Bunya Bunya nut

[xshen]

Anyone tried growing this in Southern California?  I saw a few plants for sale at a nursery but I hesitated since it can grow up to 150’. 

Is it possible to graft the bunya bunya pine using horizontal branch from a mature specimen to dwarf the tree? 




I placed this thread in the wrong section.  Can a mod please move this for me?  Thanks.

[starling1]

Anyone tried growing this in Southern California?  I saw a few plants for sale at a nursery but I hesitated since it can grow up to 150’. 

Is it possible to graft the bunya bunya pine using horizontal branch from a mature specimen to dwarf the tree? 




I placed this thread in the wrong section.  Can a mod please move this for me?  Thanks.

BMC will be the one to ask on this one, but here's my 2 cents:

You shouldn't plant a bunya nut near anything that can be smashed to pieces by falling cones, or where anybody walks. Although it will never get to the size you describe in your lifetime, it is one of those species that needs to be thought about for the future. They are slow growing, and do not fruit every year even at maturity. It's either every two or three years, I believe.

In any case, my mother once told me that she used to keep a horse in a paddock that had a gargantuan specimen over 100 years old, and that a falling nut killed a horse instantly there once (not her horse). They are big, heavy and hard when green and the greener they are the harder and heavier they are.

[BMc]

There are thousands forming on trees around town now. They can fruit every year, but most fruit for three years, with the third year being extreme, then take the fourth year off, but not all trees do it and they tend to just bear moderately each year.
I have no idea if you can graft from a side branch. I wouldn't have thought so, as side branches are still very large and the tree has a tendency to throw them as it grows upward.
150ft is the height of the 300 year old ones in the bunya forests. A few get really tall in the open around town, but I believe these are male trees, as I've never seen any of the tall slender very phallic looking trees set fruit. The more dome topped trees bear heavily and tend to stay much shorter when not in a forest situation.
The local BG has a grove of a few hundred trees and I wouldn't walk through it from now until March, as they could easily knock you out falling from 40ft. They use mini dozers during fruiting season to clear the fruits out and they pile them on the side of the road about as high as I am, and there are many piles. You can easily fill a car boot in minutes 

[starling1]

There are thousands forming on trees around town now. They can fruit every year, but most fruit for three years, with the third year being extreme, then take the fourth year off, but not all trees do it and they tend to just bear moderately each year.
I have no idea if you can graft from a side branch. I wouldn't have thought so, as side branches are still very large and the tree has a tendency to throw them as it grows upward.
150ft is the height of the 300 year old ones in the bunya forests. A few get really tall in the open around town, but I believe these are male trees, as I've never seen any of the tall slender very phallic looking trees set fruit. The more dome topped trees bear heavily and tend to stay much shorter when not in a forest situation.
The local BG has a grove of a few hundred trees and I wouldn't walk through it from now until March, as they could easily knock you out falling from 40ft. They use mini dozers during fruiting season to clear the fruits out and they pile them on the side of the road about as high as I am, and there are many piles. You can easily fill a car boot in minutes 

I've changed my tune on the nuts recently and have revised my opinion of them to the point that I now believe they are actually quite an underrated crop. I hadn't eaten any for many years until last year, and remembered them being floury and bland when I did eat them as a kid. Not so when properly roasted and seasoned, quite good. I found that halving them horizontally works the best for roasting, they can be quite thick and this results in a more complete cook. Delicious with anchovy butter(can't credit myself with this discovery, came across the idea whilst reading women's day or whatever waiting to go in for a checkup at GP).

[BMc]

Just make sure you balance them out with prunes or similar. They can do a number on your insides if you aren't careful. Toilet will just collect cobwebs. I love them in bunya banana loaf, but they have heaps of uses. I mostly boil them. When they are still warm and nice and soft I just hit them with a bit of syrup - its just awesome. You can keep them in the freezer a while too.

[xshen]

Thanks for the informative replies.  I also have to agree that the bunya nut is an underrated nut.  I would love to grow this tree but the problem with most of us here in Southern California is that our residential lots are less than a quarter of an acre.  If I had the space, I would plant one or two trees for future generations. 

Exotica have 5-6 trees planted in their lot between 5-6 feet apart.  They appear to be neglected trees that became root bound and busted through the pots.  They are 15-20 feet tall and the owner think that they are around 15-20 years old.  There were some old pine cones, a bit smaller than a soccer ball, on the floor but they sat on the floor too long.  The nut inside the shell already started to turn brown.

I was thinking of buying one or two of their seedlings and graft some of the side branches from trees that are already producing pine cones.  Maybe this would significantly reduce their size?


BMc, what kind of pine cone do you have on your avatar?

[BMc]

Its a bunya cone. That's generally what they should look like when ripe. When the green cone just starts to crack open is when they are best. When they start to pop open and turn a bit browner they quickly lose moisture.

[OCchris]

Hey Xshen, there are a few large bunya's down here in Orange/Santa Ana. They are probably 40-80 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 3+feet. Very cool looking trees too bad you need a hard hat and acreage to have one. Take care, Chris