Anyone growing Ugni myricoides?

[greeny]

The german shop deaflora
has quite a few interesting ugni cultivars like elite, burning pink, villarica, butterball, ..

"Big Burning Pink", "Elite", "Villarica" seem particularly worth getting.  Any chance we could get cuttings from you sometime if you do purchase those?
[/quote
In fact i bought all of them last year and the arranyan varieties too.
I am not sure if i could sent any cuttings or plants to usa because I have no
experience with exporting plants to us.

Perhaps then we could get a mix of seeds from you sometime?  That might be easier for you, and might still have some of the interesting genetics, especially of the larger / sweeter fruits.


Ok
this should be possible. Will offer seeds when I got some
fruits. I have to admit that ugni is not an easy plant for me to grow. Till now I lost quite a few plants bought from other sources .

[Solko]

Hey, thanks for the tip, greeny  I am going to see if they ship to France. These look like interesting cultivars!

Solko, if you look at "Versand" on the left side, they say, they ship, to all EU countries, and indicate the prices, by weight.
Just check it here: http://www.deaflora.de/info/liefer--und-versandkosten.html

Thanks, I saw that and I placed an order with them. They confirmed the order per e-mail, but there is no information on the website, or in the e-mail on how to pay them    I guess I will call them on monday to figure this out.
In any case, it is good to find new cultivars of Ugni. I really like this plant.

Greeny, what were the problems you had with Ugni? I have had a few setbacks and lost some plants, too, but I think I start to get to know this species better now. They do not like temperature changes on their roots, so plant them in the ground or in big pots, in a medium that has some aeration (no clay in pots or peat or anything that gets 'soggy')). Otherwise they take both sun and shade well, and a good amount of frost in winter. They fruit more in sun, but basically, once they have flowered, it is better to take them out of full sun, for the risks stated above. The sun helps them flower, though.

On Deaflora they call Luma Apiculata and it's cultivar Arranyan, (the Chilean name is actually Arrayan). Did these do well for you? I have some other Chilean myrtles that may do well in your climate. PM me if you are interested.

Has anybody heard of the commercial cultivars that were developed for agriculture in Chili? The red Pearl and South Pearl? http://www.semillasinia.cl/producto/frutales/variedades-de-murtilla/
Or better yet, has anyone ever seen Ugni for sale nywhere in supermarkets or farmers markets?

Looking at the varieties on that Deaflora website I realize that in the Ugni Molinae species alone the variety of leaf shape and stem color is pretty large. Red stems, small leaves, round leaves and heart shaped leaves all seem to be part of the inherent variation. I guess there is a lot of potential in this little fruit 

[greeny]

I lost mostly plants in summer may be because of large temperature changes.
In winter they sometimes get a few dead branches but no dead plants.
I leave them outdoors until it gets colder than -10 celcius.
The lumas are not fast growers but no dead plant until now. At the moment  they get nearly
the same treatment as the ugnis.

[Luisport]

I lost mostly plants in summer may be because of large temperature changes.
In winter they sometimes get a few dead branches but no dead plants.
I leave them outdoors until it gets colder than -10 celcius.
The lumas are not fast growers but no dead plant until now. At the moment  they get nearly
the same treatment as the ugnis.

Hi! my luma apiculata seams more cold hardy than my ugni plants and they are all planted on ground... 

[sanitarium]

Thanks, I saw that and I placed an order with them. They confirmed the order per e-mail, but there is no information on the website, or in the e-mail on how to pay them    I guess I will call them on monday to figure this out.

No need to call them, they send you invoice along the plants, that needs to be paid in 7 days via bank transfer. 

[Solko]

Thank you, Daniel. I will just wait for their delivery then.

[sanitarium]

Thank you, Daniel. I will just wait for their delivery then.

Did you get the package how were the plants conditions?

[Solko]

Hi Daniel, yes, I received my order without any problems. They sent me an invoice per e-mail, I paid it and I recieved the plants in very good condition. The plants are small but healthy. I guess they will take around two years to fruit.
I couldn't find any information on who developed the cultivars Elite and Big Burning Pink. Elite seems to be around for maybe 15 years already, but I never heard of Big Burning Pink. Villarica Strawberry and Elite have the small and long type of leaf, Big Burning Pink has the large, glossy,heart-shaped leaves.

Did you already taste their fruits?

[barath]

I have a bunch of these ripening right now -- should be ripe in 2-3 weeks.  PM me if you'd like some seeds.  (The seeds are very tiny, just fyi, and should be started on peat on a heat mat or in a similar setting where the soil won't get disturbed.)

[akanonui]

Do any of you have plants for sale or trade of either of the Ugni species?

[barath]

Do any of you have plants for sale or trade of either of the Ugni species?

I haven't been propagating it that much so I don't have any plants.  Just fruit / seed.

[akanonui]

Can they be grown from air layer or cuttings? I have heard that they are very slow to mature and I have tried them from seeds before with no success.

[barath]

Can they be grown from air layer or cuttings? I have heard that they are very slow to mature and I have tried them from seeds before with no success.

They can be grown from cuttings -- I've rooted cuttings before, but I get a low take rate -- something like 10-20%.  I gave up on doing it that way because I have enough plants of it now.  But yeah, you could could do it that way.  Growing them from seed isn't too hard -- it's very similar to growing pineapple guava from seed.  You just have to be very patient -- the seedlings take about a year before they're even big enough to repot.

[akanonui]

Oh ok, I thought since they were smaller seeds they would sprout quickly etc. I guess I shouldn't assume. I think I found a source for regular Ugni molinae, I would still like if any had the Ugni myrcioides for trade or sale though

[barath]

Oh ok, I thought since they were smaller seeds they would sprout quickly etc. I guess I shouldn't assume. I think I found a source for regular Ugni molinae, I would still like if any had the Ugni myrcioides for trade or sale though

The seeds sprout ok, but they just grow very slowly, I think because there's very little energy in the seed so the seedling has to get almost all its energy from the sun.  So like pineapple guavas, the seedlings are tiny to start out and take a while before they start looking like an actual plant.

[Solko]

I took cuttings of both Myricoides and Molinae last fall and let them root over winter. I found that they root pretty easy and almost all cuttings grew into plants.
With seeds I had less luck. My best result was sowing fresh seeds on peat and leaving these in an unheated  mini greenhouse outside over winter. They started germinating almost three months later, in spring, but I lost a lot to damping off. It is hard to give them enough light and heat without burning them in the sun or damping off.
All in all I found them really easy to root, so if you can find cuttings, I would go for that.

[barath]

I took cuttings of both Myricoides and Molinae last fall and let them root over winter. I found that they root pretty easy and almost all cuttings grew into plants.
With seeds I had less luck. My best result was sowing fresh seeds on peat and leaving these in an unheated  mini greenhouse outside over winter. They started germinating almost three months later, in spring, but I lost a lot to damping off. It is hard to give them enough light and heat without burning them in the sun or damping off.
All in all I found them really easy to root, so if you can find cuttings, I would go for that.

Oh weird -- what did you root them in?  I used perlite...

[Solko]

I used a peat/normal soil mix. But my guess is that the season of the year may be important. It was in fall and winter. I covered the pots with the mini greenhouse, but I guess any plastic bag will do. I have read that a lot of plants favor root growth in fall and winter and leaf and fruit growth in spring and summer.