The origin and distinctive features of the plant, advice on agrotechnology of akka, transplantation and reproduction, problems of growing feijoa, interesting facts, species. Akka in Latin sounds like Acca sellowiana or Feijoa (Feijoa), the last name of this plant is already more familiar to us, so let's figure out what kind of representative of the green world it is and how to grow it in your apartment or office.
This small tree or shrub is an evergreen representative of the flora, but it can reach 4 meters in height, it belongs to the genus of the same name Akka (Acca), included in the Myrtaceae family. All plant varieties that belong to this family (myrtle, eucalyptus, tea tree, clove tree and others, as well as feijoa (akka)) have the peculiarity of being sources of biologically active substances and phytoncides. They have been actively used by mankind for a long time for medicinal and economic activities. But the Akka genus includes only three varieties, and as a culture, one with many varieties is grown.
Akka can safely call the forests of South America the homeland of its origin. This plant was first discovered by Europeans in Brazilian lands at the end of the 19th century. It received its second name in honor of the botanist João da Silva Feijo (in Portuguese, the surname of this person is pronounced and spelled Feijo, which is similar to the spelling of feijoa in Latin). Fiiju was the director of the Natural History Museum and has authored many works on biology. The name of the species comes from the surname of the naturalist from Germany Friedrich Zello. Popularly, this plant has accompanying names - "pineapple grass" or "strawberry tree".
For its growth, Akka chooses areas where dry subtropical climate prevails, in tropical - its growth is difficult. Most often, this evergreen tree or shrub can be found in areas of southern Brazil, the lands of Colombia and Uruguay, as well as in the north of Argentina. Feijoa first appeared on the territory of European countries in 1890 in France. And already from this country, the first cuttings were brought at the beginning of the 20th century (1900) to Yalta and Abkhazia, that is, they began to spread along the Black Sea coast. Later, Akku began to be cultivated in all regions of the Caucasus. Feijoa first came to the USA at the beginning of the 20th century (in 1901) and settled in sunny California. In 1910, the plant was brought to Italian lands, from where it began to cover all the countries of the Mediterranean. With the help of experiments, breeders-researchers found out that Akka can withstand a temperature drop of up to 11 degrees below zero.
Today, feijoa already grows in places with subtropical climatic conditions in the regions of the Caucasus, in the south of Russia (which includes the Krasnodar Territory and Dagestan), you can find akka trees in Central Asia. Cultivated on the Australian continent and the island territories of New Zealand and throughout the Pacific coast of the United States, as well as Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal.
The root system of akka is not too deep in the soil and is located close to its surface - this indicates the moisture-loving nature of the tree. Its dimensions are compact, but they are distinguished by large branching. Sometimes the diameter of the root ball is larger than the crown of the plant itself.
The bark of the akka trunk is greenish-brown and rough to the touch. The shape of the leaves is oval, the surface is hard, glossy. On the branches, they are arranged in a criss-cross opposite order and are attached to the shoot with short petioles. On the reverse side, the leaf blade is covered with villi. In tone, the front side of the foliage is darker in color than the underside.
When the time of flowering comes, then the feijoa opens the buds of a delicate white-pink or white-red color scheme. They can be located singly, in pairs, or gather in large corymbose inflorescences in the leaf axils. The petals of the bud are fleshy. In the center, more than 50 stamens, growing in a bundle and colored red, with yellow anthers, stand out beautifully. The color of the stipules is green on the outside, but the inside is reddish-brown. Abundant and highly decorative flowering lasts two months.
The flowers are pollinated by numerous insects, but only some of the beautiful and delicate buds tie and form a fruit. Therefore, despite the large number of flowers on the Akka, the fruiting of the tree does not weaken. The fruits that ripen on the plant have an oblong shape and various shades of color - dark emerald, red, orange or black berries with a thick skin and multiple seeds inside. The weight of the fruit reaches 30-40 mg, it is edible. By the way, flower petals are also used for food.
It is customary to grow Akku indoors for its decorative appearance, which is provided by glossy leaves and delicate flowers. And the fruits that appear later become a pleasant bonus when cultivating this plant. The fruit has a juicy pulp and is a storehouse of vitamins C and P. Also, many growers grow feijoa as bonsai.
Agrotechnics for growing feijoa at home
- Lighting. The plant loves bright lighting, but not direct sunlight, which can cause burns on the leaves, so it is worth placing the pot on the southeast or southwest window sills. If the akka is on the window of the southern location, then you will need to shade it from 12 to 16 in the afternoon with light tulles. On the northern ones, there may not be enough illumination, so they carry out illumination with phytolamps.
- Air temperature. Optimal heat indices are 18–20 degrees in spring and summer. With the arrival of autumn, it is necessary to keep it in a cool room with a heat indicator of 8 degrees. If the plant is kept in a winter garden, then the temperature there should not go beyond 20-25 degrees.
- Air humidity. The higher for akka, the better. We recommend year-round spraying, installation of air humidifiers. You do not need to do this only if the plant grows outside the house.
- Watering. The plant likes abundant and regular hydration with warm soft water. An earthen lump should never dry out, but waterlogging should not be allowed. In winter, watering is somewhat reduced.
- Fertilizers for akka, they are applied from March to the end of summer, using complex mineral dressings for indoor plants. Regularity - twice a month according to the manufacturer's recommendations.
- Transplant and soil. Changing the pot and soil is carried out annually in the spring. It is better to use the transshipment method, as the roots are very fragile. You can take any flower soil or compose it yourself: leaf and sod soil, peat soil and river sand, humus, taken in equal parts. A drainage layer is poured onto the bottom of the pot.
Self-breeding akka at home
You can get a new feijoa plant by planting seeds, cuttings or layering. If a plant has grown from a cuttings or cuttings, then the fruits will appear in 3-4 years, but from an akka grown from seeds it is possible to get fruit only after 5-6 years.
The method of reproduction using seeds is the simplest, therefore it is used most often, even despite the fact that the resulting feijoa may lose its parental characteristics. The collected seed material is suitable for planting for 2 years and does not need to be specially processed. For cultivation, the usual seedling method is used. For convenience, you can mix the seeds with sand before planting.
Sowing is best from mid-winter to March (in February). For planting, pots are used, which are then wrapped in plastic wrap to create the conditions for a mini-greenhouse. Or, a seedling box is used, with a poured substrate, in which grooves are made at a distance of 5-6 cm from each other.
Since the seeds are very small, they are not embedded in the soil, but simply poured onto the substrate and powdered with soil, or a layer of filter paper is placed on top. After the seeds are planted, it is necessary to moisten the soil, but be extremely careful not to wash the seeds and place the container or pot in a warm place with a germination temperature of 18-25 degrees.
Practically after 3-4 weeks, with daily airing and spraying of the soil, the first shoots appear. Lighting should also be good during germination, but without direct rays of the luminary. If there is enough light and moisture, then this process can happen earlier. As soon as 2-4 true leaves appear on the sprout, a dive is carried out, during which part of the root system is pruned. As early as the next year, young plants can be placed on a permanent growth site.
When propagated by cuttings and layering, all the characteristics of the variety are preserved. For the cutting, a semi-lignified apical or middle shoot is used, with a length of up to 10-12 cm and so that there are 2-3 leaves on it.
Cutting cuttings is best done in November-December. It is necessary to root immediately after treatment with a rooting stimulant for 16-18 hours. At the same time, high humidity and temperatures of 26-28 degrees are maintained. Additional illumination must be provided.
Lower branches are used for layering, but since they are very fragile, it is recommended to carry out the process very carefully. A circular incision is made on the branch, and it bends to the soil, there you will need to hold the shoot with a wire or hairpin and sprinkle it with soil. As soon as the roots appear, it is necessary to separate the layer from the parent bush and plant it in a permanent place of growth.
There are no clear guidelines for planting, but it is recommended that the distance between plants in the garden is at least 2 m.
Interesting facts about akka
In the middle of the 18th century, a boy named Joao da Silva Barbosa lived in Brazil. This child was curious and loved nature, read many books and encyclopedias. He could watch the life of ants for hours or watch the buds of flowers bloom in the gardens at dawn. After graduating from university, he adopted a new surname Feijo and was one of the founders of the Museum of Natural History in Lisbon (Portugal). All his life, the scientist devoted to the study of the flora of the Cape Verde Islands, the native lands of Brazil, and then Portugal. He wrote works on geography, toponymy and botany. And when, after a century, another naturalist scientist Carl Otto Berg discovered a new fruit tree in Portugal, he named it in honor of his colleague, the boot Silva Feijo - feijoa.
Akka fruits contain many active and beneficial substances for the human body, namely sugars, organic acids and iodine. Moreover, the content of the latter element directly depends on the place where the feijoa grows. Naturally, the iodine content will be higher in the fruits of trees growing on the sea coasts. It is customary to use the fruits of akka in cooking and for dietary nutrition of patients.
Difficulties in growing akka indoors and on the site
Feijoa rarely suffers from disease and pest damage. If this happens, it is only due to a violation of the growing conditions. Most often, the mealybug and scale insect annoy the acke, and young shoots suffer from red spider mites. In this case, a celtan solution is used. It is prepared on the basis of 1 liter of water 2 gr. spray agent to be applied at the end of the day. If you do this in the daytime, then the solution can burn the foliage due to the sun's rays. Just one treatment is enough, although the solution is effective within a month.
If a brown false shield was found along the central vein, then karbofos is used here. For a solution in a liter of water, dissolve 5-6 grams. drug. Spraying is carried out, and then re-treatment three more times at weekly intervals.
If there is a prolonged waterlogging of the soil, then the plant is affected by fungal diseases. In this case, it is necessary to remove all damaged areas and treat with a fungicide. If spotting is found on the leaf plates, then it is cured with the help of Bordeaux liquid, and gray mold is also fought.
Other difficulties include:
- the fall of the deciduous mass occurs from alkalization of the soil, excessive watering or warm wintering;
- Akka does not bloom if the plant does not have enough light, young shoots were cut off, and increased temperatures during wintering;
- Feijoa does not bear fruit, in the case when pollination did not occur, low soil moisture, incorrect or untimely transplantation, lack of nutrients.
Types of akka
Akka Zellova (Acca sellowiana Burret) or as it is also called Feijoa sellowiana Berg. An evergreen plant has a shrubby form of growth or becomes a small tree. Height dimensions reach 3–6 meters. The leaf plates are located opposite, have an oval shape, whole-edged, with a blunt apex, dense, with wrinkles on the surface, on the upper side they are painted in a gray-greenish tone, and on the lower part of the leaf they have tomentose pubescence.
Blooming buds measure 3-4 cm in diameter, solitary or gather in inflorescences located in the leaf axils, on elongated pedicels. There are 4 petals in the flower, they are oval in shape, slightly bent, fleshy, the color is whitish outside, and the inside of the bud is crimson-red. The petals taste sweet. Inside the flower there are numerous stamens, which protrude strongly from the corolla and beautifully cast a carmine red tone.
At the end of flowering, the fruit ripens in the form of a berry, taking on oval or egg-like shapes, with lobes of the calyx that remain on the top. Plaque fruit has a waxy, bluish tone. The berry measures 4-7 cm in length and 3-5 in width, it is edible. In their consistency, the berries resemble gooseberries, but in taste they are similar to pineapple and strawberries - this is probably why there is a popular name for akka "strawberry tree" or "pineapple grass". The seeds inside the fruit are small.
The native habitat is the territory of Uruguay, Paraguay, as well as the southern regions of Brazil and northern Argentina. There are many garden forms in the culture, and it has been grown since 1890.
When the seedlings were brought from different sources, they showed a variety of characteristics. It is known that a certain breeder from Los Angeles - J. Hare, who received seed material from Argentina and grew plants from it, noted that only one is superior to all other feijoas in appearance and has an earlier fruiting. This variety was named Hare. This variety is distinguished by large fruits that have a thin pear-shaped shape and sometimes have curved outlines and a thin skin with a yellow-green tint. The pulp of this species has small grains, abundant and with great juiciness. Seed material is plentiful and more than that of ordinary Akka varieties, their taste is sweet, but the smell is not fragrant. Seedlings of the Hare variety are upright, compact in size, strong and with lush foliage, and only moderately fruiting.
The following varieties of this variety can be distinguished: Andre, Besson, Coolidge, Choiceana, Superba.
How to grow feijoa (akku) at home, see here:
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