Euterpe precatoria

[amazondk]

As I was driving north early on Wednesday morning I notice an extremely beautiful site.  About 125 kms north of Manaus there is a pretty steep hill on the road and to the left there is a little valley flanked by a great stand of the native Açai, Euterpe precatoria, of the area.  It was such a beautiful sight that I turned the car around and went back to take a few pictures.  I think this is a great palm for anyone in a zone 10 better climate to grow.  It is one of my favorite palms.  They go very well with the M. flexuosa as well.  Just a slight rise in elelevation will allow the E. precatoria to grow.  They do not grow with wet feet like the Mauritias do.

Here are a few pictures of the spot.

A lone tree

[amazondk]

I am constantly impressed by the tropical beauty of Amazonia.  It is a special place on our planet.

A stand of E. precatoria and a few other palms, like the Mauritia.  I think that there area also a few Socratea exorrhiza palms in the pictures as well.

More E. precatorias with a Oenocarpus bacaba in the left hand upper corner and some Mauritias.  

[ron@springhammock]

Don,

Those images put any man made palm garden to shame.  I could only dream for a back yard that looked like that.  Is that property for sale? ...just dreaming.

I grew a couple E. precatoria as potted plants before the digital age and at the time they were my favorite palms.  They reached about 6 feet before they suddenly died one summer.  I've replaced them with a potted Dypsis onilahensis since it has a similar droopy appearence and hopefully it will last a little longer.

Ron

[amazondk]

Ron,

Well it is not hard or expensive to buy a piece of land similar to this.  But, then you have to be able to take care of it.  Since these are real tropical palms they probably will only do well in a very tropical climate.  I agree it is hard to beat nature when it comes to landscaping.  The best we can hope for is a close simulation.

dk

[Walter John]

I love Euterpe precatoria, a real good looker. Must get another one for meself one day.

[amazondk]

wal,

Do yiou want me to send you some seeds?

dk

[FossilNypa]

Hi Don,

Those photos are amazing! It must be cool to see all those palms while you drive. The Oenocarpus bacaba is great.

[Walter John]

(amazondk @ Jun. 10 2007,07:29)

QUOTE

wal,

Do yiou want me to send you some seeds?

dk

Thanks for the kind offer Don, but I'll let it go for now, I'm just not set up for growing from seed. Thanks again.

[Kamipalms]

Wal,

I have a few seedlings .

when you drop in for a visit next year you can take a couple home ...

[Kris]

Dear Don  

great stills and lovely locations.

dear Ron,

that madagascar spiny plant is terrefic..

love,

Kris  

[Tyrone]

They are just gorgeous pics. What beautiful palms. I'm of the opinion that palms in habitat always look the best. I wonder if the E precatoria would grow over here. I'm growing Euterpe edulis alright. Is there culture any different to E edulis?

regards

Tyrone

[Kamipalms]

(Tyrone @ Jun. 10 2007,21:39)

QUOTE

They are just gorgeous pics. What beautiful palms. I'm of the opinion that palms in habitat always look the best. I wonder if the E precatoria would grow over here. I'm growing Euterpe edulis alright. Is there culture any different to E edulis?

regards

Tyrone

I thought I gave you one of these ???

May be I didn't.....

Theres one here with your name on it  :cool:

The seedlings seem to be coping very well unprotected so far this winter so I'd say their a goer for our climate T.

J.

[Kamipalms]

Great habbit shots too Don.

I love the delicate look of Euterpe.....

[ron@springhammock]

(amazondk @ Jun. 09 2007,16:51)

QUOTE

Ron,

Well it is not hard or expensive to buy a piece of land similar to this.  But, then you have to be able to take care of it.  Since these are real tropical palms they probably will only do well in a very tropical climate.  I agree it is hard to beat nature when it comes to landscaping.  The best we can hope for is a close simulation.

dk

Don,

Unfortunately, the "take care of it" part is where the expense would lie.  My "if I win the lottery" fantasy is to buy a big chunk of tropical forest and selectively harvest trees for lumber and manage the forest as an intact ecosystem.  But I need to get better at buying lotto tickets first.  

How about considering partnering with some gringos so they could buy a chunk of forest adjacent to yours and you would manage it for them?  We could then write-off the expense for traveling to inspect our investment every year.

[waykoolplantz]

and guest

[amazondk]

(ron@springhammock @ Jun. 10 2007,11:00)

QUOTE

(amazondk @ Jun. 09 2007,16:51)

QUOTE

Ron,

Well it is not hard or expensive to buy a piece of land similar to this.  But, then you have to be able to take care of it.  Since these are real tropical palms they probably will only do well in a very tropical climate.  I agree it is hard to beat nature when it comes to landscaping.  The best we can hope for is a close simulation.

dk

Don,

Unfortunately, the "take care of it" part is where the expense would lie.  My "if I win the lottery" fantasy is to buy a big chunk of tropical forest and selectively harvest trees for lumber and manage the forest as an intact ecosystem.  But I need to get better at buying lotto tickets first.  

How about considering partnering with some gringos so they could buy a chunk of forest adjacent to yours and you would manage it for them?  We could then write-off the expense for traveling to inspect our investment every year.

Ron,

There are quite a few schemes on the market for buying a piece of the tropical forest.  But, I think a lot of them are somewhat shaky.  One of the difficult things around here is to find land with good titles.  I have done quite a bit of ground work on this.  There are also some complications for foreign indivduals to buy forest land in Amazonia.  But you can work around this.  Here is an example of how it could work.

You form a Brazilian company with a few parnters to buy land.

Then lets say you buy 1000 hectares at 50 USD per hectare, that is 50,000 USD.  This is a bit on the high side for land price but it is a safe price anyway.

Then you do a forest managment project of 100 hectares per year for 8 years.  This would give a harvest of about 2,000 m3 of logs per year.  There is a 25 year rotation on compartments, so you could only harvest each compartment again in 25 years.  In 8 years the land would have to reman un touched until the first compartment reaches 25 years.

If you sold the trees at 10 USD per m3 that would be 20,000 USD per year in profit.  You could do larger compartments like 200 or 300 hectares or more, but the rotation cycle would still be locked at 25 years.  So the entire lumber value today would be approximately 16,000 m3 x 10 USD or 160,000 USD.  Of course this could be more the maximum extraction limit is 30 m3 of logs per hectare.  

I know a guy here who has around 150,000 hectares of forest land about 500 kms up the Amazon (Solimões River).  He is an elderly gentlman, 80 or so years old and wants to do something with this land.  The land is a composition of a lot of small properties that were purchased by the company he controls during the rubber boom in the early 1900s.  His proposal is to find someone to buy the company which owns the land.  He wants around 5 million USD for it.  I have been thinking if there is some way to market the shares of this company to investors that would eventually bring in the money he wants.  That would mean people could by pieces in a company that owns and manages the land.  Does this make sense to you?

dk

[amazondk]

(waykoolplantz @ Jun. 10 2007,15:11)

QUOTE

and guest

Michael,

Nice E. olearcea.  Is that planted in South Florida?  I have an objective of planting around 10 hecatares of those trees to produce fruit to sell fresh in Manaus or in pulp.  There is a lot of potential as far as I can see.

dk

[Walter John]

(Kamipalms @ Jun. 10 2007,13:21)

QUOTE

Wal,

I have a few seedlings .

when you drop in for a visit next year you can take a couple home ...

You're on Jason, it will happen. The actual birthday is 5th August 2008, so I would say the party will be the following Saturday, the 9th in downtown Quindalup. Bloody cold then from memory.

I have a precatoria variegata version which is growing great.

[Peter]

Nice photo Mike-great to see you posting some shots of your fantastic garden-more please!

[Jeff Searle]

Don,

    Euterpe's are a beautiful group. I'm having good success here now growing them in the yard. I just love the way the leaflets hang down on them giving that real tropical look.

Jeff

007

[amazondk]

Jeff,

They are one of the trees most commonly grown in landscaping here.  The normal one cultivated is the E. olearcea though.  We also have a lot of toucans around the area and they love the berries.  One of the toucans main foods are different palm berries, either Euterpe or Oenocarpus.  It is interesting the way they eat.  They swallow the berries whole then some time later they spit up the seeds.  My wife's mother was telling me a story yesterday about a group of toucans up river, 53 to be exact, that ate so many berries that they could not fly very well. When they went to cross the Negro River they fell in the water and a guy picked them up and started distributing them to the neighbors along the river bank.  The IBAMA, the federal environmental organ, then found about this and went and collected them.  The intention of most of the people was to make dinner out of them not to raise them as pets.  

dk

[Tyrone]

(Kamipalms @ Jun. 10 2007,10:11)

QUOTE

(Tyrone @ Jun. 10 2007,21:39)

QUOTE

They are just gorgeous pics. What beautiful palms. I'm of the opinion that palms in habitat always look the best. I wonder if the E precatoria would grow over here. I'm growing Euterpe edulis alright. Is there culture any different to E edulis?

regards

Tyrone

I thought I gave you one of these ???

May be I didn't.....

Theres one here with your name on it  :cool:

The seedlings seem to be coping very well unprotected so far this winter so I'd say their a goer for our climate T.

J.

Thanks Jason, that's great.

No I didn't get a E precatoria from you, but all the plants you gave me are doing fine.

I'll have to come over to your place bearing gifts. Are there any palm species that you're after. Anything Dypsis??

best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Don, If you ever have extra seed that you don't know what to do with, you can send it my way.  

If you want.  

regards

Tyrone

[Jeff Searle]

(amazondk @ Jun. 11 2007,05:20)

QUOTE

Jeff,

They are one of the trees most commonly grown in landscaping here.  The normal one cultivated is the E. olearcea though.  We also have a lot of toucans around the area and they love the berries.  One of the toucans main foods are different palm berries, either Euterpe or Oenocarpus.  It is interesting the way they eat.  They swallow the berries whole then some time later they spit up the seeds.  My wife's mother was telling me a story yesterday about a group of toucans up river, 53 to be exact, that ate so many berries that they could not fly very well. When they went to cross the Negro River they fell in the water and a guy picked them up and started distributing them to the neighbors along the river bank.  The IBAMA, the federal environmental organ, then found about this and went and collected them.  The intention of most of the people was to make dinner out of them not to raise them as pets.  

dk

Don,

    Very interesting! Wow....It must of been some sight.

Jeff

007

[amazondk]

(Tyrone @ Jun. 11 2007,06:17)

QUOTE

Don, If you ever have extra seed that you don't know what to do with, you can send it my way.  

If you want.  

regards

Tyrone

Tyrone,

The guy near my house who makes açai juice normally has at least 2 50 kilo bags of seeds per day.  They are very fresh and germinate well.  If you want some, I imagine not 50 kilos, just send me a note of how to get a few to you.  He uses Euterpe precatoria for his juice.

dk

Jeff,

My wife tells me that toucans are good to eat.  They have a purple colored meat.  

dk

[MattyB]

OOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH man!!!!!! I just love Euterpe precatoria!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the pics Don!!!!

[BS Man about Palms]

Don, Please send Matty B some seed before he dies of excitement. Figure out the cost and I'll be happy to pay. He just is like a little kid....OK, I am too.

[SubTropicRay]

Don,

That's a great looking palm.  Thanks for posting these.

Ray

[Kamipalms]

(Tyrone @ Jun. 11 2007,20:17)

QUOTE

Don, If you ever have extra seed that you don't know what to do with, you can send it my way.  

If you want.  

regards

Tyrone

Tyrone,

their a permitted species on our list but you'll need to check ICON .

I bought these in before Dec last year...

[amazondk]

This is a  E. precatoria growing in town here in Manaus on the road to the Ponta Negra.

And, here is one in primary forest in the Indian Reservation on the road north of here.

[Tyrone]

Wow, Their beautiful palms. Thanks for the pics Don.

regards

Tyrone

[amazondk]

Here are a few more E. precatoria.

These are growing on the outskirts of town.  They sort of sprout up like weeds.

I have some planted on our lot.  Which some day will become home.  For now it is 800 m2 of a bit overgrown with weeds.

This little palm was a very small seedling that sprouted up a few years ago.  It is on the lot next to mine, which I used to own.  I think I will move it over to my lot.

[amazondk]

The larger of the two trees had more shade when young.  It stated to really take off about a year and a half ago.  The other one I transplanted from the lot next door and it is only now starting to grow faster.

I shot these pictures this morning.  This is of the larger E. precatoria with my number 9 US shoe size to give some scale.

[GREENHAND]

Sometimes living in zone 8 can be a real drag! all the real cool stuff is out of reach. those are awsome palms man.

[amazondk]

(GREENHAND @ Jun. 12 2007,14:51)

QUOTE

Sometimes living in zone 8 can be a real drag! all the real cool stuff is out of reach. those are awsome palms man.

Greenhand,

You can always come visit.  A few years ago I went quite frequently to Dallas on business when I did a project for Nokia.  I remember one time I got there with a drizzly rain and 34 F.  That was sure a bit change from here.  But, in the summer I believe the weather here is nicer than there.

dk

[Utopia Palms]

Here’s a photos of Euterpe precatoria varigata, one very interesting thing with these is that when it’s dry the leaves are held parallel (out on one plane) and then when it’s raining the foliage tends to droop!

[Gileno Machado]

Beautiful palms everyone.

Don, your camera is always great...but your shoe in not Boaproof  man...  ???   How about some texan cowboy boots to explore your palm kingdom now  

[amazondk]

Clayton,

I have not noticed any varigated ones around here.  Maybe there are and I have not noticed them.  

Gileno,

I actually was going to bring a few pairs of cowboy boots that I had left in Florida with me last trip.  But, space got tight so I left them.  But, at any rate they are not too practical around here as they are a bit hot.  What does work well, which I have, are some Brazilian cowboy boots, botinas.  These are great.  But, topsiders like I have work well also, and they take getting wet as well.  I gave up wearing sandals while walking in the forest as between the ants and the palm thorns I was always getting either bitten or pierced.   As you know a lot of the locals wear no shoes in the forest.  Or at best Havaiana rubber sandals.

dk

[Walter John]

(Utopia Palms @ Jun. 13 2007,10:30)

QUOTE

Here’s a photos of Euterpe precatoria varigata, one very interesting thing with these is that when it’s dry the leaves are held parallel (out on one plane) and then when it’s raining the foliage tends to droop!

How did I miss those ?

I have one growing and it goes along slowly but nicely.

[palmazon]

Heard a claim yesterday about an E. precatoria in Lake Forest that sailed unscathed through the Big Freeze of '07. Don - how do I get on that seed bandwagon?