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Arizona Gardening

Anyone start Carob tree from seed??

14 years ago

I have a beautiful 20 year old Carob in my yard that puts out thousands of seed every year and since I never see Carob trees available at the nurserys I figured why not start a few. Has anyone started one from seed? Also, Why are these perfect shade trees that require NO water not more popular here??

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Comments (3)

grant_in_arizona
14 years ago
I started a few small plants in my last garden and they did great. I planted them in the ground a few months before selling that house. I wonder if the subsequent owner(s) kept them? Keep us posted on your seed starting efforts--sounds like a fun experiment.

I've always felt they were neat trees, despite the really heavy shade they cast. Are mature trees messy? I wonder why they're not more popular too.

Keep us posted!
Grant
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
14 years ago
We have a 30-40 year old carob in our backyard. We love the shade and the maturity of the tree....it's an awesome tree. But alas! it is indeed messy. Leaves, seed pods, the birds love it so there is lots of bird poop to deal with underneath the canopy. In winter, around Christms time, the tree produces a fuzzy flower that I assume becomes the seed pod. It's odor is somewhat offensive. I'm okay with it but some find it extremely offnseive. That lasts a couple of months, then the fuzzies fall and stain the brickwork.

It's not a tree for everyone, but it's okay with our household.
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phxplantaddict
Original Author
14 years ago
Our tree drops very little, nothing more than any other tree. I have heard that there are male and female types and that one of those is the type that puts off an odor, mine does not. I thin out the inside of the tree once a year so I get a nice amount of filtered sun through, I grow alot of my tropicals under it. I believe most people do not thin them out, hence no grass under them. Just makes no sense why I never see them for sale here, drought tolerant, shade, grows as large as an oak tree.

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