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tropicbreezent

Cashews flowering

tropicbreezent
10 years ago

These always flower about the same time as the mangos. Unfortumately some grasshoppers seem to love the flowers. They clean out a lot of the inflorescences before the flowers even get a chance to open.

Comments (9)

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Some more

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Close up

  • bananafan
    10 years ago

    I love the pretty pink flowers. Do they produce a fragrant scent? How old is your tree now? Also how long does it take for a cashew tree to produce fruit? At some point, I've considered planting one, but I do not know how big it will grow and if I have the space for it .. lol. I also do not know how complicated or easy is it to prepare the the nuts once harvested. I know there's some type of process involved in it.

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The trees were already on my place when I got it, fairly large and fruiting. Since then there's been lots more self seeded, but most I manage to find and pull up. Where I've grown them previously, from seed, they flower and fruit while still quite small. I've had them producing at about 3 years old when looked after (watered well). Don't see many trees around that are much more than 10 metres tall.

    As far as processing the nuts, it's quite involved and I generally don't bother unless I have visitors who want to try some. The liquid that surrounds the nuts is toxic and corrosive.

    What I do like though are the cashew "apples". The peduncle of the fruit swells and becomes like a fruit. They're a bit acid but I love them. Some people I've given them to hate them after they've tried.

  • bananafan
    10 years ago

    It does sound like an interesting tree and easy tree to grow. I've thought of getting one some time back, but have heard about the toxicity of the fruit if not processed properly and that was the reason that deterred me from getting one. By the way, how big does the tree gets up to?

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    As mentioned above, haven't seen any much above 10 metres tall. They not a real big tree (not like jackfruit or mango). The fruit/nut itself isn't toxic, it's the fuild that surrounds it. You can remove it by throwing the nuts onto a fire (or BBQ) and letting them burn. The toxic fluid burns with a yellow flame. When the flame turns blue it means just the outer shell is burning and you put it out. There's no more toxic fluid left. It's a very simple process, only problem would be if you're colour blind between yellow and blue, LOL.

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The cashews are rocketting along with fruit already developing.

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    And some are well ahead of the rest.

  • tropicbreezent
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Most of the cashews have been demolished by animals. Only managed to find one large one that they seem to have overlooked. There's still a few very immature ones left but the larger ones are all gone. Flying Foxes tend to fly off with them and eat in tall trees.

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