Macadamia Trees Growing Conditions

The macadamia tree varieties propagated by Torere Macadamias Limited are ideal for most warm coastal areas in New Zealand. Macadamia trees do their best in rich organic soil however, macadamia trees will grow in a wide range of soils from heavy clay to sandy loam and produce well with regular applications of mulch and compost. Mature macadamia trees tolerate temperatures as low as – 4oC.

The macadamia trees natural habitat is rain forest, therefore New Zealand's warm, wet conditions are ideal however, macadamia trees do not like wet feet or windy locations. Shelter is recommended before planting - staking the young macadamia trees at planting time and frost protection using insulation and mulch will also help in frost-prone regions. Torere Macadamias Limited supply seedling macadamia trees for internal shelter. This shelter is topgrafted to become another producing macadamia row in 8-9 years time.

Irrigation is not normally necessary for macadamia orchards in New Zealand unless the soil is very sandy and porous.

An extended fruiting season, from April to November can be achieved with the choice of macadamia varieties available today. Torere Macadamias Limited recommend three or four varieties of macadamia trees for good pollination, a good spread of harvesting times and good risk management in the event of seasonal storms.

One person with a mechanical harvester can easily manage a 6,000 macadamia tree plantation or harvest several smaller macadamia plantings in the same area. If the terrain is mowable it is suitable for mechanical harvesting. Steep slopes or very wet locations may require netting or landscaping for macadamia nut recovery at harvest time.

A4 variety, 45-48% kernel recovery.                                 A268 variety, 37% kernel recovery.                               A38 variety, 38% kernel recovery.