Who’s growing Guabiraba “Campomanesia Lineatifolia” ?

[BayAreaMicroClimate]

Would like to hear about this species some more

[Mike T]

The tree gets pretty big and the fruit smells great. The promising and alluring aroma that is not unlike guava is not quite delivered on when you eat the fruit. The flavour profile is mild and much less than what say a guava has.

[W.]

I have a different Campomanesia (schlechtendaliana) in my collection but not lineatifolia. Mine is still quite young and has not fruited yet. I think that in a few years, Campomanesias will become a must-have for rare fruit collectors, after they have collected the jaboticabas and Eugenias and need something else to focus their collecting attention on.

[Mike T]

10 years ago they were must haves with C. phae leading the charge and species like nerifolia, adiantum guzumifolia xanthocarpa and a few others also eagerly sought and I am just guessing the spelling.They went off the boil after it seems people colleced a few species .I don't think they will get popular even with the novelty of phae. I think maybe 2 species could be worthwhile and theyre 2 I have sampled.

[W.]

I did not realize Campomanesias were so popular a few years ago. I wonder if that was just in Australia or with rare fruit growers here in the US, as well. I rarely see anyone mentioning Campomanesias, much less selling plants or seeds. Those plants people bought a decade ago must have died or been replaced by something else, otherwise I would think at least some of those collectors would be offering seeds for sale.

Out of curiosity, which two species did you believe were worth collecting, and what were their flavors like?

[SouthBayHapaJoe]

I am collecting Campomanesia and have a few, but none that are flowering yet. I haven't heard of anyone in the US getting fruit yet.. sorta. I know Oscar has a phae tree producing in Hawaii and Joe Hewitt is starting to get fruit. Everyone is still waiting on taste reports though. A friend had a guazimifolio fruit but a rat got it before he could share a taste report. He did mention that is has a wonderful aromoa. My Brazilian friends love them and is why I started collecting them and say the smell is unique and intoxicating. The fruit are good to excellent depending on your liking.

[K-Rimes]

I have a large campomanesia hirsuta that is really close to producing. If not this year for sure next, it's in a 20 gallon and was totally rootbound in 15 gallon earlier this year. Got a mate for it that's in a 1 g right now getting the same treatment the big one did. They grow super fast for me.

Planted out a xanthocarpa into a 3" pot and it's flying,and have a few more in the seed trays coming up right now. Tried to get cambuci to sprout but no such luck yet, probably takes forever but the seed tray is full of fungus gnats unfortunately so I'm not holding out much belief in those coming up.

[Mike T]

I meant they are 2 I have not sampled. Adiantum and xanthocarpa I think yhey are called and they are smaller and people are more positive about the taste. I tried lineatifolia  under a big tree about a year ago and they were just too bland.

[NateTheGreat]

C. malifolia is growing well for me, taking off this year. I started a few xanthocarpa seeds, one seedling is doing well, some are slower, at least one withered up and died. Tried two batches of C. guazumanifolia, no sprouts on either. That's exciting to hear about the hirsuta Kevin! Hopefully the second one isn't needed for fruit set, since I only have one malifolia.

[W.]

I have a large campomanesia hirsuta that is really close to producing. If not this year for sure next, it's in a 20 gallon and was totally rootbound in 15 gallon earlier this year. Got a mate for it that's in a 1 g right now getting the same treatment the big one did. They grow super fast for me.

Planted out a xanthocarpa into a 3" pot and it's flying,and have a few more in the seed trays coming up right now. Tried to get cambuci to sprout but no such luck yet, probably takes forever but the seed tray is full of fungus gnats unfortunately so I'm not holding out much belief in those coming up.

If your C. hirsuta fruits, put me in line for a few seeds. What sort of growing conditions does it like? I have not treated my C. schlechtendaliana differently from my jaboticabas as far as soil, watering, and fertilizer. It seems to be doing alright but is not growing at a particularly fast rate.

[K-Rimes]

I have a large campomanesia hirsuta that is really close to producing. If not this year for sure next, it's in a 20 gallon and was totally rootbound in 15 gallon earlier this year. Got a mate for it that's in a 1 g right now getting the same treatment the big one did. They grow super fast for me.

Planted out a xanthocarpa into a 3" pot and it's flying,and have a few more in the seed trays coming up right now. Tried to get cambuci to sprout but no such luck yet, probably takes forever but the seed tray is full of fungus gnats unfortunately so I'm not holding out much belief in those coming up.

If your C. hirsuta fruits, put me in line for a few seeds. What sort of growing conditions does it like? I have not treated my C. schlechtendaliana differently from my jaboticabas as far as soil, watering, and fertilizer. It seems to be doing alright but is not growing at a particularly fast rate.

It is similar conditions to my jaboticaba over here as well. I top it with copious amounts of chicken manure and it always responds immediately and consumes it. Once I see perlite showing through again I drop another load on it. I tried dosing it hard with a strong P slow release fert this year and it didn't like it at all and burnt a bit, have gone back to using Hollytone and chicken manure only. It seems to appreciate a lot of water and is somewhat sensitive to PH in that it grows much faster when you get it right - aiming for 5.5 to 6.0 here. Same as jabo.

I have a guazumifolia that flowered this year for the first time but no sets. It looks like it's just about to launch 20 or 30 more flowers so I can hope for a taste soon.

All my campomanesias are in my 50% shade greenhouse. It didn't go below 37f this year which certainly helped them out. They lived outside in 9b last year and even had dusting of snow on them for a day last year and they did not appreciate that much and defoliated. I think they are really hardy from what i can tell. Probably need to up pot my guazum again soon...

[K-Rimes]

Haha speak of the devil. Glad I poked around to take photos cause it looks like the first flower just showed up on hirsuta.

[nattyfroootz]

Is that the one I just gave you?! haha

[K-Rimes]

Is that the one I just gave you?! haha

They're both from you. The small one you gave me I down potted to 1 gallon and it's still I think building roots before it makes more shooootz.

The big one is killing it though, just flying. I was so stoked to see a flower today.