Peach palm

Where does Peach palm grow?

Found in: Amazon, Andes, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Hawaii, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Pacific, Panama, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, SE Asia, South America, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Venezuela

Notes: There are 239 Bactris species. There are 75 species in tropical America. Most Bactris have fruit that are edible but many are not attractive. The fruit are high in Vitamin A. The red variety has 2.76 mg of carotene while the yellow variety has 0.835 mg.

Status: It is a cultivated food plant. It has been introduced to Papua New Guinea. An important food in South America. In Papua New Guinea it occurs mostly only on research farms and knowledge of how to use the food is lacking.

Growing Peach palm

Cultivation: Plants can be grown from seeds or suckers. Normally only 4 suckers per plant are kept and others removed. Before taking the suckers it is best to partly cut them off and allow roots to develop more strongly. A spacing of 5-6 m apart is suitable. Mycorrhizae attached to the roots give fast growth rates. Under subsistence conditions palms are often widely spaced but for intensive agriculture it is planted at 400-500 plants/ha for fruit and 3000 to 20 000 plants for heart-of-palm. Plants are pollinated by insects but can be pollinated by wind. Small beetles are attracted to the flower and pollinate the plant in Central America. If using seeds, fresh seed should be planted. They germinate in 3-5 months.

Edible Uses: The fruit are used cooked or in preserves. The fruit is also dried and ground into flour. The flesh of the fruit is eaten raw. The fruit is boiled in salt water for 3 hours, the seeds removed then eaten. The kernel of the seeds is also edible. The palm cabbage is edible.

Production: Seeds normally germinate in 30-90 days under normal conditions. Palms grow rapidly under the best conditions. Palms commence bearing after 5-8 years and may produce for 70-80 years. Fruit is produced in large clusters of 50-100 fruit. Four or five clusters are produced per year. Fruiting is seasonal. Fruit takes 6 months to mature and keeps well on the tree. The number of mature fruits per inflorescence (commonly referred to as raceme or bunch) varies from 0 to 764, with total fruit weight 0-20 kg. The palms can be harvested for palm hearts 2.5-4 years after planting. Each palm yields 1.3 kg of edible heart.

Nutrition Info

Peach palm Photos

References

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