Before there's a shell, before there's a kernel, there's a flower and right now, that's exactly what's happening in the Bundaberg orchards.
Spring is one of our favourite times of year in the Bundaberg macadamia orchards. The trees come alive with long strands of delicate flowers, the smell fills the orchard and there’s a constant buzz of bees moving amongst the trees.
Our Agronomist, Chris Searle, recently took us into the orchard for a closer look at the very beginning of the next macadamia crop.
It all starts with the raceme
Those long strands of flowers hanging from the trees are called racemes.
A single raceme can contain 100 or more individual flowers, and a mature macadamia tree can produce thousands of racemes during flowering. But only a small percentage of those flowers will eventually develop into mature macadamia nuts.
It's one of the things that makes this stage of the growing season so interesting. When you look at a tree covered in flowers, you're looking at the very beginning of what could become next season's crop.
A busy time in the orchard
Flowering generally takes place through early spring, with Bundaberg often beginning to bloom from late August. The weather during this period matters too. Sunshine, suitable temperatures and favourable conditions all play their part.
And then there are the bees.
Once the flowers are ready for pollination, the orchard becomes incredibly busy as bees and other insects move from flower to flower.
It's easy to forget all this when you're cracking open a bag of macadamias on the couch. But every nut in that packet started right here, as one flower among thousands, that made it.
