Great things come from small packages. This adage is true of the small grape-like fruit known as the acai berry from the acai palm tree. If these trees were to appear in our backyards, we would most likely dismiss them as just another exotic variety of palm with no obvious practical purpose.
Acai berries also look nondescript from their common purple-red color and small size to the vines these berries cling to. It’s easy to dismiss both the tree and the fruit until the health benefits of this so-called tree of life come to light. On a side note, the acai palm is known as a tree of life to the native peoples of the Amazon because every part of it can be used to meet man’s basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.
Regardless, it is important to know the life cycle of the acai berry from its seed stage to its supplement stage.
seed stage
If acai palms are grown from seed, these seeds should be planted in moist, nutrient-rich soil that mimics the soil of Amazon swamps and floodplains. Of course, a lot of sunlight is needed to nourish the plants. It should be noted that the acai palm is a species native to Central and South America, so it is important to consider whether your location in the world is similar enough to your native home for you to be a successful acai grower.
In two weeks, the seeds will sprout from the soil with a few young bud leaves growing from the young stems. Growing conditions for artificially grown acai plants should closely mimic Amazon environmental conditions for obvious reasons.
tree stage
In the next few months, these tender shoots will develop into post-infantile palms with several leaves at the top. The palm trees should be a few feet tall now, a clue to the heights acai palms will grow to as adults. No acai berries will be visible, although the smaller side stems that the berries grow on will be in place.
In adulthood, the acai palm can grow between 15 and 30 meters with slender trunks. The pinnate leaves reach up to 3 meters in length with a typical arrangement of other palms. The small lateral stems are shorter than the primary stems and, as mentioned above, are the carriers of the coveted acai berries.
But it must be emphasized that even when the acai palm has reached maturity it does not necessarily mean that it will bear fruit. Acai berries usually appear on the small side stems 3-4 years after the tree is relatively mature. This usually happens when the tree is already 8-10 feet above the ground.
In most varieties of the acai palm used commercially, ripe acai berries are determined by their deep purple color, although ripe berries in other varieties may be green. These berries grow in branching panicles consisting of 500 to 900 fruits, although workers must move quickly during harvest, as the berries deteriorate rapidly once they are plucked from the tree.
Modern manufacturing processes, specifically freeze-drying, are used to preserve the nutrients in the acai berries before these supplements are sold to end consumers. Therefore, acai berry supplements are already in their convenient forms of pills, powders, and juices.
For many of us, being able to grow a palm that produces such a world-acclaimed fruit in the luxury of one’s own home is becoming a possibility as more and more knowledge about this plant is discovered.
