The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: nelesedulis on November 18, 2015, 06:56:31 PM
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Hello friends,
Could someone show me a device to break macadamia nuts.
I hammer use, but always hammer my finger, I have 15 trees in production, each produces about 30 kg of nuts per harvest, 2 or 3 times a year and I'm losing lots of fruit!
If someone has some equipment help me.
Thank you
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Email sent my friend
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Hello friends,
Could someone show me a device to break macadamia nuts.
I hammer use, but always hammer my finger, I have 15 trees in production, each produces about 30 kg of nuts per harvest, 2 or 3 times a year and I'm losing lots of fruit!
If someone has some equipment help me.
Thank you
Here's the one I enjoy using. Very efficient.
http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg (http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg)
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Hello friends,
Could someone show me a device to break macadamia nuts.
I hammer use, but always hammer my finger, I have 15 trees in production, each produces about 30 kg of nuts per harvest, 2 or 3 times a year and I'm losing lots of fruit!
If someone has some equipment help me.
Thank you
Here's the one I enjoy using. Very efficient.
http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg (http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg)
Harry, I have heard that macadamia are nearly impossible to harvest here due to vermin, namely squirrels. You have been able to harvest macadamia nuts from your tree, or you purchase from the store?
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Here in my yard the best nut cracker i found cost me nothing and they are eady to find...the common squirrel. The strip my tree way before the nuts are even close to harvest. Good thing the tree is a specimen tree as it sits in the front yard.
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Harry, I have heard that macadamia are nearly impossible to harvest here due to vermin, namely squirrels. You have been able to harvest macadamia nuts from your tree, or you purchase from the store?
There was an acre or so property planted out with macadamia nut trees, a mile or two from my house, quite a few years ago and the owner supposedly was able to get a decent harvest. I cannot give eyewitness confirmation of this and I do suspect that his trees were more greatly valued as a reason to get agricultural tax exemption on the property and for providing his bees with blooms from which to draw nectar. At my house, the one tree that I have produces small crops and the squirrels do have a field day with the nuts. I have harvested a couple of nuts over the years but the ones I use my cracker on come from a friend in Hawaii.
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Hello friends,
Could someone show me a device to break macadamia nuts.
I hammer use, but always hammer my finger, I have 15 trees in production, each produces about 30 kg of nuts per harvest, 2 or 3 times a year and I'm losing lots of fruit!
If someone has some equipment help me.
Thank you
Here's the one I enjoy using. Very efficient.
http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg (http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg)
I'm leaning toward this one too after looking around for different ones. Some other ones require more physical strangth than I likely possess. I'd like to see a kid demonstrate how to use each kind so I know for sure I can use it.
To keep rodents away, I use bird netting around the trunk and a little ways up the canopy. That stops them from getting up there. I have a small tree of 20 ft. I think all nuts were saved this year.
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Besides the one noted by Harry from the CA Macadamia Society, some use a visegrip with one jaw ground down to a wedge so you can pop the nut with the kernal intact. Also a regular vise will work. I have seen boards with 1 inch holes drilled into it so that the nuts are only half-way in the hole and they can be hit with a hammer and not fly all over the place (and saves your finger). I have a cracker made from part of a bastard cut file with a large lever that squeezes the nut to breaking and the file holds the nut in place. Our pests for the 50 or so trees are tree rats (rattus rattus), an import. I use rat traps on an 8 ft pole with a hanger to place it high in the tree. The trap is screened except on the top and bottom to keep birds from getting trapped and killed. They are baited with.....macadamia nuts. Got 99 last year, not counting this year.
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Thanks for the tips, I'll manufacture a breaker nuts and get ready when I share.
I have no problems with the trees of macadamias, I wanted a guidance of friends:
What is the best way to propagate the tree?
I want to plant at least 80 trees over a macadamia.
I never tried to plant the seeds, they are born under the canopy of trees, I think of graft or do layering, any suggestions?
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What is the best way to propagate the tree?
I want to plant at least 80 trees over a macadamia.
I never tried to plant the seeds, they are born under the canopy of trees, I think of graft or do layering, any suggestions?
I believe air layering is the preferred method of propagation.
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Hello friends,
Could someone show me a device to break macadamia nuts.
I hammer use, but always hammer my finger, I have 15 trees in production, each produces about 30 kg of nuts per harvest, 2 or 3 times a year and I'm losing lots of fruit!
If someone has some equipment help me.
Thank you
Here's the one I enjoy using. Very efficient.
http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg (http://macnuts.org/UCracker6-320.jpg)
I'm leaning toward this one too after looking around for different ones. Some other ones require more physical strangth than I likely possess. I'd like to see a kid demonstrate how to use each kind so I know for sure I can use it.
To keep rodents away, I use bird netting around the trunk and a little ways up the canopy. That stops them from getting up there. I have a small tree of 20 ft. I think all nuts were saved this year.
This macnut cracker made in Australia is definitely the best one and super easy to use. Highly recommended!
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What is the best way to propagate the tree?
I want to plant at least 80 trees over a macadamia.
I never tried to plant the seeds, they are born under the canopy of trees, I think of graft or do layering, any suggestions?
I believe air layering is the preferred method of propagation.
For grafting you have to girdle the scion a month prior to cutting it off so it builds up some starch in the scion piece. I don't remember the exact figures so I'll make it up for now. The success rates are something like 80% with vs. 10% if done without girdling.
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Harry, I have heard that macadamia are nearly impossible to harvest here due to vermin, namely squirrels. You have been able to harvest macadamia nuts from your tree, or you purchase from the store?
There was an acre or so property planted out with macadamia nut trees, a mile or two from my house, quite a few years ago and the owner supposedly was able to get a decent harvest. I cannot give eyewitness confirmation of this and I do suspect that his trees were more greatly valued as a reason to get agricultural tax exemption on the property and for providing his bees with blooms from which to draw nectar. At my house, the one tree that I have produces small crops and the squirrels do have a field day with the nuts. I have harvested a couple of nuts over the years but the ones I use my cracker on come from a friend in Hawaii.
Harry, I live between you and the Macadavie farm(?) I had no crop this year due to the long season for them to ripen. Two or three separate blooms and not many nuts ripening at the same time. If they have 50-75 trees planted out the squirrels couldn't get them all.
ps.The guy with the motorcycle mail box on 136 ave has a squirrel feeder, just to keep the population healthy in the off season. >:(
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What is the best way to propagate the tree?
I want to plant at least 80 trees over a macadamia.
I never tried to plant the seeds, they are born under the canopy of trees, I think of graft or do layering, any suggestions?
I believe air layering is the preferred method of propagation.
Yes, air layering is the preferred method.
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What is the best way to propagate the tree?
I want to plant at least 80 trees over a macadamia.
I never tried to plant the seeds, they are born under the canopy of trees, I think of graft or do layering, any suggestions?
I believe air layering is the preferred method of propagation.
Yes, air layering is the preferred method.
All commercially planted trees, and most backyard macadamia trees here are grafted.
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We always used house bricks growing up. Such a yummy mess.
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We always used house bricks growing up. Such a yummy mess.
Ditto.
Can't be bothered these days. Have two gigantic trees on the property, nuts go begging every year.
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In CA most trees are propagated by grafting. Cutting-grown and airlayering doesn't achieve adequate root structure for a mature tree in windy or stormy conditions. Seeds need to be fresh, grafting is relatively easy if scionwood is girdled as indicated by another poster. Seedling trees (not grafted) take a long time to start producing nuts, but grafting speeds that up.
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I dare say Florida sees at least as windy conditions as California and the air layered trees do just fine here. Will they withstand a hurricane, maybe not but neither will most other trees whether grafted, air layered or from seed.
Oscar - what is the main propagation method for lychee and longan in Hawaii? I have heard of some grafting lychees in Hawaii but didnt know if that was the norm or not.
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Makes me curious how many commercial macadamia groves there are in Florida. Commercial macadamia production in California is supported by the CA Macadamia Society and processing and marketing by the Gold Crown Macadamia Association. Macadamia trees are a considered alternative to avocados that are succumbing to phytophthora.
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No commercial groves in Florida that i know of.
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I dare say Florida sees at least as windy conditions as California and the air layered trees do just fine here. Will they withstand a hurricane, maybe not but neither will most other trees whether grafted, air layered or from seed.
Oscar - what is the main propagation method for lychee and longan in Hawaii? I have heard of some grafting lychees in Hawaii but didnt know if that was the norm or not.
Lychees and longans are propagated here by air layering. I don't know of any nursery here that grafts them.
About macadamia commercial production here: Hawaii was for a long time at the forefront of breeding, planting, and production of macadamias, but do to fierce price competition from other countries it's no longer profitable to grow them here.
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Friends,
I will travel to the farm tomorrow.
I want guidance on how to plant macadamia seeds for me to do the grafts in the future.
I will stay there from 21 to 30 November, I plan to at least prepare seeds for planting.
I count on help from you.
Thank you.
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Friends,
I will travel to the farm tomorrow.
I want guidance on how to plant macadamia seeds for me to do the grafts in the future.
I will stay there from 21 to 30 November, I plan to at least prepare seeds for planting.
I count on help from you.
Thank you.
If you carefully crack them before planting then they can sprout a lot faster and more uniformly. If you don't crack them they can take up to 6 months to start sprouting.
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Just ordered a cracker with the long lever. It'll make quick work of the ~50 nuts I have.
Oscar, how long do the seeds remain viable for? Days, weeks, months?
I want to try germinating a couple for fun.
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Thanks, I'll do it this way
Friends,
I will travel to the farm tomorrow.
I want guidance on how to plant macadamia seeds for me to do the grafts in the future.
I will stay there from 21 to 30 November, I plan to at least prepare seeds for planting.
I count on help from you.
Thank you.
If you carefully crack them before planting then they can sprout a lot faster and more uniformly. If you don't crack them they can take up to 6 months to start sprouting.
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Just ordered a cracker with the long lever. It'll make quick work of the ~50 nuts I have.
Oscar, how long do the seeds remain viable for? Days, weeks, months?
I want to try germinating a couple for fun.
Months. If refrigerated i'm sure closer to a year.