Ceratonia SILIQUA

Ceratonia SILIQUA - Carob Tree, St John's Bread, Ceratonia siliqua, Locust Bean.

Ceratonia is a small genus in the legume family (Fabaceae), comprising two species. The homeland of the plant is the Eastern Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula, where it grows on dry rocky slopes and was brought into cultivation several thousand years ago.

The tree is evergreen, 8-15 m (26-49 ft) in height, with a broad dense canopy and thick leathery pinnate leaves composed of 6-10 rounded glossy leaflets.

The plants are usually dioecious. The flowers are small, apetalous, reddish, gathered in short racemes directly on the trunk and old branches - a phenomenon called cauliflory. The fruit is a flat, slightly curved indehiscent pod 10-25 cm (3.9-9.8 in) long, dark brown when ripe, with succulent sweet pulp and hard glossy seeds.

Carob is one of the most drought-tolerant fruit trees of the Mediterranean: a mature plant goes without watering for months and bears fruit on soils where nothing else grows.

The tree begins bearing fruit at 6-8 years and lives for more than a hundred years. The pod pulp contains up to fifty percent sugars, smells pleasant, and in dried form is processed into carob powder - a natural cocoa substitute containing neither caffeine nor theobromine.

Ceratonia seeds are hard, glossy, with a very dense waterproof coat, retaining viability for many years. Scarification is mandatory before sowing: the seed coat is carefully filed on the side away from the hilum. After that, seeds are soaked for 24-48 hours in warm water or in a solution of growth stimulant: SUPERthrive, HB-101, Aminosol, Epin, or Zircon until noticeable swelling occurs. Stratification is not required.

Swollen seeds are sown into individual deep pots with sterile loose substrate of peat and sand, to a depth of 1.5-2 cm (0.6-0.8 in). Sowing is moistened with a spray mister, covered with a transparent lid or placed in a mini-greenhouse, and germinated at a temperature of 22-28 °C (72-82 °F).

Seedlings appear after 2-4 weeks; unswollen seeds may take longer. Sowings are aired daily and condensation is wiped away. Seedlings are immediately grown in deep containers and transplanted by potting on without disturbing the taproot.

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The plant needs the brightest possible location with direct sun; in summer it is best kept in the open air.

The tree is heat-loving, yet for a subtropical species quite hardy: a mature plant tolerates short-term drops to -8 to -6 °C (18 to 21 °F). In temperate climates, ceratonia is grown in a tub with a bright cool wintering at 8-12 °C (46-54 °F).

Watering is moderate in summer and very infrequent in winter. The plant is extremely drought-tolerant and suffers much more from excess moisture than from drought.

The substrate must be loose, water-permeable, preferably slightly alkaline, with the addition of sand. Lime does not harm ceratonia. Drainage is obligatorily laid at the bottom of the pot, and a deep container is chosen to accommodate the taproot.

Fertilization with balanced fertilizer with reduced nitrogen content is applied once a month from spring to late summer.

The tree tolerates transplanting poorly due to its taproot, so it is potted on with an undisturbed root ball and as infrequently as possible. Formative pruning is carried out in spring.