good harvest of useful fruits. If desired, the plant can be formed into a bole or the crown can be made stricter, but the natural neatness of the crown is usually sufficient, and they do not cut it.
Every spring, the plant is carefully examined and sanitized – damaged, weak, unproductive or dry branches are removed.
Pollination of feijoa
Indoor conditions for fruiting akke need the help of a grower. The fruits of the plant are tied only with artificial pollination. The procedure itself is quite simple – the flowers are pollinated with a soft, clean brush. When growing not parthenocarpic, but cross-pollinated varieties, you can wait for the harvest only when growing several specimens.
Transplant and substrate
Only young plants need an annual transplant. Adult Sellova Akki are transplanted only as needed, with a frequency of 1 every 3-5 years, choosing large containers in which the plants will have where to develop. For feijoa, standard pots are suitable – with a height slightly higher than the width.
Indoor feijoa grows well in versatile, standard substrates. A slightly acidic or neutral soil reaction is preferable – pH from 5,0 to 7,0. When self-mixing the substrate for feijoa, one of the soil mixtures is suitable:
- a mixture of sand, peat, humus and sod soil in a ratio of 1: 1: 1: 2;
- a mixture of turf soil, sand and humus in a ratio of 1: 1: 1;
- a mixture of leafy soil with sand and turf soil in a ratio of 3: 1: 1.
It is advisable to add horn shavings or bone meal to the feijoa mixture.
Transplant the plant carefully, trying to minimize contact with the roots, replacing only loose soil. High drainage is laid at the bottom of the tanks. The level of deepening of the feijoa root collar must be kept the same. After transplanting, the plants must be protected from direct sunlight.
Diseases and pests of feijoa
The feijoa houseplant suffers more from improper care than from pests. The only exceptions are spider mites, which are very common on the plant, and whiteflies with scale insects, which love to settle on the hard leaves of weakened plants. To fight insects, you need to wash the leaves, increase the humidity and use biological products with insecticidal properties. Treatment with classical insecticides is desirable only during the period when the plant is not bearing fruit.
Indoor feijoa during flowering. Farmer Burea-Uinsurance.com monrovia
Breeding feijoa
Breeding a Sellov Akka is a fairly simple task. Unlike indoor competitors from among fruit trees, feijoa can be propagated by seeds, and cuttings, and grafting, and layering, and even separating root suckers, choosing options and propagation methods to your taste.
The most popular breeding method for the Sellova Akka is growing from seeds, although it does not preserve the varietal characteristics of the mother plants. Feijoa seeds that are small but highly viable can be harvested even from fruits purchased for human consumption by choosing the ripe fruit or waiting until they become soft. True, the process of obtaining seeds itself is not so simple and will require patience: the seeds scraped out with a spoon, together with the non-separating pulp, are left in any container in the open air in a warm room until the fermentation process begins, after which the pulp is washed off the seeds, and the seeds themselves dried on paper or napkins. You can store feijoa seeds for two years at a temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius, in a dry, dark and ventilated place.
Sowing feijoa seeds is traditionally carried out in spring, as soon as daylight hours begin to increase, in low bowls filled with a disinfected standard substrate mixed in equal parts with sand. Seeds, from above, are covered with a layer of sand 4-5 mm thick. It is not necessary to cover the containers with glass or film, but it is still easier to maintain stable soil moisture. For germination, seeds need warmth (temperature from 20 to 25 degrees) and bright lighting. The first shoots of feijoa can appear in 3-4 weeks.
There is no need to rush to dive seedlings. Before separating into individual pots, it is better to wait until at least two pairs of true leaves grow on the plant, and if the seedlings are thin and weak, then 3-4 pairs. Young feijoa are sensitive to improper watering and direct sunlight. Plants, even if transplanted during the period of active growth, should not start feeding immediately after the dive: the first feeding for indoor feijoa is carried out only 5-6 weeks after the seedlings are dived into individual containers.
The second most popular option for getting your own feijoa is grafting. The rooting rate of the plant is extremely low. Cuttings are cut during the dormant period from the middle part of the crown, from November to January. Semi-lignified cuttings from 7 to 10 cm long are cut at an oblique angle and rooted after processing in growth accelerators in wet sand, providing bright lighting and stable air humidity, increasing the temperature to 25 degrees Celsius. They are planted immediately after rooting in a standard soil mixture.
Fruiting of feijoa begins only after 4 years – for plants obtained from cuttings, and after 5 years – for bushes obtained from seeds.
