Author Topic: Arrayán, Luma apiculata  (Read 2882 times)

Heinrich

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Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« on: December 08, 2018, 10:30:33 AM »
Luma apiculata is one of the Chilean Myrtaceae, which is planted worldwide, in many similar climates. This is because of its beauty as a tree and also for its edible fruits. Moreover, it can take some cold and is hardy to USDA Zone 9.

My container grown Arrayán flowered profusely in July, and nearly every flower set fruit. Despite, we had an unusually warm and long summer, the fruits are still not ripe yet. The fruits are slightly soft. However, ripe fruits should be black, not white.



The plant is still outside. Several slight night frosts in November, around -3° C (27°F), did not harm the plant, nor the fruits. If the nights become colder as -6°C (21°F), I will put the plant in the garage. If the day max temperatures will stay prolonged below -6°C (21°F), the plant will be moved in the basement. Because the basement is too dark and too warm, the plant will be moved outside, or in the garage, again, as soon as the weather allows. This worked in the last years. The last winters, the plant spent around a few days, up to two weeks, in the basement. About two or three times, during a winter.

Usually, Arrayán ripen in autumn. However, in the web, one can find pictures of ripe fruits and flowers on the same plant. Therefore, I hope the fruits will ripen in spring. I have picked one fruit. At the first glance, the taste was very pleasant. However, a fraction of a second later, almost simultaneously, the fruit was extremely bitter. Definitely unripe and unpalatable.




« Last Edit: December 08, 2018, 10:40:13 AM by Heinrich »

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #1 on: December 08, 2018, 01:16:41 PM »
Very interesting- thanks for sharing. I’d never heard of this before.

Zpusher

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #2 on: December 08, 2018, 04:06:31 PM »
Is this the only cold Hardy myrtaceae you have? What kind of potting medium is being used?

Heinrich

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2018, 04:55:27 AM »
Is this the only cold Hardy myrtaceae you have? What kind of potting medium is being used?
I grow several Luma, Ugni and Myrteola. All are similar hardy and get the same treatment. Young plants grow in peat, with a bit sand. Larger, flowering sized plants, enjoy a more mineral mix. This particular plant grows in a mix of pumice, vulcanite and zeolite, around the original, peat based, root ball.

Solko

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2018, 09:35:32 AM »
Hi Heinrich,

That is a beautiful plant, thank you for sharing your experience with it. I have a Luma Chequen in the ground for the second year now and it has taken -8 last year in a series of 3 nights and 2 days in which the temperature didn't come above 0 Celsius. It didn't flower this year, but it did the first year, and the fruits are sweet and delicious, althoug the seeds are quite large for a beryy to eat, and the skin has some bitterness in it, so I bite them and suck out the pulp and spit out the seeds and skin. It also flowered in June and had fruits ripen in September

I had only one Luma Apiculata, bought here in the Netherlands. That plant flowered continuously and had, as you say always both fruits and flowers on it. It wasn't that cold hardy though, and I lost it two winters ago. The quality of the fruit was very bad, though. Mostly just skin and seeds and biterness. Arven pepiniere in France has made a selection for edibility, they sent me one plant last year, but it didn't survive the post...
http://www.arven-boutique.com/15-litre/451-luma-apiculata-arven-.html

I'll try to get another plant of them next spring, in the hope that it will survive.

Solko


Florian

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2018, 05:47:04 AM »
Thanks for bringing these plants to my attention. I had never heard of them before, very interesting.

Zpusher

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2018, 10:33:10 PM »
Solko, I've been looking for luma chequen. Too bad you don't have seeds. Are they easy to cultivate?

Heinrich

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #7 on: December 17, 2018, 09:35:09 AM »
Hi Solko,
great to have a Luma chequen, growing in ground. Good to read about its edibility and your confirmation of its hardiness. My plant hasn´t flowered yet, but may be in the next season.
Thank you for the link. I have tried to order from Arven Pepinieres. However, only addresses inside France will be accepted.

Solko

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2018, 03:41:24 PM »
Zpusher: Yes they are carefree once in the ground for me in zone 8b, I should have seeds in September, if my plant flowers this year. If you remind me then I can send you some.

Heinrich: Yes, it is doing pretty good. Arven is willing to ship internationally they told me, but you have to email them first, because their website cannot calculate international shipping costs.

Zpusher

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2018, 10:59:43 PM »
That's good to know that they'll grow in our zone without much fuss. Thank you so much!! I'll message you around September.
 I'm slowly sourcing and collecting Hardy myrtaceae, I'm still looking for a couple Myrceugenia species but hopefully this spring I'll get one.

Heinrich

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Re: Arrayán, Luma apiculata
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2019, 05:50:07 PM »
The Arrayán were harvested, today. The fruits are rather dry, mushy and with lots of seeds. Slightly sweet, but tasteless. Nothing to enjoy. Interestingly, the fruits lost all of the bitterness. Possibly, this is due to the frosts. The plant had many frosts down to -6°C (21.2 °F), occasionally -7°C (19.4 °F), without any damage. However, a Luma chequen, next to it, lost some branches.



« Last Edit: April 13, 2019, 05:52:28 PM by Heinrich »