Larry gave me some feijoa sellowiana (pineapple guava) fruits to try from his mature self-pollinating plant. I mentioned that I planted some of the seeds and they happened to germinate and he wanted to know the percentage and if I did anything special.

Larry, if I recall correctly, I scraped the seeds out of the relatively ripe fruits. I separated the seeds from the pulp and poked them between 1/4-1/2" or so into potting soil that contained a pepper seedling or two and some goji berries I had also sprouted.

Planting them was almost an afterthought and I didn't do anything special. I suspect they are very forgiving. I count 3 seedlings and I probably "planted" somewhere between 5-10 seeds. The medium was some relatively inexpensive organic potting mix. I had them under flourescent lights in my living room which was kept between 60-75 degrees most of the time. I don't recall for sure but they must have germinated some timeframe between 2-3 weeks.

When I went to Singapore for 2 weeks they were neglected. My whole operation was infested with aphids, water was infrequent, and everything was dowsed with Safer insecticidal soap.

These seedlings survived the whole process (much better than the gojis and peppers), and I should note, the aphids seemed entirely uninterested in them in the presence of the other plants. They strongly prefered the peppers, then the goji when the peppers got crowded, but left the feijoa all alone.

I now have them outside where I'm not doing a good job of controlling their environment. Putting them out there was one step short of throwing everything away and starting over in an attempt to get the aphids out of the house.

Last I checked, 2 of the 3 looked like they were doing all right and the 3rd was browning. I definitely water stressed everything as I underestimated how frequently I would need to water out there. They are still tiny after 3-4 months; probably less than an inch tall.

The seedlings should be kept out of intense sunlight, even for an hour, especially after coming out of a flourescent environment. Even April sun can be devilish.

If the potting mix upper 1" dries out, the seedlings will probably suffer. Even mature plants like regular water.

I have never had aphids on my large plant, even though aphids have attacked shore pine and bamboo nearby! I've even had aphids rarely in the seaberries.

I excised the pepper. Currently the pot is under the semi-transparent bottom of a rubbermaid style tub that is propped up on the edge of the pot.

Those seeds were an experiment. If they survive it will be great, but I have way too much else going on right now to give them special attention. I just removed 14 arborvitae that were ill-placed, and a big nasty juniper. The root balls are gone but I have a lot of roots to dig out.

I have a bunch of dormant blueberry cuttings that I need to try to root (never done it before), some pear scions that I need to graft, and a bunch of other tasks. Its easy to get overwhelmed now, but come winter I'll wish I did more since the sooner I get things in the ground, the closer I am to harvest :)