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[caguama]

Hello STS peeps,

I've developed an interest in growing Paullinia vines lately and have been tending to a guaraná for several months now. I've bought some guarana seeds and I'll probably start trying to germinate them some time soon for a bit of a challenge.

After some googling and cursory reading on other Paullinia vines, particularly of yoco, my interest was piqued even more. It seems to have a long history of use as a euphoric-stimulant among indigenous peoples of the areas where this vine is found. Long story short, after doing some reading on yoco and other vines in the genus, I stumbled upon seeds of Paullinia pachycarpa. From some of the limited literature I could find, it appears to have some of the similar qualities of yoco and guarana but not much on historical medicinal or edible use.

I did some reading on a previous topic posted here regarding germination of yoco seed:

The cultivation info here is not specific to P. yoco, but my guess is that it might be similar to guarana... sounds like low pH might help, and says maybe take up to 100 days, so dont gets be up on them!

https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/1492/paullinia.html

There’s also this study, not remarkebly exciting info, but it’s data on several interesting species, including P. rugosa, which I’d assume would require similar germination conditions. Basically all it says though is don’t let those seeds dry out. Grown at 25C, 12hr light sched. Or that’s all I gathered from my quick skim.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4844291/

In that thread, the OP had difficulties using a dome to maintain humidity and many of his seedlings rotted. It seemed he was using soil based mix to start the seeds. What would you all recommend? I didn't purchase much seed. I want to make sure I am successful.

I bought seeds for Paullinia pachycarpa and another Paullinia vine with uncertain identification of the species, titled "deep purple" in reference to the fruits. Pachy is greek possibly for 'thick' and carpa is possibly greek for "fruit'. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[cunningplatypus]

Interesting!

You might want to try using sphagnum peat moss (pH~ 4.4-4.5), amended with Perlite or sand, as your substrate.

My own Guarana plants improved dramatically when I repotted them from soil into straight peat. Really a startling improvement. 

Good luck, and please let us know your progress.

[caguama]

I have received the seeds and I will try using peat moss with perlite as a substrate and another group using potting soil amended with perlite. Thanks for the advice, cunningplatypus. And I will add pictures this weekend when I have time.