some guava turn bright yellow, some do not, just a light green. its hard to tell until you taste a few...

but yes... they should get soft, and you can smell them too.

i wait till they fall off in my hand with a light touch, or when i shake the tree.

There still hard as a rock, thanks for the replies.

Well the 1 and only Mexican Guava I have died? All my other plants in the pots lived including a Pineapple Guava. Not sure what happened.

I pulled the half dozen or so I had. Between the scale, fruit flies, and sooty mold, adding the very hard seeds made them a deal breaker.

I saw one like yours online. It is a Mexican Cream and it turns yellow when ripe.

http://www.kevinsedibleyard.com/category/plants/

Mexican Cream was just on sale at Lowes for $2 a plant... LOL... i bought 2. i had one already which is 10ft tall now and 100 fruit on it.... i think mine is seed grown and not a true variety, but honestly, i think its better than Mex Cream.

this is the Lowes $2 plant (repotted to 3gal)

this is a root-cutting from my seed-grown Mex Cream / 7gal

it has well over a dozen flower on it, and is 3 ft tall.

(root cuttings are the best way to propagate them)

Mex Cream from seed. - mother tree.

green fruit

plant to the far left is an Asian Red.... this is a good tasting fruit, but not soft and creamy like the Mex Cream

Mexican White (hard - not cream) intertangled with a nitrogen fixer.... ive only had 1 fruit from this tree (its a little bigger now), but i dont care for it. its hard and not sweet.

i have 2 more in the ground, and 5 more in containers. (not counting about eight 2-inch tall seedlings)

THEN... i have 3 strawberry guava, 1 lemon guava, 2 pineapple guava (Feijoa), 3 Psidium Actangulatum, and a few more... :)

I'm so jealous greenman! I still can't find any Mexican cream anywhere. It's really become my pink unicorn unfortunately!! Does your Lowes still have some available? Mine doesn't. If you can pick one up for me, I'll be happy to reimburse you the cost and shipping to send it to me.

Update: My Mexican Guava died over the winter in the pot so I broke off the branches down to a stub and put it in the back in 95% shade not thinking it would come back and I haven't even water the plant and we have had little rain this spring maybe 1" every 2 weeks. Yesterday I noticed this small plant coming up, it looks like it might of lived after all.

LizinTx sorry, they ran out, but if i can get one from sutting or air-layer i can send it to you... if you have a guava already, you can graft a cutting ?

Catfishhoward I just experienced a very similar situation. Blueberry completely dried up in pot, all branches brown and brittle so I put it on my porch behind a huge night jasmine and I guess some rain fell on it. Noticed yesterday that there was a little sprig of green coming up from the base, appears to be sending up a new shoot.

Thanks greenman! If you have an air layer, I'd love to have one. I have a young guava tree but no strong enough branches to graft a cutting to just yet. A friend is sending me some nicotiana seeds and I'll be happy to send you some as a trade once I get them.

Catfishhoward, I had a young redbud that had dried up. I finally got around to cutting it when I noticed it was coming back from the roots. Then my landscaper mowed it down! I was so sad but I noticed that it started again from the roots. Its a tough little fella determined to grow!