Best feijoa for hedge

Living and farming here in the sunny, often semi-arid climate of San Diego, I am constantly asked one question by homeowners who want privacy but hate boring plants:

What can I plant that blocks my neighbor’s view and actually gives me something back?

The answer is always the same.

Alexander Mitchell

You need a Feijoa hedge. Known scientifically as Acca sellowiana, and colloquially as Pineapple Guava or Guavasteen, this plant is the Swiss Army knife of our local landscape. It is evergreen, drought-tolerant once established, and produces one of the most aromatic, unique fruits you will ever taste.

I didn’t start out as a Feijoa evangelist. Years ago, I looked at these gray-green shrubs as just another filler plant commonly used in commercial parking lots from Chula Vista to Oceanside. But then I tasted a properly ripened fruit falling from a ‘Nazemetz’ variety, and everything changed. It tastes like a mix of pineapple, mint, and strawberry. Why settle for a dusty boxwood when you can eat your fence?

The best fence is one you can eat, and the Feijoa offers a fortress of foliage that rewards you with a tropical harvest every autumn.

Selecting the Right Variety for Density and Flavor

Not all Feijoas are created equal, especially when your goal is a tight, privacy-inducing hedge. Some varieties sprawl horizontally, while others shoot straight up. If you pick a sprawling variety for a narrow side yard, you will spend your weekends fighting the plant with shears rather than enjoying the fruit.

Here at Exotic Fruits and Vegetables, we’ve found that specific cultivars perform significantly better for “living walls” than others.

The Heavy Hitters

When planning your edible wall, you must consider growth habit and pollination requirements. While seedling Feijoas (unnamed varieties) are cheap, they vary wildly in fruit quality and growth speed. Stick to grafted varieties or reliable cuttings for a consistent hedge.

For a reliable, low-fuss hedge in San Diego County, Coolidge is the undisputed king. It grows upright, fills in gaps quickly, and doesn’t require a second variety to set fruit. I planted a row of Coolidge along a wind-swept ridgeline on my property, and they formed a solid visual barrier within three years.

If you have limited space and want guaranteed fruit without planting multiple varieties, Coolidge is the only logical choice for a single-variety hedge.

The Cross-Pollination Factor

Even though varieties like Coolidge are self-fertile, yield increases dramatically with a partner. Think of pollination like a potluck dinner; one person can bring food, but it’s a lot better when everyone contributes. If you have space for a long hedge, alternate your plantings.

Plant two Coolidge, then one Apollo, then two Coolidge. This diversity ensures a heavier fruit set and slightly different ripening times, extending your harvest season from late September through December.

Planting for the “Green Wall” Effect

The biggest mistake I see home growers make is spacing. In an orchard, we plant these trees 10 to 15 feet apart to allow for airflow and easy harvest. A hedge requires a completely different mindset. You want the branches to interlock and create a dense matrix of leaves that blocks sightlines and wind.

I once ruined an entire batch by following standard orchard spacing for a client who wanted a privacy screen. I planted them 8 feet apart. Five years later, they still had massive gaps between them, and the client could still see the neighbor washing his car.

I had to dig them up and move them, which set the root systems back two full seasons. Don’t make my mistake.

For a dense privacy screen that blocks light and sound, you must space your Feijoa plants 3 to 5 feet apart on center, depending on how quickly you need coverage.

Soil Preparation and Planting Steps

Feijoas are tough, but they aren’t magic. Our native San Diego soil often resembles concrete or straight beach sand depending on how close you are to the coast. You cannot just dig a hole and drop them in.

1. Dig the Trench: Instead of individual holes, dig a continuous trench 24 inches wide and 18 inches deep along your fence line. This encourages roots to spread laterally and interlace.
2. Amend Aggressively: Mix your native soil 50/50 with high-quality compost. Add 5 pounds of gypsum per 100 linear feet if you have heavy clay.
3. Set the Height: Plant the root ball 1 inch higher than the surrounding soil grade. Feijoas hate wet feet, and planting high ensures the crown doesn’t rot during our winter rains.
4. Mulch Heavily: Apply 4 inches of wood chip mulch. This keeps the roots cool during our 90°F August heat spikes.

Our experience at Exotic Fruits and Vegetables has shown that Feijoas planted in raised mounds grow 30% faster in their first year compared to those planted at grade level.

Maintenance: The Art of the Edible Haircut

Maintaining a Feijoa hedge is a balancing act between shaping the wall and saving the fruit. Feijoas bloom on new growth, but the flowers appear in late spring (May-June). If you shear the hedge tight like a boxwood in July, you just cut off next autumn’s harvest. Pruning is like giving the plant a haircut; timing determines if you look like a movie star or a disaster.

I recommend a “hard prune” in late winter, right after the risk of frost has passed—usually late February or early March in our zone. You can shape the height and width aggressively at this time. Then, put the shears away. Let the plant flush out its new growth and produce those beautiful red and white flowers.

Never use electric hedge trimmers on a Feijoa during the summer months unless you want a purely ornamental wall with zero fruit.

Watering and Feeding

While established plants are drought-tolerant, “drought-tolerant” does not mean “doesn’t need water.” It just means they won’t die. If you want lush foliage and juicy fruit, you must irrigate. During the summer, I give my hedges deep soaks rather than frequent sprinkles. Shallow watering encourages surface roots that bake in the sun.

Apply 10-10-10 fertilizer in early spring and again in early summer. I use about 1 cup per year of tree age, spread along the drip line. Don’t fertilize after August, or you will push soft new growth that will get nipped by December colds.

My breakthrough came when I switched from overhead sprinklers to drip tape; fungal issues on the leaves vanished, and fruit size increased by 20%.

Why Feijoa Beats the Competition

You might be considering Ficus, Bamboo, or Pittosporum. Let me tell you why those are inferior choices for a San Diego home garden. Ficus roots destroy foundations and plumbing. Bamboo is an invasive nightmare that will make your neighbors sue you. Pittosporum is prone to scale and offers no food.

Feijoa offers a unique set of advantages:

• Edible Flowers: Before the fruit comes, the flower petals are edible. They taste like cotton candy and look stunning in salads.
• Pest Resistance: In San Diego, we rarely see major pests on Feijoa. No spraying required.
• Wind Tolerance: The leaves have a waxy cuticle on top and felt-like hairs on the bottom, making them impervious to salt spray and dry Santa Ana winds.
• Child Friendly: No thorns, no toxic sap, and fruit that drops when it’s ready to eat.

Ever wonder why some fruits split before ripening? It’s usually inconsistent watering—keep the soil moisture steady during the final swell in September.

Harvesting Your Hedge

The harvest method for Feijoa is unique. You don’t pick them. You wait for gravity to do the work. When the fruit falls to the ground, it is perfect. If you pick it from the branch, it will be hard and astringent. For a hedge, this means you need to keep the base of the plants relatively clean of debris so you can find the green fruit against the mulch.

Through our work with Exotic Fruits and Vegetables farm, we advise customers to check the ground under their hedges every two days during October. The fruit ripens from the inside out. Once it hits the ground, you have about 3-4 days to eat it or refrigerate it before it starts to brown inside.

Do not let fruit rot on the ground; this invites beetles and rats into your hedge structure, turning your privacy screen into a pest hotel.

Final Thoughts from the Field

Creating a Feijoa hedge is an investment in both your property value and your pantry. It requires a bit more thought than slapping in a row of oleanders, but the payoff is immense. You get a silver-green wall that shimmers in the breeze, flowers that taste like candy, and a winter fruit supply that costs $5 a pound at the grocery store.

Emily Rodriguez

Start with the right variety—Coolidge for solitary rows, a mix for larger spaces. Prep your soil like you're baking a cake, mixing ingredients thoroughly. And remember to respect the pruning cycle so you don't chop off your breakfast.

There is a specific joy in walking out to your property line, not to check for intruders, but to gather a basket of green gems for your morning smoothie. Plant closely, prune early, and water deep. That is the recipe for the perfect San Diego hedge.