125 to 135 plants in 1 acre are recommended. Experienced farmers are already growing 125 – 135 macadamia trees in Australia with a spacing of 8 x 4 meters to achieve healthy yield in time.
Quick overview – 125 to 135 macadamia trees per acre, 125 trees produce around 2400 kg of nuts per acre, 315 to 375 trees per hectare (spacing 8 x 4 metres) and the average yield per tree is 15 kg to 35 kg.
Macadamia nut tree information
Height – 2 m to 12 m (7ft – 40 ft).
Leaf – 60 to 300 mm (2-10 inc) long and 30 to 130 mm (1-5 inc) broad.
Flowers – 50 to 300 mm (2-10 inc) long cylindrical shape.
Individual flowers – 10 to 15 mm long.
Flower colour – White, pink or purple with four tepals.
Fruit – Hard, woody and globose having 1 – 2 seeds.
Nutshell – Hard and needs good effort to crack.
Fruit growing – 4th to 5th year on a small scale.
Fruit growing commercially – 10 to 12 years or 15 years.
Yield – 10 year old tree can produce 15 kg to 35 kg per year.
Macadamia is from the Proteaceae family and genus of 4 species indigenous to Australia. The tree is native to Northern Eastern, New South Wales, Central and South Eastern Queensland.
How to start a macadamia nut farming in Australia
Farmers are growing macadamia trees in western Australia and Hawaii region of the USA successfully. To start macadamia nut cultivation in Australia or USA’s other regions as well you need to practise the basic farm exercises which are given below:
Growing zone
It is a tropical tree and needs full sunlight for better growth, some trees grow upright and some grow lateral. For consistent growth, macadamia nut trees need humidity and rainfall regions. The same climate condition can be observed in Hawaii State of America therefore macadamia nuts in Hawaii are produced on a larger scale. You can find macadamia nut farms in Australia in these places: Rosebank, Alstonville, Bangalow, Dunoon, Clunes, Wollongbar, Lindendale, Yarrahapinni and Tregeagle.
Climate condition
Sunny, humid and they need good annual rainfall.
Soil selection
Well drained sandy loam lite soils are idle, friable drained soil is good. Soil with good drainage is preferred for this cultivation. Soil pH should be between 5 to 6.5 and please avoid heavy, clay or rocky soil.
Read this – How many macadamia trees per hectare and farm income
Temperature required
Yearly temperature – 20°C to 25°C.
Average day and night temperature difference – 8°C.
Summer temperature – 25°C to 30°C.
Winter temperature – 19°C to 20°C.
Blossoming temperature – 19°C.
Macadamia trees per acre per hectare and spacing
With 8 x 4 spacing, you can plant 125 to 135 trees per acre and 315 to 375 trees per hectare for better yield.
Read this – Macadamia farming profit per acre and project report
The yield quantity and quality depend on the tree density and tree growth. Tree growth depends on spacing and farms with good spacing produce healthy nuts. However, a farm with less spacing and more trees produces more nuts but the quality is comparatively lower. Around 125 to 135 trees are recommended to plant on a one-acre farm to get a better yield per tree. One tree is capable of producing 15 kg to 35 kg or more than 50 kg of nuts after 10, 12, or 15 years.
Propagation
The tree can grow from cuttings and seeds both. I personally recommend you use stem cuttings instead of seeds because cutting takes lesser time to grow compared to seeds. Weed removal exercise is necessary for any kind of farming so do it regularly as per the crop. After planting the plant please do not beat hard the near-surface of the plant it will tighten the soil, reduce soil air pockets and interrupt the water drainage, a gas will be created resulting in tree dryness.
Pit size – 3 foot or 1 meter pit digging is required to minimize the trunk canker disease.
In case you missed it – How many macadamia trees per hectare and farm income
Fertilizer
8:10:5 NPK, please don’t exceed 10 pounds of fertiliser per tree. How to use organic fertilizer for better yield some examples are algae, mulch, cowdung, rock meal, compost and tree foil.
Harvesting time
The tree needs at least 10 years to produce fruits commercially. However, it also starts bearing fruits from the 4th and 5th year but on a very low quantity.
Yield per tree
A 10 year old tree can easily produce 15 kg to 35 kg per year. Whereas a mature tree can produce 50 kg fruits as well.
Read it – How many palm trees per acre and farm income
Tree spacing need
Farmers often think that if they will give good fertilizer to their trees the trees will grow healthy. Unfortunately, this is not true my friend because in tree growth there are some other elements which play a vital role. Apart from good practices which are mentioned in this post one important aspect is necessary and it is tree spacing.
Yes, spacing plays a huge role in healthy fruit formation. The main reason is they don’t only need fertilizers and artificial nutrients provided by farmers. Instead, they also need a sufficient amount of natural nutrients from nature, under the land. If you will provide good spacing to your trees then every tree can take the sufficient nutrient from the land but if the spacing is lesser than the nutrient of 1 tree will be divided between 2 or 3 trees.
Remember, trees are very cooperative and innocent. They are not like human beings so they do believe in sharing their food with each other and they do not snatch other’s food like dirty humans. So it is the responsibility of the farm owner to provide good spacing for every tree in order to get better tree health resulting in better yield.
One last tip is don’t think about yield, instead start growing trees for tree health and good growth and they will automatically give you more and healthy yield so start taking care of your trees.
Other names
Macadamia is well known as Queensland nut, Bush nut, Maroochi nut, Hawaii nut and Bapul nut. Macadamia nut farming in Australia is very popular and this nut is known as bauple, gyndl or jindilli in Australia.
Macadamia farming in America
Macadamia cultivation in Hawaii state of the United States is done on a large commercial scale and credit for starting macadamia farming in US goes to Hawaii. Some people are still searching on the internet and some are practically doing macadamia farming in Casa Grande and some other regions of the United States.
FAQ
How many macadamia trees per acre in Australia is required?
125 to 135 trees are good enough.
How many macadamia trees per acre in Casa Grande can I plant?
125 to 135 trees with 8 x 4 spacing.
What is the required spacing for macadamia trees?
8 x 4 metres are needed for planting 125 to 135 trees.
What is the average macadamia yield per tree in Australia?
A 10 year old tree produces 15 kg to 35 kg and a mature tree or 15 years old tree produces 35 to 50 kg nuts.
How many kg per macadamia tree is expected?
10 year old tree = 15 kg to 35 kg.
12 year old tree = 17 kg to 35 kg.
15 year old tree = 25 kg to 35 kg or 50 kg as well.
How many macadamia trees per hectare in Australia should I plant?
315 to 375 trees per acre.
Is macadamia farming profitable in Australia?
Yes, people are already getting good profit from one acre macadamia farm. One tree average yields 25 kg and by planting 125 trees they can obtain 125 x 25 kg = 3125 kg of nuts.
What is the macadamia tree’s lifespan?
In commercial farming, the tree can reach up to 20 metres as well and lives for 40 to 60 years.
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