Guava

Guava grows best in full sun and well-drained soil, tolerating some drought once established though it does best with medium, regular watering; it is frost-sensitive, so gardeners in marginal climates site it in a sheltered sunny spot or grow it under glass, and in the open it can reach up to 20 feet tall. Trees grown from seed can begin fruiting within two years and continue bearing for decades.

Feeding: Guava is a heavy feeder. Young trees need fertilizer every other month, tapering to just three or four applications a year as the tree matures, and a foliar spray of copper and zinc a few times a year in the first two years supports healthy growth.

Pruning: Prune yearly in late winter or early spring, since guava fruits on new growth and regular pruning encourages both vigor and fruiting. In the first year the tree is shaped into either a single trunk with a few lateral branches or left as a bush, and in later years interior growth is thinned to let in light and air.

Pests: Guava is fed on by caterpillars of several moths, including the Ello Sphinx, and by mites such as Pronematus pruni and Tydeus munsteri. In Florida it also serves as a major host for the Caribbean fruit fly, so fruit there needs protection against infestation.

Disease: The bacterium Erwinia psidii causes rot in guava fruit.

Guava fruit ripens in fall and winter, changing from green to yellow as it matures, and growers use that color shift as the signal that fruit is ready to pick.

Culinary: Guava is grown chiefly for its fruit, eaten fresh or turned into juice, smoothies, jams and jellies made possible by its high pectin content, and dried snacks. The wood is also burned for smoking meat in Hawaii, and in Cuba and Mexico the leaves are used in barbecuing.

Medicinal: Guava leaves have long been used in folk medicine across the regions where the tree is grown, and they are still brewed into herbal teas today.

Guava originated in an area spanning Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America, and archaeological evidence points to cultivation in Peru as early as 2500 BC. Spanish colonizers carried it across the Pacific while the Portuguese took it to Africa and India, and it was established in Florida by 1765; guava is now grown throughout more than 60 tropical and subtropical countries.