Author Topic: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?  (Read 852 times)

SDPirate

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Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« on: April 25, 2023, 12:44:55 PM »
Hey all,

I got some seeds from a seller here and got 1 to germinate a few months or so back.  To me, it seemed to stall out for a little while and did not put out any growth really.  After all this time, it seems like it finally is growing a hair bigger.  Are these normally slow? Mine isn't on a heatmat, just under a grow light indoors.



I plan on transitioning it to a better pot and probably outdoors soon.

brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2023, 01:04:49 PM »
This is bush banana, right?  Mine are growing much faster than eugenias I started at the same time.  I guess they were a but slow starting out but once 6" tall or so they accelerated.

With only a single seedling it is hard to see a pattern, it might be stunted for whatever reason
« Last Edit: April 25, 2023, 01:06:21 PM by brian »

SDPirate

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2023, 01:59:57 PM »
Bush banana is Uvaria Chamae.  It's a close relative of Rufa. I think they share a lot of the same characteristics such as shrubby tree or vine with similar looking fruits, the color of the fruits seem to be different with bush banana looking more like banana and Rufa looking more red. 

I will say that the Rufa I have was basically in a unheated room all winter with only the grow light on it so maybe that is why it has been slow.  I wish I had more of them to compare but I am happy to have at least the one that looks healthy enough.

brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2023, 02:51:18 PM »
I think I have both types, I will check when I get back home in a couple days and compare.

elouicious

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2023, 06:02:36 PM »
rufa supposedly comes from mountainous regions-

I have one that survived 18f this year

My 3 year old tree is roughly 6 inches tall

SDPirate

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #5 on: April 26, 2023, 02:19:05 PM »
6 inches for a 3 year old, wow! Kind of sounds slow to me.  I guess I should be happy with my meager less than 2 inches seedling over a few months.  Good to know these guys can withstand the cold.

W.

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2023, 02:27:45 AM »
I've never had any luck with Uvaria rufa. Poor seed germination rate, and the ones that germinated all died very quickly, So, your plant looks like a fast grower to me ;D.

SDPirate

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2023, 12:25:55 PM »
Well I guess I am doing okay then, I just had nothing to compare to and wondered about others experience with this one.  It does seem like it is picking up a tad, maybe even putting out a 3rd or 4th leaf soon, it is a pretty small plant for sure.




brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2023, 05:02:26 PM »
I got back home and took a look at it... I stand by my original statement, it looks fairly vigorous.  I guess there is some chance that this was mixed up with a uvaria chamae (or could even be an errant cattley guava seed fell in same soil?)

So anyone who knows what these look like let me know if you think it might not actually be uvaria rufa


roblack

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2023, 05:10:43 PM »
Whatever it is, appears someone is about to grab it, or using the Force to speed growth.

brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2023, 05:17:37 PM »
Damn, that is definitely a cattley guava.  I guess my seeds failed too.  What a shame.  I'll have to dig around and see if I have any other uvarias from the same batch of seeds. 

Here's a picture of a known cattley guava and my supposed uvaria rufa.  Of course, it will be funny if others start getting cattley gauvas from their uvaia seeds, Tradewinds doesn't have the best reputation. 




« Last Edit: May 02, 2023, 12:16:58 PM by brian »

SDPirate

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #11 on: April 27, 2023, 06:30:14 PM »
I had some Chamae seeds from tradewinds about 6 months ago.  They looked pretty much the same as the Rufa ones, kind of like a brown corn kernel in appearance.  I can't remember how many Chamae I had, maybe 10 seeds but not a single one germinated.  Thinking the genus has a low germ rate or tradewinds sent me some old seeds.  Oh well.

brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #12 on: April 29, 2023, 08:22:15 PM »
My other "uvaria rufus" from same batch is ALSO actually a cattley guava.  Could still be that I made a mistake.  Now I am wondering where to get actual ones
« Last Edit: May 02, 2023, 12:16:42 PM by brian »

W.

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2023, 09:28:46 PM »
Uvaria rufa seeds look like typical Annonaceae seeds, small and brown, like a smaller version of cherimoya seeds. No resemblance to guava seeds.

I've ordered Uvaria rufa seeds from three different online sellers, including Trade Winds. All the seeds looked the same. All performed the same. Universally atrocious germination rate. It could be that all the seeds were old and bad. It could be that this species naturally has a poor germination rate. I'm also willing to believe I did not germinate them properly; though I'm not sure what else I could provide them other than what I gave them: seed starting mix, a plant light, a heat mat, and regular mistings of rainwater.

However, I've noticed that some plants from hotter, more tropical regions, seem to germinate better with a heavier soil mix. I discovered that fact with rambutan seeds. I failed to germinate them a couple of times using the standard method described above, so I gave up on germinating any grocery store rambutan seeds and started throwing them all in one of my compost buckets. Lo and behold, the bucket was full of rambutan seedlings in very little time, in heavy, wet, pure compost with no attention paid to them whatsoever. I might try a similar method with Uvaria rufa, if I'm foolhardy enough to ever order any seeds again.

elouicious

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2023, 11:45:39 PM »
my specimen
https://postimg.cc/XX71bFv6

maybe I was a bit underexaggerating about 6"

I got mine from a person rarefruit@gmail.com in Sept of 2020-

They might have been free- out of 20 fresh seeds I have 1 plant
« Last Edit: May 01, 2023, 11:48:55 PM by elouicious »

SDPirate

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #15 on: May 02, 2023, 11:55:19 AM »
Looks great elouicious.  Does it defoliate every winter? I must have gotten lucky with mine, I think I only had 6 maybe seeds of Rufa.  Not a single one did anything except for the 1 plant that I sprouted.  Nothing special done, just seed starting mix, a heat mat, and tapwater to keep it moist.  Was definitely sluggish to sprout but it came up eventually.

elouicious

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #16 on: May 03, 2023, 11:24:12 AM »
I think so?

we have also had 2 "100 year storms" in texas in the past 5 so could be all these cold temps

brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #17 on: May 03, 2023, 01:14:35 PM »
...
However, I've noticed that some plants from hotter, more tropical regions, seem to germinate better with a heavier soil mix. I discovered that fact with rambutan seeds. I failed to germinate them a couple of times using the standard method described above, so I gave up on germinating any grocery store rambutan seeds and started throwing them all in one of my compost buckets. Lo and behold, the bucket was full of rambutan seedlings in very little time, in heavy, wet, pure compost with no attention paid to them whatsoever. I might try a similar method with Uvaria rufa, if I'm foolhardy enough to ever order any seeds again.

W.  I recall you said once before that rambutan grows well in pure compost, when I had mentioned mine always quickly discover and die a month or two after sprouting.  This may seem silly, but can you clarify by what you mean by pure compost?  From what I have seen the bagged compost sold at big box stores is mostly rice hulls, not sure how close it comes to homemade kitchen/garden compost.  I have a huge amount of coffee grounds but haven't been composting anything else.  I have a big pile of soil I use for containers that all old container soil gets mixed back into, plus coffee grounds, and added mulch.  I haven't added new peat in years.  I'm not really sure what the composition is anymore.

W.

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #18 on: May 04, 2023, 05:15:13 PM »
...
However, I've noticed that some plants from hotter, more tropical regions, seem to germinate better with a heavier soil mix. I discovered that fact with rambutan seeds. I failed to germinate them a couple of times using the standard method described above, so I gave up on germinating any grocery store rambutan seeds and started throwing them all in one of my compost buckets. Lo and behold, the bucket was full of rambutan seedlings in very little time, in heavy, wet, pure compost with no attention paid to them whatsoever. I might try a similar method with Uvaria rufa, if I'm foolhardy enough to ever order any seeds again.

W.  I recall you said once before that rambutan grows well in pure compost, when I had mentioned mine always quickly discover and die a month or two after sprouting.  This may seem silly, but can you clarify by what you mean by pure compost?  From what I have seen the bagged compost sold at big box stores is mostly rice hulls, not sure how close it comes to homemade kitchen/garden compost.  I have a huge amount of coffee grounds but haven't been composting anything else.  I have a big pile of soil I use for containers that all old container soil gets mixed back into, plus coffee grounds, and added mulch.  I haven't added new peat in years.  I'm not really sure what the composition is anymore.

The compost in that bucket was comprised of leaves (a mixture of oak leaves and leaves from my various fruiting plants), small twigs, fruit peels and other non-animal product kitchen scraps, and the clean-out from my gutters (itself a breakdown of oak leaves, catkins, and other tree material). All this was placed in a five-gallon bucket (with holes punched in the bottom for drainage) and left for a while, with more kitchen waste and leaves added as it broke down. I can't remember whether I deliberately added earthworms to this mixture, but they ended up in it. No grass clippings or coffee grounds were added. The result of this was a very dense, very rich compost mix. I didn't plan on using it for potted plants because it was so dense and retained water so well. I rarely use it for that; I put my compost in the garden. In this case, this compost proved perfect for germinating and growing rambutans. I also used it for the same purpose for the related genip/Spanish lime. Unfortunately, when trying to transplant the rambutans out of this bucket (since I was not going to keep this bucket full of worms, bugs, and outdoor waste inside during the winter), I disturbed their very sensitive root systems too much, and they all died.:'( Genips are hardier, plus I learned what not to do with the rambutans.

I'm unsure how this compares to rice hull compost, since I've never bought any compost. But, I can't imagine there is much comparison. Mine is black, dense, and fine-grained with few to no large particulates left. It is really more like a rich topsoil than anything else. Since I let it breakdown so completely, and it is filled with so much worm castings (since they migrate from the earth into these buckets, which are kept on the ground in my backyard), it probably is more akin to topsoil than to any conventional compost.

brian

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Re: Uvaria Rufa - slow grower?
« Reply #19 on: May 04, 2023, 08:23:17 PM »
Thank you.  I want to try rambutans again sometime, I will probably get a bunch of seeds and try various bagged composts and heavy soils and also try planting directly into the soil in my greenhouse, just to see if anything works.  Clearly the potting mix I use for every other tree is just not to their liking.