The almond belongs to the Rosaceae (Rosaceae), making it a relative of several well-known fruit trees. There are differing types , starting from small ornamental shrubs (Prunus glandulosa) grown just for their pretty flowers to medium-sized trees that produce edible nuts. it’s not difficult to grow almond trees and harvest their nuts as long as you’ve got the proper quite climate and are armed with a couple of critical growing tips.
Botanical Name | Prunus dulcis |
Common Name | Almond tree |
Plant Type | Deciduous tree |
Mature Size | 10 to 15 feet tall and wide |
Sun Exposure | Full sun |
Soil Type | Rich, deep, well-drained loam |
Soil pH | Slightly acidic to neutral to slightly alkaline |
Bloom Time | March |
Flower Color | White, pink |
USDA Plant Hardiness Zones | 7 to 9 |
Native Area | North Africa and the Middle East |
How to Grow Almond Trees
The fruit tree produces its best crop of nuts when grown during a climate during which the summer is hot, with low humidity. it’s also important to possess an extended season freed from frosts since the almond nut takes 7 to eight months to mature. A spring frost can damage the flowers. it’s for these reasons that almond nut production within us occurs mainly in California.
There is nobody , best thanks to prune an fruit tree . However, some maintenance pruning may be a good idea just to wash up the cover of your tree and shape it.
Light
Your fruit tree will bear the foremost flowers (and, therefore, potentially, nuts) if located fully sun.
Soil
Good drainage is vital , so sandy soils are preferred over clayey soils. Till deeply into the soil in order that the roots can strike down deep.
Water
Almond trees have average water needs.
Fertilizer
You fertilize a fruit tree in spring. A balanced fertilizer is best. Apply this fertilizer along the drip line of the tree.
Growing and Harvesting a Crop of Almond Nuts
Technically, the crop produced by almond trees isn’t a nut, but a drupe (drupe). The fruit growing on almond trees initially looks nothing just like the almond you later find yourself eating: Instead, what you see may be a leathery, green hull. Inside the hull may be a hard, light-colored shell. this is often the shell that we crack with a nutcracker to urge at the edible part. Cracking the shell frees the brown seed (“nut”) that we eat.
There are differing types of almonds. the type found in nut bowls and dessert recipes is that the almond (Prunus dulcis), but there’s also a Prunus dulcis amara (Prunus dulcis var. amara) that’s used, for instance , to flavor certain liqueurs.
For the foremost part, almond trees aren’t self-fertile, as are some trees that bear edible fruit: you’ll need two or more cultivars for pollination, and that they can’t be just any cultivars (flowering times need to line up). this is often the trickiest a part of growing almond trees for a crop of nuts. Plant your almond trees 15 to 25 feet aside from each other .
A smart thanks to avoid having to plant different cultivars for pollination purposes is to pick one among the self-fertile types. for instance , ‘Garden Prince’ may be a self-pollinating quite fruit tree that becomes 10 to 12 feet tall; it’s cold-hardy only to zone 8, though.
Almonds offer you a clue on once they are able to be harvested: The hulls begin to separate apart, revealing the familiar, light-colored shell. don’t wait too long after this splitting to reap your almond nuts because the exposed shell is now prey to both birds and insects.
The easiest thanks to get the almonds off the tree for the house grower is to tap the branches with a pole. Lay a tarp down before time to catch the almonds as they fall to form pick-up easier.
After gathering the almonds, they need to be dried properly, else they will become moldy. Drying requires several steps:
Remove the hulls.
- Spread the nuts out (with the shells still on), during a thin layer, across a surface conducive to drying. a perfect surface would be a table, the highest of which has been replaced by a screen. Cover them with BirdBlock mesh (buy on Amazon) to stop the birds from taking them. Cover them with a tarp when rain is predicted .
- The only thanks to know needless to say when the drying process is complete is to sample the “nuts.” Crack the shells of a couple of to seek out out whether the edible seeds within are hard or rubbery. If they’re rubbery, then they’re not completely dried out yet. If they’re hard, then they’re ready.
- When you have determined that your crop has dried out enough, bring the remainder of the nuts, with their shells still on, indoors. Stored at temperature , they’re going to keep for eight months.