Carob tree
Ceratonia siliqua
HighClimax
Production
A drought-proof Mediterranean stalwart that crops sweet, protein-rich pods on almost no water. Slow and long-lived — just remember it needs a male and female to fruit, and it's frost-shy.
Tolerances & traits
- Strata
- High
- Lifecycle
- Climax
- Soil preference
- Rocky, Sandy
- Soil pH range
- 6.2 – 8.5
- Min. temperature
- -4°C
- Min. rainfall
- 350 mm/year
- Wind tolerance
- High
- Frost tolerance
- Low
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Irrigation needed
- Low
How to manage it
Give it space and lift the canopy with light structural pruning to allow understory cropping; deep taproot makes it very drought-hardy once established.
Watch out for
Dioecious - needs both male and female trees (or a grafted perfect-flowered cultivar) to set pods. Despite being a legume it does NOT fix nitrogen (nodulation lost), and young trees are frost-tender below about -4C.
Design your line to see how your land fits Carob tree.
Start designing your line →Related species