This blog contains detailed information regarding guava fruit cultivation practices. Through this blog, you will understand each and every requirement needed to cultivate guava in your orchard.

Guava is a tropical fruit but also grows well in subtropical climates. It is frequently referred to as the “Apple of the Tropics.” It is one of India’s most common and essential fruits, ranking fifth in terms of area and output after mango, citrus, banana, and apple. Guavas are a hardy, abundant, and very profitable fruit. Due to its broad adaptability and increased return per unit area, it is popular among fruit growers. Guava is an example of a fruit that is commercially grown throughout the nation close to well and tubewell locations.

Table of contents

• Climate
• Soil
• Planting operation
• Irrigation
• Intercropping
• Fertigation
• Training and Pruning
• Harvesting and fruit handling
• Yield
• Diseases of Guava
• Pest management in guava

Climate

Due to its greater adaptability, guava cultivation can be expanded to many agro-climatic zones. Guava grows well up to an elevation of 1000 to 1500 metres. It grows best with an annual rainfall of less than 100 cm in the rainy season between June to September.

The ideal temperature for guava cultivation is between 23°C to 28°C. The regions with a distinct winter season are thought to be the greatest for increasing yield and enhancing quality. The humid weather causes the trees to grow luxuriantly and produces fruits of poor quality. Young plants are vulnerable to chilling temperatures and dryness. It can be cultivated as a rainfed or an irrigated crop, depending on the agro-climatic circumstances. It needs a dry climate during the season of flowering and fruiting. High temperature and high-speed winds during the fruit development stage lead to heavy fruit drop.

Soil

The guava tree is a hardy fruit tree that may be cultivated in various soil types. It may grow successfully in any kind of soil. Guava can be grown in poor wasteland soils. It is susceptible to waterlogged conditions. Guava requires deep, friable, light sandy loam to clay and well-drained soils for optimal cultivation. Guava is renowned for its salt tolerance. It will grow in soil with a pH range of 6.5 to 8.5. Guava is a surface-rooted plant, so the surface soil should be rich. The greatest concentration of roots is seen between 0 to 20 cm soil depth.

Planting operation

Before planting, the field needs to be well-levelled and deeply ploughed. Guavas can be planted bare-rooted in February, March, August, and September. The plants should be defoliated in the future, and the roots should be covered with a moist material. Guavas grow best when planted in square systems with a spacing of 6.5 x 6.5 m, which allows for 225 plants per hectare. A hexagonal planting strategy can be used to create a plantation that will support 257 plants per hectare.

Instead of 6.5 × 6.5 metres, Sardar cultivar guava plants can be planted at a close spacing of 6 x 5 metres. 330 plants may be accommodated in one hectare with this planting strategy.

High-density guava plantation

High-density planting was found to have a negative impact on fruit quality. Due to more plants per unit space, the size of the fruits also significantly decreased.

The plant becomes tall and compact due to branches growing upright during high-density planting. Guava trees are typically planted anywhere between 3.6 and 5.4 metres (12 to 18 feet) apart. There would be a reduction in the size of fruits but increased output per unit area. In some guava-growing regions, planting is done at a distance of 15′ x 15′ (4.5 m x 4.5 m), with a density of 485 plants per hectare.

Irrigation

The young guava plants require weekly irrigations in the summer and two to three irrigations in the winter. Irrigation should be supplied to bearing trees at an interval of 2-3 weeks during the summer months and at a monthly interval during the winter months for flowering and greater fruit-setting. In order to prevent excessive fruit drop throughout the summer, irrigation is very crucial. Irrigation during the winter was also discovered to effectively minimise fruit drop and increase fruit size in the winter crop. Guava’s cropping pattern (for a high winter harvest) can be somewhat controlled by reducing irrigation during the hot summer months (May).

Drip irrigation has proven effective for guava, increasing fruit size and number. Approximately 60% of irrigation water is saved during drip irrigation.

Intercropping

During the pre-bearing season of guava orchards, proper intercrops can utilise the interspace economically. Vegetables like brinjal, radish, carrot, and okra can be interplanted in undeveloped soil during the first three to four years. Leguminous plants, such as cowpea, guara, gram, and beans, should be sown as safe intercrops. When the trees reach full maturity, intercropping should be discontinued.

Fertigation

The amount of manure and fertilisers needed for a guava crop depends on the crop’s variety, age, soil fertility, climate, and management techniques. Guavas bear their fruit based on their development in the current season. Therefore manures and fertilisers promote vegetative growth and fruiting. Guava fertilisation enhanced productivity while simultaneously enhancing fruit quality. It is advised to apply 25 kg FYM, 600 g N, 300 g P2O5, and 300 g K2O to a five-year-old Sardar cultivar for a larger yield. In West Bengal, it was recommended to apply 260 g N, 320 g P2O5, and 260 g K20 to each plant in two equally spaced doses, one in January and the other in August.

Training and Pruning

Guava tree training increases fruit yield and quality. The modified leader training system is typically used. Guava plants are trained primarily to create a sturdy framework and set of branches capable of supporting a heavy, profitable harvest without causing damage to the branches. Since guava flowers and fruits are produced on the current season’s growth, a light annual trimming of up to 10 cm of the tip may be helpful to promote new shoots following the harvest (early April). Each year, the base and sides of the framework should be pruned to remove any dead, diseased, crossing, and suckers. However, pruned plants undoubtedly produce less to some extent.

Harvesting and fruit handling

Guavas are climacteric in nature. Thus they should be harvested when they are mature but firm. When fruits are harvested at the ideal stage of ripeness, they produce an exceptional flavour and taste that is unique to that cultivar. Harvesting the fruit at the ideal maturity stage is crucial for a successful orchard. After 5–6 years of planting, the guava plant finally bears fruit. At regular intervals, individual fruits are picked while they are still solid and hard. Because of their delicate, fragile skin, guava fruit must be plucked carefully. Harvesting is typically done by hand to prevent physical injury. To prevent bruising, the fruit must also be handled and transported with great care.

Yield

Guava productivity varies depending on variety, plant age, fruiting season, and orchard management techniques. The typical production of seedling trees is about one quintal. However, the yield of grafted trees can reach up to two quintals per tree. Different cultivars are seen to yield more during the rainy season than they do during the winter.
Since guavas are an extremely perishable fruit, they should be sold as soon as they are harvested.

Diseases of Guava

The major diseases of guava are discussed below:

Guava wilt

Guava wilt is the most common disease in guava. Effective disease management strategies are necessary to prevent economic losses.

Symptoms

A timely diagnosis of the illness is crucial. The following are the identification measures to detect the disease:

• The earliest signs usually appear around the start of monsoon season. Leaves turn pale yellow and lose their ability to retain water.
• Plants gradually show a lack of thrift. As a result, premature shedding and defoliation occur.
• Some branches gradually dry out after becoming bare and incapable of generating new leaves or blossoms. The fruit on all of the damaged branches is hard and underdeveloped. Finally, the plant dies after losing all of its leaves.
• The bark can be readily pulled away from the base, and the roots have rotted at the base. Plant internal tissues also have slight dark discolouration.

Management

The following recommendations will help you keep your orchards free of fusarium wilt and guava wilt:

• Maintain orchard sanitation guidelines and cultivate in a clean environment.
• Wilted trees need to be removed, burned, and a hole dug around their trunks.
• Transplanting should not damage a plant’s roots.
• Maintain the vigour of healthy trees by giving them timely, proper manuring, inter-culture, and watering to make them disease-resistant.
• The pits might be covered for about three days after formalin treatment. After two weeks, transplanting should take place.
• Apply organic manures, oil cakes, and lime.

Anthracnose

Anthracnose is the most destructive disease in guavas. It causes enormous losses to farmers each year.

Symptoms

The disease can affect guava fruits at different stages of development. The following is a list of the disease identification procedures:

Dieback phase

• During the die-back phase, the plant decomposes backwards from the top of a branch.
• The initially greenish colour of the developing tip turns into a dark brown colour before becoming black necrotic patches.
• The fungus grows on the infected twigs and then spreads to the stem and immature leaves. These leaves may drop or fall, leaving the dried twigs without leaves.

Fruit and leaf infection phase

• Fruit and leaf infection are typical characteristics of crops grown during the rainy season. Pin-head-sized specks at first appear on unripe fruits, then they enlarge.
• In humid conditions, dark brown spots with a depressed, circular shape, microscopic black openings in the lesion’s centre, and creamy spore masses form.
• Numerous spots join to form larger lesions.
• Unripe fruit that has contracted an infection becomes hard, corky, and commonly cracks in situations of severe infection.
• It also affects unopened buds and flowers, causing them to shed.
• The fungus develops ashy grey necrotic lesions on leaves with fruiting bodies at the tip or margin.

Management

The following recommendations will help you keep your orchards free of anthracnose:

• Maintain the orchard’s cleanliness.
• Observe disease and the application of micro-irrigation methods.
• Keep the orchard clean and practise strict hygiene.
• Use plant material free of disease.
• Implement efficient weed management to reduce humidity.
• Maintain the recommended plant density to reduce competition for nutrients, water, and sunlight.

Pest management in guava

The major pests of guavas are discussed below:

Guava fruit fly

Guava fruit fly is the common pest in guava orchards. Identifying and controlling the pest at the right time is important to minimize losses.

Symptoms

Identification measures to detect the presence of guava fruit fly are discussed below:

• In most cases, adults and larvae of the guava fly target semi-ripe fruits, destroying the tissues in the process.
• Maggots eat the pulp and convert it into a foul-smelling material.
• Guava fruit fly attacks cause fruits to become a semi-liquid, discoloured mass.

Management

• Fruit that has fallen or is infected should be collected and discarded.
• The activity of summer ploughing destroys the pupal growth stage of the guava fruit fly. During deep summer ploughing, insect pupae are exposed to the scorching sun, which eradicates the pest from the field.
• Use lure traps containing methyl eugenol to monitor and eliminate adult fruit flies (25 per hectare).

Mealy bug

Mealy bug is the most destructive pest of guava. Timely prevention is necessary to control the pest population.

Symptoms

Identification measures to identify pests are as follows:

• The tiny beetles typically feed on the fluids of flowers, leaves, and branches.
• Fruits that have been infected will have uneven forms, be of low quality, and be vulnerable to secondary pathogen infections.

Management

The best ways to manage the pest are as follows:

• To reduce the population, debark the vines and swab them with methyl parathion at 1 ml/L.
• Spray buprofezin 25 SC, dichlorvas 1.0 L, chlorpyriphos 1.25 L, or 1.0-1.5 L or 1.25 kilogramme of methomyl 40 SP with 500 L of water/ha
• Release Cryptoleamus montrouzieri, an Australian ladybird beetle, at 2500–3750 per hectare.

How can Fasal assist?

• Fasal is a fully automated platform that provides farmers with a wide range of services.
• Using AI-based sensors, the Fasal system analyses various factors, including soil, crop, and environmental factors like soil moisture and leaf wetness, to assess a plant’s health. It continuously monitors these variables, spotting any irregularities and calibrating a remedy using its comprehensive knowledge of the optimal pomegranate circumstances.
• Farmers can precisely irrigate their pomegranate crops using sensors, reducing the likelihood of low yields brought on by over- or under-irrigation.
• Our sensor will be able to determine when the soil on your farm is overly wet, whether rain is forecast, whether temperatures are at a perfect level for the growth of the disease, or whether there is a chance that a pest may appear.
• Fasal sensors are made to work in a way that can assist in producing pest and disease warnings and only suggest preventative treatments when essential, thus reducing pesticide prices.
• Numerous farmers connected to Fasal were able to cut their usage of pesticides by 15–30% and their water use by 30–50%, respectively, while simultaneously enhancing yield and quality by 15–30%, with the help of precision farming and timely irrigation tracking.
• The Fasal system offers Sorting, Grading, Packaging, and Logistics services to farmers in order to help them sell their produce at greater prices.
• The company has now taken a completely new turn with the launch of “Fasal Fresh,” which enables farmers and buyers to do direct transactions with complete end-to-end traceability. The strategy eliminates the requirement for middlemen and establishes a robust market for both parties.