Winter pruning of my Feijoa trees in New Zealand

Just a wee video on how I like to prune my feijoa trees. Not much to it really. Just tidying up the underside of the canopy, thinning a few branches and trimming some long shoots to either shape the tree or encourage more shoots and dencer growth.
Just make sure you give them plenty of water over the hot dry months. They will benifit from a little bit of tucker too. Feijoas like lots of food. Feed with high nitrogen NPK fertiliser in late winter and well rotted animal manure in autumn for a super heavy crop.
So, giving them some tucker is great but from my experience in most cases water is the biggest factor when it comes to yield and fruit size.

[@jivekiwi]

Great little vid. I've pruned apples for ten years but it's good to get a second opinion on a new fruit tree and a reminder of the basics as well, seeing its been a few years. I don't like to do shortening cuts on newish wood (Something generally avoided with Apple pruning) but I'll give that a go seeing as it is only a couple of trees I'm doing.

[@beateo6177]

Thank-you for this video. Just what I was looking for. I have two feijoa trees that were planted ten years ago, and they have been giving me small fruits. I didn't know Keijoa like to be trimmed and given water!

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Glad it was helpful. I have noticed if I don't give them water during the summer months the fruit ends up small and bloody hard to eat. Even though they are 30+ years old I still seem to have to give them water in order to get a decent crop.

[@bulgakovaN]

Thank you for this useful video!

[@conormcevoy7510]

I like learning from home grown no bs videos

[@melissal4682]

Thank you for sharing this video 💓

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Thank you for thanking me, too kind!

[@TABULAMPOTRUDI]

pruning is very good for the development of new trees and fruit

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Yes it sure is.

[@presidentclintonus]

Great video - very helpful. Thanks "Plantboy".

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Rock on! Glad it was helpful!

[@lydiam3161]

Thanks for the video. I've been so scared to prune the 4 feijoa trees in my garden in case I did something wrong!!

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Cheers. Yeah go for for it, they can do with a tidy up from time to time.

[@robertwebber7633]

Just came across this so big thanks.

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Cool! Thanks for the thanks! Have a nice day.

[@findvoltage]

thanks Rohan. i was told to just let it grow and i had grown small crqppy fruit like you said, luckily i found your vid today as i would have had to spend more money running more water pipe to the feijoa's i put in 4 years ago. mind you i did get a few large ones off the tree that had a few waterings this summer, next summer ill put up a video for you to have a look at the results,, oh, and my wife had been throwing cat litter over the trees as well 🙄🤢🤢

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Cool, sounds good. Yeah I certainly find water is a major when it comes to fijoa crops and how big they get on the tree. When the trees are on the dry side you often get a large amount of tiny fruit which are hardly worth eating. Much better to get a smaller number of fruit that are much larger in size.

[@sarahnz83]

Thanks for this awesome vid, i'm in the Manawatu, my feijoa trees have been in 10 years. I thought they were shrubs and wondered how everyone else got the tree variety lol! This explains a lot, I better get pruning. What time of year is best for pruning?

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

In between fruiting and flowering. So some time after harvest works well for me. Yes they can certainly turn into triffids if you don't keep on top of them. Though yearly prunung isn't 100% necessary.

[@Gr33nslime]

Thanks for the down to earth video man, appreciate it. How often should you prune?

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Cheers! I try to do yearly. At least a yearly tidy up of the under growth. As long as the mower can get under them, I'm happy.

[@katrinacoyle1949]

Got a tree I planted 4 years ago. It's growing on a massive lean. Any tips to fix it. Gives us HUGE fruit

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Maybe you could bang a waratah in the ground on the side it isn't leaning, try bend the trunk straight and tie it in place with a decent rope? You'd have to be carefull not to stap the trunk. Too much tension and it could break. I'd think a four year old tree could be straightened. But as long as it's giving you banger fruit, I say sweet as! But understandable I can see how a massive lean could bug you.

[@KlatenaJemzSelectionz]

Can you show me how to prune bk a 20+ old fejoa tree please?

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

These are 20 year+ trees. I'd imagine if your intention was to shorten the tree by a meter or two, you'd probably have to sacrifice a major portion of the next year or two's crop. In saying that, height with feijoas isn't usually an issue as harvest is from off the ground. At the end of the day the principle is the same. A bit of thinning, maybe some shortening, then if you feel fancy even a little shaping. Then, hey presto we're in business!

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

I think those trees are a minimum of 30 years old even though they don't look it. Lack of food and water will do that, I guess.

[@ChrisRanapia]

I wrangled my feijoa tree it was a mess with little bit of fruit cut it any how looks ugly but took a look today heaps of new shoots hundreds of buds

[@Dunbarton]

You didn't say WHY you were making cuts

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Sorry. Was just trying to thin out some of the growth as well as a bit of general tidying up from what I remember. In saying that feijoas really don't need to be thinned. More shaping than anything.

[@gravediggy]

Bro get some wood chip around those trees

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

Ok, maybe I woodchip one tree see what happens? If results are good I do the second one too. Could be a rather interesting experiment. Cheers for the idea.

[@gravediggy]

@@rohanplantboyjames6812 check out the back to eden method on KZbin... u will love it

[@brendonwright8959]

Pretty hard to hear you buddy

[@rohanplantboyjames6812]

I am sorry. I didn't have the money for a mic at the time I shot this. Kinda just did the best I could with my crappy phone. Anyhoo, I have a mic now. My brother got me one. Next pruning video I hope to have better audio. Again, apologies for not meeting a level of quality that is to your personal taste. I respect your take and again my sincere apologies.

[@N8tiveClothing]

Incorrect form of prunning.