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Sourcing, Buying, and Growing a Curry Leaf Tree

Glad to hear, DocNrock! :)

Mine has been receiving similar treatment to PepperWhisperer's up until now and has always done great. I will be putting it in the ground where it will receive full sun all day shorty, so fingers-crossed I don't bugger it up!
 
gasificada said:
Glad to hear, DocNrock! :)

Mine has been receiving similar treatment to PepperWhisperer's up until now and has always done great. I will be putting it in the ground where it will receive full sun all day shorty, so fingers-crossed I don't bugger it up!
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Good luck!

Mine handled being potted up just fine. Just this morning got around to snapping a pic:

currytree.jpg
 
Looking good, DocNrock. I reckon it will just about be time it starts forking! (If it hasn't already... I can't see that close).

After leaving mine in full sun for a couple weeks now, it appears it doesn't like full sun. Glad I never got around to finding a sunny spot in the ground for it! Gonna move it back into semi-shade and see what happens.
 
gasificada said:
Looking good, DocNrock. I reckon it will just about be time it starts forking! (If it hasn't already... I can't see that close).

After leaving mine in full sun for a couple weeks now, it appears it doesn't like full sun. Glad I never got around to finding a sunny spot in the ground for it! Gonna move it back into semi-shade and see what happens.
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Thanks. Good eyes...it has not yet forked.

Glad to hear about the sun. Still not sure where its final location will be. Soon after that pic was taken, it was moved to an area of the yard that gets full sun. It was 99F here yesterday and it seems just fine...but that was only one day. One of my small Brain plants, however,...RIP. ;)
 
Bummer about the Brain. :(

Yeah, I'm sure full sun probably isn't bad for 'em. I figure mine is just used to semi-shade (after being in it for 3 years) and I should probably introduce it slowly! Doesn't help either that the sun is so intense here where I am.
 
gasificada said:
Bummer about the Brain. :(

Yeah, I'm sure full sun probably isn't bad for 'em. I figure mine is just used to semi-shade (after being in it for 3 years) and I should probably introduce it slowly! Doesn't help either that the sun is so intense here where I am.
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Ah yes, probably better to harden it off a bit. Is Brisburn different than Brisbane? Tried to Google for your climate but nothing comes up except your THP posts, hahaha!
 
Haha. Brisburn = Brisbane. I thought I was being clever with words when I first wrote it. Bris-burn. I don't think anybody gets it though. :lol:
 
gasificada said:
Haha. Brisburn = Brisbane. I thought I was being clever with words when I first wrote it. Bris-burn. I don't think anybody gets it though. :lol:
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Now I get it. Probably have to be from Oz to get it. Being from the states, I have to ask myself if there is another city! I see you changed it in your location.
 
I'm not sure even the Aussies get it! :rofl: I could imagine it being much more elusive to people overseas though. ;)

I'd actually been meaning to change it for a long time.... I just kept forgetting though!
 
That stem looks pretty thin Doc. Let me take a pic of mine later on today, I just put some more pelleted chicken manure and sugar cane mulch on it today, as we are starting to warm up now and it should start growing again.

Last year it died back to the ground but then sprouted up in Spring. This year it kept some leaves and the stem is quite thick for its size, so it should be right for some good growth this year.
 
I haven't updated this in a while. A couple of weeks after the above photo was taken, we had a run of 105 to 108 degree temps. I had hardened off the tree in the high 90's and it was doing fine in full sun. When it got up to 108, I checked it one day after work. It looked like the majority of the leaves were cooked. I moved it to the patio where it would be shaded the vast majority of the day. It lost almost all of its leaves and branches. It held onto about four leaves that were only partially cooked. I thought it was a gonner.

I had picked up a couple bags of worm castings and 0-5-0 bat guano for my pepper plants. I thought, "what the hell, can't hurt." So I top dressed the soil in the pot with about 5 handfuls of the worm castings and a couple handfuls of the guano and gave it a good watering, letting the nutrients from the top dressing leach down into the soil. About a week later it started to make multiple new shoots. Now it has foliage again. Didn't think to take a picture when it looked like it was dead, since I thought it was dead.

On a different note, I am completely sold on worm castings and bat guano.

Anyway, here it is as of this morning:

curryleaf.jpg
 
Nice! Good to see it making a recovery, Doc! :cool:

I've given mine a feed and put it back in semi-shade. While it seems to be handling the sun much better now that it's had a fair bit of exposure, I don't like the yellow-green-purple colour it seems to turn under the sun. I want green dammit!
 
gasificada said:
Nice! Good to see it making a recovery, Doc! :cool:

I've given mine a feed and put it back in semi-shade. While it seems to be handling the sun much better now that it's had a fair bit of exposure, I don't like the yellow-green-purple colour it seems to turn under the sun. I want green dammit!
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Maybe it just needs a bit slower hardening off? Mine didn't do the yellow-green-purple thing. It went from green to brown...quick. Maybe once it finally gets fully acclimated to your full sun it will green up?
 
In case anyone is looking companionplants.com has curry trees. I've bought a lot of plants from them and they are a quality business, reasonable prices, healthy plants, fast shipping, and huge selection.
 
Hi all,

I thought I would share my experiences with the curry tree and plant :rolleyes:

Here is my curry plant (Helichrysum italicum)
8555274055_7ab67fc667_z.jpg

These are fairly cheap from a nursery but are pretty useless for cooking etc.
They have a great strong aroma of curry powder and make a good pest deterrent/companion plant but thats about it...

Here is my curry tree (Murraya koengii)
8556383674_c90e2d4e65_z.jpg


This is the one used in various dishes from Indian, south east Asian and pacific cuisines.
I bought it from my nursery but they struggle to find them regularly (I'm in a rural area)
Although quite pricey I'm very happy with it and LOVE the plants aroma and awesome flavoured leaves when used in my Indian style curries.
Its the end of summer here and it grew at least 40cm over the last 2 months!!!

Now for the bit that may help some of you...

I decided I would like to have at least two curry trees just in case one dies etc... So instead of buying another I researched propagating them.
Here is my experience...
The curry tree comes out with bunches of small white 4 petal flowers with a pungent aroma that attracts ants almost better that sugar.
After pollination and they die off they begin to form little pods, these are the curry tree seeds!

Here is a pic of my second round of seeds
8555274033_570bd737f5_z.jpg


As the seeds grow to full size berries (around 10mm around) they begin to ripen.
They slowly turn a deep black colour when ripe and become soft.
At this stage the seeds can be harvested and used to propagate more trees.

Pick the black berry when ripe, remove the outer black flesh so you have a large green seed with a white membrane.
Carefully peel off the thin white membrane until you are left with a large green seed.
From here soak it for a couple of hours in water and propagate immediately as per chilli seed germination.
Here is my seedling that germinated from my first round of seeds :P

8555273869_2a1f5c9a83_z.jpg


From my research please be aware of the following...
Try to use the seeds as soon as possible as supposedly the germination rate drops off dramatically as the seeds age.
My seed germinated in around a week with a constant soil temp of 26'c, they are known to take up to a few weeks before signs of life.
The tree is considered a weed in some areas as birds like the black seeds and can spread them far and wide. To avoid curry trees taking over your neighbourhood just cut off the bunches of flowers or seeds before ripe.

Hopefully what I have posted may help at least one of you when trying to find/grow a curry tree.
I make my curries from scratch with chillies I grow and love using those fresh leaves!!

Happy cooking,
Mudsta :dance:
 
Mudsta,

I wish I'd had the benefit of your instructions above when my curry tree produced two (only two) seeds last fall. Not knowing how to grow them, I left the black seeds on the tree until I was sure they were ripe (a couple of months) then tried to start them. According to what you've posted, I waited far too long. Assuming the tree produces seeds this year, I hope to have better luck.

So far, I've propagated the tree from the suckers that come up from the roots. I haven't had any luck with conventional cuttings.

Tom
 
Tom,

I'm glad my post was helpfull, good luck with your seeds in the future. :surprised:

I have only had my original plant a few months so have not seen any suckers yet.
I read that the curry tree can be propagated that way and hope to give it a shot also.

Cheers,

mudsta
 
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