Growing grumichama (Eugenia brasiliensis) from seed is not for the faint of hearted or easily discouraged. The seeds take a very long time to germinate, then the seedlings are extremely vulnerable to drying out, sunburn etc. This is my 2nd grumichama that died suddenly after two years for no apparent reason.
If you are lucky to live close to a rare fruit nursery like me, your luck is in as these are fairly cheap and can be bought for about $15 and will fruit within a year or two from planting. However, if you want a good supply of these delicious fruits, I suggest you buy as many as you can, so it can get expensive very quickly. If money was no issue, I definitely would plant as many of these as I have space for.
For me I grow it from seed because its more of a "I do it because I can" and "I hate throwing away seeds" and "I already have two fruiting specimens, but I'd like a lot more, so I can wait".
I strongly suspect that juvenile plants can not stand even a single drying out episode, neither do they like the scorching South Florida sun. This particular one looked a little wilted, I watered it but it died within two days after it started wilting. They also seem to really hate being transplanted.
Furthermore, they seem to have some nutritional deficiency all of the time, but at the same time don't seem to like too much fertilizer either.So for me, its been a hit-miss experience. I still have three seedlings varying in age from almost two years to 1 year.
We love this fruit so much that we literally fight over them, we pick the fruits then count and equally divide them!
Where do you buy your grumichama, Excalibur? I want to get down to your area sometime in the next month of so and get some trees, any stops you recommend?
ReplyDeleteYes, Excalibur is the place. Make a list of everything you're interested in.
ReplyDeleteThen when you get there, you can present them your list and ask their honest opinion if it will do well in your area, what they think of the fruit, their recommendations etc.
Also compile a list of questions on existing plants you may have a problem with. They are very knowledgeable and eager to help.
While you are there also be sure to buy a bag of their special fertilizer.
Mounts Botanical Garden is close by, so you might want to make a quick stop there too.
Thanks. I always try to hit the Mounts sale for goodies.
ReplyDeleteWhile at Excalibur you might want to check out some of the other excellent Eugenia's / Myrtaceous fruits.
ReplyDeletePitomba
Cherry of the Rio Grande
Grumichama
Jaboticaba
Hi Karel, 3 months ago I dug up my Grumichama that had been growing in the orchard for a year (we are moving next year) and bagged it into a 35L tree sack. It was/is about 1.5m tall. I put it into my shade house and it has never looked back - even gave me a half dozen fruit! I wasn't very gentle with the shovel either...so I hope it doesn't up and die down the track too, but so far so good.
ReplyDelete(I live in a very hot but semi-arid climate in Western Australia - they do well here)