Tigerlaff

Well, I finally have answers about high end Asian crunchy guavas and how they perform. Here are the things I wanted to know and what I learned by growing Taiwan Ruby Seedless Guava over the past year:

Do they grow and fruit well? Yes. But they need high temperatures to set fruit. South LA is just fine for that.

Do they make totally seedless fruit? Yes.

Do they get softer if left on the tree or counter to ripen? Yes, but not like a normal guava. They just become less crunchy. Same consistency as an apple. They also start to get bad spots like a normal guava if left out or on the tree too long so you aren't able to just let it ripen indefinitely until soft/creamy. That creamy texture is not in the genes of these Asian guavas.

Are they exceptionally sweet as they are always described? NO. And this is the fault of the Vietnamese, on whom I place immense blame. :lol: All descriptions of this guava include high sweetness. But the Vietnamese typically conceive of guava as a totally different fruit than we do. To them, it is more like a crunchy baby carrot. Are baby carrots sweet? I mean sure, in a sense. But you have never eaten a baby carrot that is as sweet as a grape. To them, ANY level of sweetness in these crunchy guavas earns the "deliciously sweet" label because they aren't eating regular guavas. They eat these things dipped in salt and chili powder and the more crisp and vegetal the better. Even when I asked Vietnamese people, they all told me these things were sweet. It's just a totally different frame of reference. A sweet creamy ruby supreme isn't even entering their mind when they talk about guavas. They are thinking of a crispy dipping snack and calling it sweet in the same way we might call a good baby carrot sweet.

Could I just have a dud tree? Unlikely. I've since connected with a very experienced commercial grower in California that grows every guava you can imagine. She tells me that she has never had a crunchy guava of any type, including this one, that was anything better than very mildly sweet. She also reports that 95% of her customers for these trees are Vietnamese. The Chinese and Taiwanese don't touch them as they prefer sweet soft guavas.

Do I like them? No. I do not like crunchy, mildly sweet, vegetal guavas that eat like bland apples and I'm certainly not interested in dusting them with a salt/chili mix. Some people are going to absolutely love these. They are very refreshing. But they are nothing like the guavas I know and love and I am selling this tree ASAP. I am 100% confident that I will have multiple Vietnamese buyers interested.

So there you go. Ya boy has finally done the work and posted the results (in English) so future middel-aged white guys can make a guava variety decision without blindly guessing.

If this guava doesn't sound good to you, then you also need to avoid Taiwan White Seedless, Thai White Seedless, Thai Ruby Seedless, and any other guava described as crunchy. Indonesian White Seedless is creamy.

Namwah bananas are ripening nicely. Right now they have a bright berry flavor. Will become more like sweet cream as the skin browns. These are at their best when they look like a spoiled Cavendish store banana. They don't become mushy like Cavendish.





Got my first veinte cohol pup successfully separated. This one is going to a relative who is a fellow banana nerd. This variety (the real true to type version) is so rare that I'll be saving every pup forever.



My jalisco roja guava air layers both failed. No idea why. Zero roots after 8 weeks. Will try again in the spring but this is a significant setback. I won't have any of these to share for probably 2 years at minimum.

Looks fantastic. Can't wait for mine to get to that size.

A&M are a bunch of figs!

Did you not read the post you fricking Gump? I said gay AIDS not straight AIDS. It's different. Condolences to your coach and fanbase. Or congratulations, whatever is more appropriate.

So I'm in Lexington for the game and of course my namwahs dropped while I'm gone.





They are plenty plumped up enough and should ripen fine. 112 days since fruit set.

Geaux Tigers!

I am here now and I can assure you that Lexington is cool as frick. Also, LSU is going to smoke UK tomorrow.

Gay

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technically 2-3rd year but until this past january, It was stunted by poor care and multiple transplants (never moved past about 1.5 feet in height. I've not trimmed it before.

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When they get a bad start like this it is very common for them to never thrive. It sounds like yours has finally stabilized by growing large for the first time. I would treat this as a first year tree and I would strip all fruit off of it and water it daily. You are lucky it recovered and should treat it as a new planting that needs to establish.

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Fertilizer I think I used a standard 10-10-10

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That's fine for this year but just be aware that the more nitrogen you give any fruit tree the more you encourage vegetative growth instead of flowering/fruiting behavior. That ratio should still be fine for an in ground tree, just don't dial up the nitrogen in the future.