The Macadamia Nut (Macadamia integrifolia), a native of southeastern Queensland was brought into Hawaii from Australia in about 1881.

The Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station named and introduced several promising cultivars in 1948, which led to the modern Macadamia industry in Hawaii. The importation of improved and named varieties into California from Hawaii began about 1950.

Flowers and nuts shown in these photos were from Toppy & Claire’s Tropical Fruits in Merritt Island, Florida.

Photo #1
Profusion of white flowers all over the tree. Photo taken in February.
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Photo #2
Close-up of the flowers in different stages of blooming. Photo taken in February.
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Photo #3
Three unripe, green ones. Photo taken in June.
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Photo #4
TOP ROW: The 2 halves of the outer shell, which carries the inner shell.
BOTTOM ROW: The white nut is in between 2 halves of the inner shell.
Photo taken in October.
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So that's what the flowers look like! I have a 7 year old tree that has never produced flowers. I did find one nut on it last year, but that's it. I have never seen a flower. The tree is healthy, A 'Dana White'. I'm expecting flowers this spring due to the Hurricanes putting some stress on it and putting a lean to it. They say if you have a non-producing tree that you can injure it, or girdle it, to stress it into flowering. If it doesn't flower this year, I'm ripping it out. 7 years and one nut... (not working for me)

Mine for the last 2 or so weeks has had flowers. Its been in the ground 2 years, was moved once.
Its now about 7', I had trimmed it some right before the hurricanes to decrease the amount of wind
it caught. Its got about 10 flower strings, they haven't opened up yet in bloom. Dave I gotta think
your tree might have been from a seedling or layered from a tree which was not producing good yet
itself. I'm looking forward to harvesting a few, hopefully squirrels will continue to not be a problem.
Hawks are very frequent in my area

Gary

My tree is indeed a seedling, or it may be air-layered. I got it from Bob Murray at the BRFC sale. The past few years when Bob speaks at the meeting I always ask him why my macadamia is not flowering (sort of a tradition for me). He says he grows them from seed due to they are more cold tolerant...I don't know if he still has that philosophy as I think I'm not the only one with those same questions. From seed, it is reported it takes between 7-15 years for it to flower. The tree is healthy and stands around 15 feet. Not in a full sun spot either, so...I need to just wait and be patient....but, its killing me....I love macadamia and thought I would be eating them by now!

I had one nut last year, but never saw the flower. It got pushed over by the hurricanes, so it is shocked and stressed...so...maybe it will flower this spring!

Bob always semi-joked on hitting the trunk with a chain, or splitting it with a majete'...to shock it to flower....

I tried girdling a branch a couple of years ago...that didn't work...but now the tree is leaning from wind damage...looks healthy...just needs to flower.

I think girdling is very common for lychee production, don't see why it wouldn't work potentially
for the mac. I would always worry about it negatively affecting my tree.
If you got a nut, that says the ensuing years it should gradually increase flowering/production
from here. The hurricanes might have changed it for this year though. Have you had a growth
flush yet this spring? Once you do, within a few weeks perhaps you'll see some flowers. They,
while not inconspicuous, aren't real visible until the flowers are opened. I've done some research,
and its a slow increasing process of flower production the first few years. I also read where their flowers aren't
found to be that desirable by bees, so other flowers will generally get more attention. Manual pollination
might be helpful. I'm hoping to research mac nut crackers in a year or so!

Gary

Hey, I just looked at my Macadamia and notice it is full of flower stalks! Wow! Maybe talking about it made it flower! I'll post pics later.

Maybe the macadamia overheard I was going to cut it down if it didn't flower this spring! Talk about stress!


Edited: 03/06/2005 at 07:41 AM by Central Floridave

Congrats on it flowering, you've definitely got more going than mine.
Keep us posted on how many nuts form.

Gary

Anybody know what kind of bug this is?


Edited: 03/21/2005 at 12:12 PM by Central Floridave

Edited: 03/21/2005 at 12:16 PM by Central Floridave

It is called the Oleander Moth (Syntomeida epilias).

$10 bucks says you won't get a single nut if you have squirrels around. I had a 20' tree mac nut tree at my old house. Every season the squirrels got into the green nut pods and ate every single one. Tried everything short of a shot gun to get rid of the squirrels.

Good shade tree on my patio though. The leaves are tough on bare feet.

My dozen or so flower spikes seemed to whither. Perhaps due to fertilization or the fact its still only a 7' tree.
We'll see what happens next year.

Gary

I'll take that ten dollar bet!

I can't get my cheapo camera to focus on the flowers, but it looks as if they are full of tiny little nuts!

Maybe this year I will be eating my own macadamia...how cool would that be?

Or...eating macadamia fed squirrel!

developing nuts


Edited: 05/10/2005 at 05:30 PM by Central Floridave

Bump for update!

Update is that my Macadamia has produced nuts every summer for me since this thread. Squirrels have been a major problem. They go crazy over them. The nuts are very difficult to process. The tree just went through a spring flower flush and is holding developing nuts.

Macadamia Flowers

Macadamia #4

Macadamia #5