Pandanus julianettii

Cultivation Details

Pandanus julianettii is a plant of the humid tropics, where it is found at elevations from 1,700 - 2,900 metres^[1]. Plants grow best in areas where the mean annual temperature is within the range 13 - 24°c, but are able to tolerate 6 - 30°c^[1]. They may tolerate temperatures as low as 0°c for short periods and down to 3°c for prolonged periods^[1]. They prefer a mean annual rainfall in the range 3,000 - 4,000mm, tolerating 2,500 - 4,000mm^[1]. Succeeds in sunny positions and in light shade, growing best in forest clearings^{[1, 2]}. Prefers a well-drained, humus-rich, light to medium soil^[1]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5.5, but tolerates 3.5 - 5.6^[1]. Plants can be harvested for their fibre and fruit around 6 - 8 years from planting, with an economical life of 20 - 40 years and with a total lifespan of up to 70 years^{[1, 3]}. Plants require 90 - 120 days from flowering to fruiting and have no obvious seasonality^[1]. Fruit production usually occurs every two ears^[2]. An average fruit can weigh about 6 kilos. It is about 25cm long and 20cm wide, containings about 1,000 separate nuts. After burning off the outside and removing the stalk, the weight is about 5 kilos. A single kernel weighs about 0.5g. The weight of edible kernels in a fruit is about 8% of the total fresh weight or about 0.5 kilos^[2]. This species has potential for commercial use^[4]. Branches do not have dormant buds and so will not resprout if cut back into the old wood^[5]. However, plants are often propagated by means of cuttings - this works well on old trees with a number of branches since these trees tend to have smaller clusters of fruit because the fruit are competing on the same plant for their requirements Taking cuttings is also a form of pruning that improves the size of fruit clusters on the parent tree^[2]. A dioecious species, both male and female forms need to be grown if fruits and seed are required. Male forms of this species are rare^[2].