How to Grow Acai Berries

Acai (pronounced "ah-sigh-ee") berries are the latest go-to super food. A product of the Amazon Rainforest, Acai berries are touted for their antioxidant properties. With growing interest in Acai benefits, interest in growing the berries is burgeoning as well. Anyone can grow Acai trees in the right conditions.

Instructions


1. Acai Seeds and Seedlings

Determine weather the climate in your region meets Acai tree needs. Acai tress grow in the lush rainforests of Central and South America. If you live in a region that experiences frost, you will need to grow your Acai tree in a greenhouse. Optimum temperatures should not dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.Acai Heart of Palm

Germinate Acai seeds, which can be purchased from Fair Trade growers. When the Acai seeds arrive, soak in warm water for a day or two. Germinate the seeds in wet soil, maintaining a warm temperatures. Cover the sprouts to promote and maintain humidity and warmth. If you're germinating indoors, provide necessary heat with a heat lamp or even a household desk lamp. Red spikes appear in about two weeks. As the weeks progress, leaves will appear. You should have a 90 to 95 percent germination rate in the right conditions.

3.Potted Acai Palm

Plant post-infancy palms in pots, outside or in a greenhouse. Forest floor plants, Acai palms require low light conditions and wet, swamp-like conditions. Frequently water palms that are planted in the ground.

4.Mature Acai Trees

Use compost material to fertilize the Acai tree. Rich in nutrients, compost gives Acai palms the type of nutrients indigenous to the rainforest. Wrap trees in frost cloth if growing outside in areas such as the southern-most area of Florida or along the Gulf of Mexico. Acai palms flourish in tropical regions and care is not as intensive as when grown indoors or in greenhouses.

5.Harvested Acai Berries

Harvest Acai berries after about four years, if grown in tropical conditions. Harvesting in these conditions can take place year-round. In sub-tropical regions, harvest Acai berries mainly in the Fall.
source eHow.com

Why grow Açaí Berries?

Fresh açaí fruit is not seen outside of South America because the açaí fruit breaks down in shipping. If you have a warm climate, you can enjoy fresh pure, un-diluted açaí. Today, many of the health drinks are priced so high, it makes their health benefits not worth the cost. Many companies also blend açaí with a bunch of other fruits and keep the concentration a mystery.

It has become an expensive delicacy simply because farmers can not keep up with the demand in Brazil. The high-priced açaí drinks still do not offer the same health benefits as raw açaí. The majority consist of açaí pulp that leaves Brazil as a dried powder form and then mixed into açaí juices with water when it arrives in the USA. Processed foods always carry less nutrients.

In the past, açaí was available to everyone, including the poor. Now it is out of reach for many in the Amazon region because of the increase in world-wide demand for this healthy açaí berry.