fuchsia and chilean guava

[amh]

Has anyone successfully grown Fuchsia boliviana or Ugni molinae in the southwest United States?

Container or in ground?

 

[Silas_Sancona]

2 hours ago, amh said:

Has anyone successfully grown Fuchsia boliviana or Ugni molinae in the southwest United States?

Container or in ground?

 

Highly doubtful outdoors anywhere highs are consistently above the low 80s.. Might grow in places like Flagstaff.. Both plants like moderate, constant spring-like temperatures, & cool-ish nights. Ideal climate is similar to coastal areas around San Francisco / Monterey, ..and areas to the north.

Might be do-able in pots.. Must have acidic soil, Hates anything Alkaline.

Edited December 12, 2020 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[amh]

Unfortunately, I think that you are right. I've been pondering whether or not to try these plants for years, but have been concerned about my summer temperatures.

I may someday try to grow these in pots that I will bring inside for the summer months.

[ShadyDan]

Try growing in shade. I think Chilean guava is less sensitive than people think. I don’t have any experience with the fuchsia, but the guava fruit is very tasty! They are also quite cheap to purchase (up here at least) so you don’t have much to lose by trying. 

[amh]

I have quite a few shaded and humid areas, but mid July through August are just oppressively hot. I'll at least try the Chilean guavas in the future.

[rprimbs]

I live in inland San Diego (Escondido).  We've got a Chilean guava.   The leaves wrinkled on it a little after it got to 110, but it is generally pretty bullet proof.

[amh]

7 hours ago, rprimbs said:

I live in inland San Diego (Escondido).  We've got a Chilean guava.   The leaves wrinkled on it a little after it got to 110, but it is generally pretty bullet proof.

Good to know, It rarely gets above 105 where I live, so container grown plants can be moved.

Has anyone grown fuchsias?

Edited December 15, 2020 by amh

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, amh said:

Good to know, It rarely gets above 105 where I live, so container grown plants can be moved.

 

If you have any large Oaks, Pinyon, or Juniper, ( that are large enough ) That may be an ideal spot to place them under/ help keep them cooler over the summer. Keep reading these will fruit in partial shade, unlike other things that want more light when fruiting.

[amh]

Lots of big live oak and elms.

[ShadyDan]

8 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

If you have any large Oaks, Pinyon, or Juniper, ( that are large enough ) That may be an ideal spot to place them under/ help keep them cooler over the summer. Keep reading these will fruit in partial shade, unlike other things that want more light when fruiting.

Mine fruits in half day shade in the PNW. Fruiting won’t be a problem further south. 

[Silas_Sancona]

13 minutes ago, ShadyDan said:

Mine fruits in half day shade in the PNW. Fruiting won’t be a problem further south. 

Much different conditions between Texas and the Pac. Northwest..  Wouldn't expose something that is already heat sensitive/ prefers mild conditions to sun in a much hotter location..

Edited December 16, 2020 by Silas_Sancona
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[ShadyDan]

10 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Much different conditions between Texas and the Pac. Northwest..  Wouldn't expose something that is already heat sensitive/ prefers mild conditions to sun in a much hotter location..

Yea that’s what I mean, fruiting in shade won’t be an issue in a much hotter location than mine. 

[amh]

14 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Much different conditions between Texas and the Pac. Northwest..  Wouldn't expose something that is already heat sensitive/ prefers mild conditions to sun in a much hotter location..

Yeah, new gardeners to the area find out that plants labeled as full sun really means part sun to dappled shade.

3 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

Yea that’s what I mean, fruiting in shade won’t be an issue in a much hotter location than mine. 

I'm more concerned with overall temperature effects. About mid July through early September, a lot of plants here quit growing and fruiting due to water stresses.

[ShadyDan]

1 hour ago, amh said:

 

I'm more concerned with overall temperature effects. About mid July through early September, a lot of plants here quit growing and fruiting due to water stresses.

Yea these guavas come from the Valdivian rain forests, so I imagine finding some way to keep it well watered in the summer would be a must. 

[amh]

 

3 hours ago, ShadyDan said:

Yea these guavas come from the Valdivian rain forests, so I imagine finding some way to keep it well watered in the summer would be a must. 

What happens is that more water escapes through transpiration than the roots can get from the soil, so they quit growing.

I've yet to find anything from Chile that can handle dry heat, well, maybe something from the Atacama would survive.

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, amh said:

 

What happens is that more water escapes through transpiration than the roots can get from the soil, so they quit growing.

I've yet to find anything from Chile that can handle dry heat, well, maybe something from the Atacama would survive.

That's what happens w/ a lot of things here mid- summer, at least until Monsoon season begins -if- it does.. Hot pots, even in shade, can also invite root rot.. Lost most of my Plumeria collection, and some other otherwise tough things, exactly because of this..

Atacama, maybe parts of Argentina/ neighboring areas that are quite dry/ experience similar temps..

My bigger concern, even if you ( or someone here/ somewhere roughly  as dry/ hot ) could get these through the summer heat/ hot nights is they'd likely freak out if watered w/ hard, alkaline water.. My Jaboticabas sure hated it, but managed to survive..  day after day 110+ heat finished most of them off.  Would bet Chilean Guava are really sensitive to anything high Ph. You might get a touch more summer rain you could collect compared to here though.

[amh]

I haven't had a hot pot/ root rot issue, but all my potting medium drains very well. I would definitely be harvesting rainwater for this, or trying to find a local source of sulfuric acid. I usually get a good amount of rain April through early July, but 3/4 of it could be from one storm. My yearly average is somewhere between 36" to 40".

[Silas_Sancona]

3 minutes ago, amh said:

I haven't had a hot pot/ root rot issue, but all my potting medium drains very well. I would definitely be harvesting rainwater for this, or trying to find a local source of sulfuric acid. I usually get a good amount of rain April through early July, but 3/4 of it could be from one storm. My yearly average is somewhere between 36" to 40".

That much yearly rain would change everything here.. Phoenix proper averages about 8"/ yr.  Might get an extra 2 or 3 inches more on my side of town.. Tucson, lucky them,  gets 12-15"/ yr. -if my memory is correct-

Part of the heat caused root rot issue is during the summer, you can soak everything one evening, and many things will be close to bone dry within a day or two. Don't water enough, stuff dries out - and dies quickly, pretty obvious..  West facing back yard, and having no tree canopy over most of it that time of year definitely doesn't help. Learned that curve as soon as the heat kicked in when i moved here.

On the other hand, Water too much, and all that extra heat + wet soil brings about the other issues..  Grow pretty much everything in a soil mix i mix myself that contains less than 20% organic -anything-  Our past summer was nuts. Lost every Agave i'd planted in the ground in my front yard 2 years ago.  Glad i won't be here to deal with AZ summers again.  Never had similar issues w/ plants in containers when i lived in Florida, or back home in San Jose ( CA )

That said, been very surprised by other stuff i have that has managed to survive 4 summers here..

[amh]

3 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

That much yearly rain would change everything here.. Phoenix proper averages about 8"/ yr.  Might get an extra 2 or 3 inches more on my side of town.. Tucson, lucky them,  gets 12-15"/ yr. -if my memory is correct-

The hill country can get over 8" a day and last el nino I had 80+ inches for the year, but I can go 6 to 7 months with under an inch of rain. Unfortunately we had a very hot and dry summer and are currently about a foot low for rain this year.

 

7 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Part of the heat caused root rot issue is during the summer, you can soak everything one evening, and many things will be close to bone dry within a day or two. Don't water enough, stuff dries out - and dies quickly, pretty obvious..  West facing back yard, and having no tree canopy over most of it that time of year definitely doesn't help. Learned that curve as soon as the heat kicked in when i moved here.

On the other hand, Water too much, and all that extra heat + wet soil brings about the other issues..  Grow pretty much everything in a soil mix i mix myself that contains less than 20% organic -anything

I use a 3parts sphagnum moss, 1 part perlite, 2 parts potting soil mixture, but most of what I grow is intended to go into the ground. I have to water daily in the summer, but the plants don't get waterlogged in cooler weather.

[Silas_Sancona]

8 minutes ago, amh said:

The hill country can get over 8" a day and last el nino I had 80+ inches for the year, but I can go 6 to 7 months with under an inch of rain. Unfortunately we had a very hot and dry summer and are currently about a foot low for rain this year.

 

I use a 3parts sphagnum moss, 1 part perlite, 2 parts potting soil mixture, but most of what I grow is intended to go into the ground. I have to water daily in the summer, but the plants don't get waterlogged in cooler weather.

80.. inches?! I knew a good chunk of TX got hammered a few times recently ..but wow!  

 Main ingredients i use are Pumice/ small Lava, Gro-Stones ( Think the company is out of business, or re-structuring though ), Turface, ( MVP ) and Granite grit i collect out of a wash for a lot of stuff.. Include Coco Peat for anything that requires more organics, add crushed Limestone/ Coral fragments/ Shell for stuff that requires it.  Regular Peat/ Sphag. dries out wayy too fast here and is impossible to re wet, learned that the hard way.  Mix has worked out great.. Perfect, drainage - wise in the cooler months.


Plan -in moving here- was to eventually have a place to plant everything out.. By the summer of 2017, was pretty obvious the heat would be bit too much for more than just the plants.. Would have been in San Diego before this past summer, had the COVID situation not brought those plans to a halt, lol.

[amh]

7 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

80.. inches?! I knew a good chunk of TX got hammered a few times recently ..but wow!  

 Main ingredients i use are Pumice/ small Lava, Gro-Stones ( Think the company is out of business, or re-structuring though ), Turface, ( MVP ) and Granite grit i collect out of a wash for a lot of stuff.. Include Coco Peat for anything that requires more organics, add crushed Limestone/ Coral fragments/ Shell for stuff that requires it.  Regular Peat/ Sphag. dries out wayy too fast here and is impossible to re wet, learned that the hard way.  Mix has worked out great.. Perfect, drainage - wise in the cooler months.


Plan -in moving here- was to eventually have a place to plant everything out.. By the summer of 2017, was pretty obvious the heat would be bit too much for more than just the plants.. Would have been in San Diego before this past summer, had the COVID situation not brought those plans to a halt, lol.

The 80+ was from a big el nino and is very rare, but we had 21 inches fall in one day during 1998.

The recipe looks good for container cacti and cycads, I could probably get all the ingredients at a hardware or feed store.

The plan interruption may end up being a good thing by decreasing the land/housing cost. I'm not aware of the current California situation, so I could be wrong and don't want to sound ghoulish.

[Silas_Sancona]

8 minutes ago, amh said:

The 80+ was from a big el nino and is very rare, but we had 21 inches fall in one day during 1998.

The recipe looks good for container cacti and cycads, I could probably get all the ingredients at a hardware or feed store.

The plan interruption may end up being a good thing by decreasing the land/housing cost. I'm not aware of the current California situation, so I could be wrong and don't want to sound ghoulish.

Mix works real well for cacti, esp. some of the Echinocereus i grow that come from west TX / Chihuahua and have to be kept nearly dry through the hottest part of the summer ( will rot if watered much when overnight lows are above 78F ).  Echinopsis i have get more organics, but those things are easy. We'll see how well some Pines i have do in it.. Supposedly grow in a similar rocky/ chunky soil type in habitat in Mexico.

Will be renting for at least a couple years but considering how expensive land is pretty much anywhere in CA, land prices are reasonable on the outskirt areas around San Diego County/ some other spots around S. Cal. not too far from the coast, or at least where you will still get some influence from it. Perhaps not as great of a deal as in some other areas but.. fair,  for now anyway, lol. 

[amh]

6 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Mix works real well for cacti, esp. some of the Echinocereus i grow that come from west TX / Chihuahua and have to be kept nearly dry through the hottest part of the summer ( will rot if watered much when overnight lows are above 78F ).  Echinopsis i have get more organics, but those things are easy. We'll see how well some Pines i have do in it.. Supposedly grow in a similar rocky/ chunky soil type in habitat in Mexico.

Will be renting for at least a couple years but considering how expensive land is pretty much anywhere in CA, land prices are reasonable on the outskirt areas around San Diego County/ some other spots around S. Cal. not too far from the coast, or at least where you will still get some influence from it. Perhaps not as great of a deal as in some other areas but.. fair,  for now anyway, lol. 

Ive found that the Cereus and native Opuntia like a lot of organic, while the few Echinocereus ennaecanthus that I have prefer coarse soils. I had a nice cactus garden for a while, but the bucks and hogs decide that I can't have nice things.

My only real experience with California is a layover at LAX 20 some years ago.

[rprimbs]

10 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

That's what happens w/ a lot of things here mid- summer, at least until Monsoon season begins -if- it does.. Hot pots, even in shade, can also invite root rot.. Lost most of my Plumeria collection, and some other otherwise tough things, exactly because of this..

Atacama, maybe parts of Argentina/ neighboring areas that are quite dry/ experience similar temps..

My bigger concern, even if you ( or someone here/ somewhere roughly  as dry/ hot ) could get these through the summer heat/ hot nights is they'd likely freak out if watered w/ hard, alkaline water.. My Jaboticabas sure hated it, but managed to survive..  day after day 110+ heat finished most of them off.  Would bet Chilean Guava are really sensitive to anything high Ph. You might get a touch more summer rain you could collect compared to here though.

Chilean Guava are not sensitive to high PH, and they can take dry weather without any problem.  They don't get transpiration problems like rhododendrons do from high PH -- the "salt burn".

[amh]

8 hours ago, rprimbs said:

Chilean Guava are not sensitive to high PH, and they can take dry weather without any problem.  They don't get transpiration problems like rhododendrons do from high PH -- the "salt burn".

That is good news.

[amh]

I have a small Chilean Guava arriving this week, does anyone have any updated advice?

 

[rprimbs]

I scorched mine out in the full sun.  Unless you're on the coast they need some shade.

[amh]

Does anyone know the true cold hardiness of Chilean guava; if the plant survives the summer, I'll want to plant some in the ground.

Oak canopy with morning sun and dappled afternoon sun.

[rprimbs]

On 3/24/2022 at 1:08 PM, amh said:

Does anyone know the true cold hardiness of Chilean guava; if the plant survives the summer, I'll want to plant some in the ground.

Oak canopy with morning sun and dappled afternoon sun.

Their true hardiness is good question.  They are definitely hardy to zone 9.  Raintree Nursery, up in Washington State, claims that they are hardy to zone 8.

[amh]

1 hour ago, rprimbs said:

Their true hardiness is good question.  They are definitely hardy to zone 9.  Raintree Nursery, up in Washington State, claims that they are hardy to zone 8.

Wanderlust list the plant good to 10F. I see 15F as the more common hardiness. Either way, the summer is probably the big limit for me, but I've already been in the 90s and very dry this week, and the plant looks fine.

[Westmtn]

On 3/27/2022 at 6:43 PM, amh said:

Wanderlust list the plant good to 10F. I see 15F as the more common hardiness. Either way, the summer is probably the big limit for me, but I've already been in the 90s and very dry this week, and the plant looks fine.

Any updates on how it’s going in Texas? I’m interested in trying Chilean Guava in Austin.

[Chester B]

I grew them in Portland, Oregon.  Part shade, never bothered by winter. Definitely hardy into upper zone 8.

[amh]

On 3/27/2024 at 10:19 AM, Westmtn said:

Any updates on how it’s going in Texas? I’m interested in trying Chilean Guava in Austin.

The original plant died from issues with wet soil. I had bought the plant from etsy and I violated my rules on completely changing the soil when I received new plants. 

I have since purchased a healthy plant from Wanderlust nursery, which was planted in proper soil at the nursery.  I would suggest trying to grow this plant in Austin,  but keep it potted for at least a year.