Fire Mountain Permaculture

The one request from the nuns when I started the guerrilla gardening of the convent land was to plant a macadamia tree. Apparently at a convent they stayed at in the country they had a wide range of fruit trees, and fresh macadamias were a particular delight. The tree I planted 4 years ago is…

By

James

—

, , ,

Will we get macadamias this year?

Our 4 year old macadamia tree, still small at 3m high.
Our 4 year old macadamia tree, still small at 3m high.

The one request from the nuns when I started the guerrilla gardening of the convent land was to plant a macadamia tree. Apparently at a convent they stayed at in the country they had a wide range of fruit trees, and fresh macadamias were a particular delight.

The tree I planted 4 years ago is still small, perhaps 3m high. It’s had a rough time, with kids splitting the trunk early in its growth, plus various periods of drought conditions.

The fruiting spikes, hanging within the canopy of the tree.
The fruiting spikes, hanging within the canopy of the tree.

Nonetheless, this year has produced a good number of fruiting spikes this year. So hopefully this year will be our first macadamia harvest!

(The good news is that the shell of the nuts is so hard that even the rats can’t gnaw their way in…)

One response to “Will we get macadamias this year?”

  1. Darren (Green Change) Avatar
    Darren (Green Change)

    Looks promising! Just a warning, though – rats can chew through the nuts, as can cockatoos. I keep finding little rat-stashes of hollowed-out nut shells in my storage shed!

    Reply

Leave a comment