Do you like exotic plants in your apartment? Then read on how to grow a guava tree at home. Perhaps it will even delight you with its fruits … Like many plants we are used to, exotic can also be grown on your windowsill. And not just admire the leaves, but also get fresh fruits. Like any plant, the "foreigner" loves care and will respond with love in full. Take the exotic wholesome evergreen shrub, psidium, for example. He will give his caring owners healthy and tasty fruits - guava.
What is the best guava variety to grow at home
Those who want to get fresh fruit at home, it is better to take care of a guava variety that will quickly take root, can bear fruit in this climate, and is not very picky about soil and watering. Botanists consider Psidium Littorale or coastal psidium a suitable "candidate": it responds generously to warmth and care, does not get sick in indoor conditions, it is not afraid of worms, aphids, fungal diseases and scale insects.
In the photo there is a tree of strawberry guava (the fruit of the fruit is small and has a red "raspberry" color). The advantages of the "coastal" variety of guava include beautiful flowers: relatively large, snow-white, eight-petaled, many stamens and extremely fragrant. Psidium has the usual dense green leaves. Its fruit ripens up to four centimeters, spherical in shape, the skin color is light yellow, fragrant, it will have the same qualities as growing in nature.
Planting and breeding guava at home
Psidium does not reproduce well from cuttings. They do not take root well and require a certain high temperature and humidity. Better to just pick the seeds from the guava you just eaten. Fresh and shallow planted, they sprout well. And in three years they will begin to bear the first fruits. The guava pollinates itself. But, there is a small trick to increase the number of ovaries: with a brush, transfer pollen from a flower that has just blossomed to a flower that is already losing its snow-white petals.
Home guava care
Potting soil preparation:
in order to form a runoff to remove excess moisture during irrigation, expanded clay is poured onto the bottom, then cow manure (a little) is laid, and a mixture of garden soil, sand, peat (2: 1: 1) or from earth, sand, humus (1: 1:1).
Temperature range:
in order for guava seeds to sprout, heat is required from 22 to 28 degrees. In general, guava is a thermophilic plant and also loves light. Therefore, as soon as the still warm spring rays appear, the guava can be gradually transferred to the balcony. To provide enough moisture, guava can not only be watered into the soil, but also "rinsed in the shower" in the heat along with leaves and branches.
In winter, the temperature should be kept in the room from +16 to +20 ° C. Young plants are sensitive to cold. In general, the minimum temperature that allows guava to develop is only +15 degrees. Frost damage (-2 ° C) damages foliage, at -3 ° C psidium irrevocably leaves its owners.
Watering and feeding:
when shoots have appeared, the earthen coma should not be allowed to dry out. Because of this, young shoots dry out and leaves curl. The root system of the guava is superficial. Psidium is watered abundantly in summer and as needed in the winter months. Guava is fed at home from autumn to the first sunny days with infused mullein.
Transplant:
when the psidium sprout has grown to 5 cm, it can be transplanted. Tall trees up to 75 cm in height are also suitable for transplantation. It is recommended to transplant the plant several times: first in a small container, then in larger ones, etc. This can be done in spring (March-April), but not during flowering and fruit emergence.
General recommendations
- When forming the crown of a guava tree, it must be borne in mind that the fruits appear on young shoots. If possible, it is better to refuse to cut the crown altogether, the path is formed independently. Or cut off only long branches.
- Remove root overgrowth so as not to end up with dense bushy thickets.
- The position of the guava cannot be drastically changed. She can drop foliage (partially).
- To get a bush, and not a stem tree, you need to pinch the growing point. It happens that you have to do this several times.
Caring guava owners, who planted a seed, looked after the bush, followed all the recommendations, will be happy with the result. First, a little (3 × 4) fresh healthy fruit, and then a few kilograms will be presented by the evergreen handsome psidium. From them you can make wonderful puddings, jams, fruit salads, etc., eat and maintain your health.
Video (sorry that in English) about planting an already large guava tree in your garden (if you only live in warm regions):
