Guava - good for everyone!

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The incentive for acquiring a guava or psidium (Psidium guajava), which was still unknown to me, was a characteristic I heard from the seller of the flower shop. She presented her as a fruiting plant in room conditions. And in the accompanying leaflet, in addition, it was written about the medicinal qualities of all its parts.

reference: Guava - evergreen or semi-deciduous shrub of the Myrtle family. Presumably, her homeland is Central America and southern Mexico. Archaeological excavations in Peru show that locals cultivated psidium several thousand years ago

She decided to transplant immediately, as soon as she brought home, into a mixture of garden soil, peat and sand (2: 1: 1), not forgetting to make a good drainage. A layer of expanded clay was poured into a slightly larger pot, laid a little rotten cow manure, then new soil. To less disturb the plant, planted with a lump of earth, covered the remaining gaps with soil, trying not to deepen the root neck.

In the summer I water the guava abundantly, in the winter - as needed, but I do not forget that the drying of an earthen coma leads to the drying out of young shoots and edges of leaves. I feed once a month with an insisted mullein.

Humidity is not important when growing guavas, but I periodically wash almost all my plants in the shower, including her. In winter, when there is little light, sometimes I spray many of my pets with epin.

Despite the fact that the guava loves the light, I try to teach it after the winter gradually. Since in the summer she lives on the balcony, at first I put it at half-shade, and by the middle of summer - in the sun, which is here only in the morning.

Sesquiterpenes, tannins and leukocyanidins were found in all parts of the plant. In addition, b-sitosterol, quercetin, and tannin were found in the roots. Essential oils containing cineol, benzaldehyde, caryophyllene and other compounds are isolated from the leaves.
The highest biological activity is observed in shoot bark and immature fruits. The cortex contains diglycosides of ellagic acid, ellagic acid, leukodelphinidin, saponins. The chemical composition of the bark varies greatly depending on the age of the plant. In unripe fruits, there are a lot of insoluble calcium oxalate, soluble salts of potassium oxalate and sodium, protein, carotenoids, quercetin, giyarivin, galic acid, cyanidine, ellagic acid, free sugar (up to 7.2%), etc.
Unripe fruits are very acidic (pH 4.0), contain a hexahydroxydiphenic acid ester with arabinose, which disappears in mature fruits.

Fruits are eaten fresh, juice, nectar or jelly are made from them. This is an excellent source of vitamin C, the percentage of which is higher in it than in citrus fruits.

Tea made from guava leaves is drunk for diarrhea, dysentery, stomach upsets, dizziness, and for regulating menstrual cycles.

The crushed leaves are applied to the wounds and chewed to reduce toothache. A decoction of the leaves is used as a cough remedy, for diseases of the respiratory tract, for gargling, to reduce pain in ulcers, and for diseases of the oral cavity. It is shown to use it for skin diseases. It can be used as an antipyretic. Leaf extract is useful for epilepsy (the tincture is rubbed into the skin in the spine) and chorea (a disease of the nervous system), jade and cachexia (general depletion of the body). A combined decoction of leaves and bark is used to separate the placenta after childbirth.

Plants are trimmed with wood, pens, prints and combs are made from it. From the leaves make black paint for cotton and silk.

In addition, she noticed that the situation should not be abruptly changed - the guava can partially drop the leaves.

Archaeological excavations in Peru show that locals cultivated guavas several thousand years ago. Later, the plant was cultivated in all tropical and some subtropical regions of the world.

For the winter I take the psidium to the landing, where it is cool, but not cold. This is a thermophilic plant, hard to tolerate frosts - even at -2 degrees, leaves are damaged, and at -3 degrees, the plant dies. Young specimens are especially sensitive to cold. The minimum temperature for normal development + 15 degrees.

It is easy to grow a guava from seeds - almost an adult plant is obtained in a year. I make up the substrate from turf land, humus and sand (1: 1: 1). Seeds do not deeply close up. For germination I keep in a warm bright place (+ 22 ... + 24 ° C). To make the plant more bushy, pinch the growth point. But it happens that the first time it "does not work", and the guava still goes in one trunk. I have to pinch several times.

Cuttings rooted with difficulty, with a root stimulant and heating. And I, unfortunately, have not yet been able to get a positive result.

My guava blossomed and delighted with the fruits, but there were few of them. It turns out that the guava has its own specifics in pollination. I read about this in the issue of the journal Fruit Paradise on the Windowsill (October 2008) - the so-called protandria are characteristic of flowers. In practice, this means that pollen should be taken from the stamens of freshly blossoming flowers and transferred to the pistils of the fading. I did so, as a result I received four fruits.

Guava was hit by a whitefly. But during fruiting it is advisable to fight pests with non-chemical means