Paullinia cupana

Cultivation Details

Guarana is a plant of the humid lowland tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 800 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 24 - 32°c, but can tolerate 18 - 38°c^[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about 10°c^[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,000 - 2,500mm, but tolerates 1,100 - 3,000mm^[1]. It does not like a dry season^[2]. Prefers a position in full sun, also succeeding in light shade^{[2, 1]}. The plant requires a soil that is deep, medium or heavy in texture, well drained and with high organic matter content^[2]. Traditionally, plants are grown on very acid soils of low fertility with high concentrations of aluminium^[2]. It grows naturally on gley soils with a pH in the range 3.5 - 4.5^[2]. Prefers a pH in the range 4 - 5.5, tolerating 3.5 - 6.5^[1]. Plants commence flowering about 18 - 24 months after the seed germinates^[3]. Inflorescences are borne on new wood developed during the rainy season, with flowering taking place over a period of one month during the early part of the dry season. Mature, multi-stemmed shrubs 4 - 5 years old or more will bear hundreds of inflorescences^[3]. Open flowers on inflorescences of one branch are all of the same sex at any one time, pistillate on one particular day and staminate on the next, but each branch on the same plant follows its own pattern of sex synchronization during anthesis. The ratio of pistillate to staminate flowers is about 1 : 5. Pollination is by bees, wasps and possibly also ants^[3]. Fruits are mature and dehisce the seeds in about 75 days^[3]. There is a large variation in the yield of seed, both from year to year and from plant to plant, and can range from 0.1 - 9 kilos per plant. Overall, yields average around 500 kilos per hectare, but 2 - 4 tonnes have been obtained on experimental stations^[3].