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Thursday, April 11, 2019

Growing an Allspice Tree


Allspice
at 15 months

Since 2013, I've tried to grow an allspice tree from local cuttings, seeds, a bare-root plant purchased on ebay and then a 4" seedling plant from Amazon. Finally I had success with the 4" seedling I planted last September but it struggled with leaf rust for over 4 months.

Allspice
at 6 months

I don't know why allspice was so difficult to germinate or grow. Maybe it's sensitive to
 increasing and decreasing daylight. This was the first photo I took because it grew so
 slowly and didn't look healthy until February. Since then it has
 outgrown the leaf rust and grown exponentially.

At 6 months the leaves were large enough to cut. The scent of allspice leaves is intoxicating and it imparts a unique flavor when added to vinegar.
Citrus Fennel Pollen Pickled Cucumbers

Flowering in early June
at 21 months

A male and female tree are required to produce allspice berries. I only have one tree and it started flowering the first week of June. When the flowers opened they looked like dandelions before you blow them away but as soon as the flowers were gone no seeds had formed.

Seedling Plants on Amazon
Basics About Allspice Trees
at

3 comments:

  1. KaiMay 31, 2019 at 7:07 AM

    Jane, love your blog. Thank you for starting to post again. Since we are getting ready for our hot summer, what are you planting this year that you think will survive our heat?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JaneJune 2, 2019 at 6:10 PM

      Mahalo for your appreciation! I have tomatoes, ginger, hot peppers and sweet potatoes that are still growing. This week I will plant kabocha squash and Pima orange lima beans as these are pretty heat tolerant and that might be it until September. It's been so hot already!!

      Delete
  2. KaiJune 8, 2019 at 8:24 AM

    Pima orange lima beans sounds interesting. I'll give them a try.Thanks!

    ReplyDelete