Any one growing Cloves ?

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by aroideana, Feb 22, 2009.

  1. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    I would like to grow my own cloves . It should grow very well here in the tropics . Its Syzygium aromaticum .
    I will have to try some of the fruits from a packet at the stupor market , but I think they may be picked before maturity , or to old to germinate . Our local native S.wilsonii seed does not keep well at all .
    I should have some Cinnamon Cinnamomum verum ripening very soon .
     
  2. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Can you tell me more about your cinnamon? I saw it growing in Indonesia when I was a teenager and it has stuck in my mind ever since, and is on my list of things to put in the garden. Did you grow it from seed? Where did you get it? How big is it? How are you going to use it?

    I can't personally imagine going to the lengths that seem to be involved to harvest the bark, but wondered about using the leaf tips and berries.
     
  3. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    I grew cinnamon from a cutting of the tree in the Botanic Gardens Sydney. (Obtained legally by the way!)
    Unfortunately I left it in my last garden.
    It was very slow to strike (6-12 months) harder than Bay Trees.
    (Watch there is also Cassia Bark sometimes sold as cinnamon, still with the same flavour but more bark like and not the neat curls you get with thinner cinnamon bark.)

    You will be amazed at the quality of your home grown cloves.
    We get old, small, rubbish in Australia.
    The biggest producer and importer in the world is Indonesia; ( -for adding to cigarettes!)

    Unfortunately people of my generation associate the wonderful fragrance of cloves with the dentist .
    The essential Oil was(sometimes still?) used to anaesthetise and disinfect tooth problems. It is an old remedy for tooth ache 1/2drop on the offending tooth

    When you get your Cinnamon Trees up remember me, I miss my old tree. :(
     
  4. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    There are some large cinnamom trees around here , and some fellow members of the Rare Fruit group process there own .
    I got some seedlings and heard that is almost a weed in some gardens . A mate has one nearly 3m high [ just ready to coppice ] with seeds set . Fruit gets approx 1 cm and is a purple berry , so it has a way to got before ripe . It looks stunning with all the red new growth .
     
  5. Jislizard

    Jislizard Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Hi there, the fruits of the clove are not edible so what you will find in the supermarket are the unopenned flowers of the clove tree. I don't think these will grow as they haven't been fertilised.

    I have been keeping an eye on eBay to see if any seeds or plants turn up but nothing so far, I would be very interested if you find anywhere that sells these.

    Clove oil is good for temporary relief from toothache, I have used it myself, it is also good for shaving with as it sooths the skin and acts as a lubricant, not sure if it is used neat though or just as part of a preparation.

    Mark
     
  6. kimbo.parker

    kimbo.parker Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    ello ello ello,
    i would swap some prime
    Santalum spicatum seeds and anything from my acacia collection for some of the cinnamon / clove seeds...by the way, I take it's the same tree,,Syzgium aromaticum,,,with a name like that,,,its gotta be good. Tropical huh,,,sounds like a bit of micro climate might be needed at my desert,,nothing a decent rock wont fix.

    regards, Kimbo
     
  7. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Clove and Cinnamon are two different trees.
    Cassia also has bark that is fragrant of 'cinnamon.
    You probably need to go to Indonesia Sri Lanka or try the botanic gardens.
     
  8. ho-hum

    ho-hum New Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Hello all,

    I have seen cloves growing in Sulawesi and Java called 'cengkeh' [in javanese and probably indonesian]. It was grown along roadsides and it looked like a fairly scrappy multistemmed 'bush' to about 3m in height. I suspect it is one of those plants that once established thrives on neglect. Apart from that I was too young to take much more notice of them. It was rumoured that chewing the fresh flowers would get you a 'high'.

    I only ever saw it grown at elevation, this may have been because flat lowland was too valuable, dunno. I didnt ever see it grown in plantations, only as an edge plant.

    Anyone know of any meg trees in Australia? They are massive up to 40m plus in height. I would love a few seeds. Any of the meg nuts I have purchased looked absolutely dead and possibly roasted.

    cheers,
     
  9. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Burke's Backyard November 2008 p113 says to try Limberlost Nursey in Cairns 113 smithfield Rd. Freshwater Qld 4870 for cloves
    Thank you wyong coucil libary forbuying this

    i have just stuck some star anise + spice mix from achinese shop in some seed raisng mix-something is comming up!

    I did grow star anise before it had white flowers that smelt exactly like raw egg!
    --not the red flowers DB showns in above magazine.
    It never did set a seed pod for me; (does it need S-E-X?) however it was an attctive glossy-green-leaved, small, slow, groing shrub
     
  10. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Sadly no seed set on Cams Cinnamon , maybe it is still to young . He was away for a few weeks and I did not want to bother his partner to check up on the seeds . I was at Limberlost last week and they had no Clove trees , Adam who was the resident fruit expert there had left to work full time up on the tablelands . I will ask around for info on who has more mature trees .
     
  11. raincrow

    raincrow Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    Would you kindly elaborate on the size of rock and how it is placed? thanks
     
  12. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Re: Any one growing Cloves ?

    aroideana
    If you send me some cuttings of cinnamon I will get it going.
    i would need a lot (20-40) as strike rate its low.
     
  13. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

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    Im interested in growing Star Anise and Cloves and Cinnamon Nutmeg ,Tamarind and Allspice in the community garden.
    I was wondering has anyone had any luck growing Allspice, Nutmeg and Star Anise from dried spices or are they picked to unripe or treated to not grow?
     
  14. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Probably best to contact your botanic garden or dept of agriculture (new crops division?)
    Star anise plants are about if you look hard; i have grown a couple of varieties.
    Tamarind, i am told, grows wild in far NT

    You could give them ago from the spice rack but i think you would be disappointed Most spices have to go though hell to get into Oz.Whole Star anise might be the best to try.
     
  15. aroideana

    aroideana Junior Member

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    Mature clove tree at local farm was destroyed last year by Yasi . Luckily it had set some seeds , and I did source a few from Limberlost .. so a few trees growing around this area now , none spare sorry . Cinnamon survived and is looking very good.
     
  16. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    There is a cinnamon in Sydney botanic gardens; not sure what kind;
    like all Laurels it is a bugger to propagate by cutting
     
  17. Grasshopper

    Grasshopper Senior Member

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    Its good to know it will grow that far south,I was worried it was a little more true tropical.
    I've rung Brisbane and Rockhampton Botanical Gardens no luck so far will keep trying there are nurseries that have it but cash is always the problem with community gardens.

    I watched the documentary on spice on SBS
    the clove tree becomes a monster, buttress roots, 100 plus feet high, that needs to be climbed to collect the flower buds.
    The buds need to be picked before they open so they aren't fertile.
    I would imagine the smell of the tree would be fantastic,with all the spice trees.
     
  18. Jislizard

    Jislizard Junior Member

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    Well I got my clove tree in the end!

    I have had it for about a year and a bit now and it flowered for the first time last month. It is in a pot which should limit the hieght.

    The cloves were microscopic as you would expect on a young plant but I crushed a few anyway and there was a very pungent clove smell so that bodes well for the future. I didn't harvest any of them so it looks like I might get some seeds out of the tree, I will throw them in some dirt and see how lucky I get.

    I also found a cinammon seedling online somewhere so I picked one of those up. It struggled a bit for the first year but now it has really taken off, not enough to take cuttings from though.

    Both trees are doing really well in North North Brisbane.
     
  19. Twiggy -Sacred Earth

    Twiggy -Sacred Earth Junior Member

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    Hello I am seeking to grow most of these species listed in this thread:

    Cinnamon Cinnamomum verum
    CloveSyzygium aromaticum
    NutmegMyristica fragransStar Anise Illicium verum
    SandalwoodSantalum spicatum

    If anyone can please guide me in the right direction for obtaining plants/established cuttings? If failing that even seeds would do.

    I am in Speewah (Kuranda, hills of Cairns FNQ)

    Thank you very much.
     
  20. Jislizard

    Jislizard Junior Member

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    eBay.

    I picked up a cinnamon tree, Clove tree and Sandalwood seeds all off eBay. Actually I think they came from Cairns.

    I have had no luck sourcing Star Anise or Nutmeg at any of the nurseries where I can usually find anything.

    The sandalwood has a very complicated life cycle, I think I have to find a tree for it to form a symbiotic relationship with so that is on the back burner for the moment. The cloves have done vry well well but my greenhouse was blown over last night and all my seeds are now somewhere in a big pile of dirt, none had germinated so I might get something from the mess. The cinammon hasn't flowered yet and it is three years old. It is coming up to the time to start cutting it back so I will probably try to air layer some of the branches before I prune it.
     

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