Experiences with Malabar Chestnut? (Zone 10)

I came across a description of Malabar Chestnut (Pachira aquatica Bombacaceae) on the California Rare Fruit Growers website. CRFG

Does anyone have any firsthand experience with growing this tree? The information I'm finding online seems to geared towards the extremes--either people who are keeping it in a flower pot on their desk, or people with acres of land in the tree's native region. A lot of the information also seems second hand or from people who have just planted one and have not yet harvested any nuts.

I'm located in Southern California/zone 10 in an urban setting. Specifically I'm hoping to find out if it has invasive roots that could impact the sidewalk or a retaining wall, and if it can do ok with less water. I read mixed things about the water--some people say that it does well in drought situations, others say it needs moist soil all the time. Will it survive in full sun? And do the nuts actually taste good? Any information that you have would be helpful. Thanks!

Lydia, a belated welcome to the forum.

I found this from the University of Arizona:

Characteristics: Pachira aquatica is a broadleaf evergreen with a rounded, spreading canopy that occupies a low or high form (1, 2). In the wild, Malabar chestnuts can grow up to 60 feet tall, but only reach 30 feet in cultivation. Houseplants, however, do not exceed 6-8 feet, especially if grown as a bonsai

https://apps.cals.arizona.edu/arboretum/taxon.aspx?id=1222

There is also a Wikipedia:

is commercially sold under the names Money tree and Money plant. This tree is sometimes sold with a braided trunk and is commonly grown as a houseplant,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachira_aquatica#Culture

This tree is mentioned in this thread:

Karen said, "My smartie pants answer is for "poor conditions", a money tree of course.

https://permies.com/t/71389/seeking-tree-poor-conditions#596743

By bumping your topic I am hoping you will find someone with experience.

The last house we rented in Florida (zone 10a) had a banana tree in the back corner. Right on the other side of the fence from "our" banana was a malabar chestnut in the neighbor's yard. I'm not 100% sure if this was Pachira aquatica or P. glabra, but it was a great nurse plant for the banana, providing shade and some protection from the wind.

That was also a rental property, and I guarantee the renters did not irrigate or otherwise pay any attention to this tree. However, it was less than 10 feet away from a drainage ditch that ran behind the house and would hold water after rain. I imagine the tree probably sent roots down into the ditch to have ready access to water. If I recall correctly, in the native range both of these species are associated with wet areas.

This particular tree received full sun nearly all day long. It did seem to drop most of its leaves in the winter, which is the dry season for us. Not sure if it was lack of water or cooler temps that caused the leaf drop.

Based on how often I'd have to prune away overhanging branches, its growth rate was fairly high. The biggest thing I noticed was how much it struggled with fungal issues on interior leaves because the tree was never pruned to allow proper air flow (this may be less of an issue in your drier California climate).

It would produce fruit periodically that would fall into our yard; inside each fruit are the chestnuts. The fruits are green and football-shaped, rather hard in texture, and about 4 to 5 inches long. The chestnuts are about an inch in size and have a pleasant nutty flavor. Perhaps the ones I've tried were all overripe, but the texture was not enjoyable - almost like chewy cardboard. I wonder if they would be better if harvested straight from the tree?

I tried propagating some from seed with very low success, but I did end up getting one seedling to establish. That was about a year ago; now the seedling is planted out in our food forest (zone 10a) and stands about 14" tall with a thick little trunk. I planted it near a banana tree since they both seem to like a lot of water.

Thank you for all the information. I suspect that you are right, and that the fungal issues would not really be a problem here because there is so much less humidity. The texture does sound like an issue, though. Since I have (relatively) limited space and it might take a long time to get to the fruiting stage, this may not be the experiment for me.

I wonder if there is some kind of traditional processing that is done to the nuts that improves the flavor? It sounds like roasting them improves them nutritionally, but that may be unrelated to the texture. (article on "preprocessing")

Thanks for the link! That's an interesting article; I didn't know the chestnuts might be an option for extracting oil. I'll have to consider that once the seedling grows old enough to start producing.

With limited space, I agree there are probably more fruitful options (pun intended!) to consider for your climate.

We have a Malabar chestnut. I planted it about 10 years ago. It's very close to our lanai, but no root problems. It's quite nice when we sit by the pool when it's flowering. The flowers are striking! Right now there's at least 30 pods on the tree. Each pod containing up to 12 nuts. I try to pick the pods right before they split and the nuts fall. Critters love them! Plus, I've found the germination rate very high. Pain pulling them all out. To pick, I go by when the pods start to get a duller brown rather than the shinier green. I've roasted, eaten them raw, used in stir frys, made salad dressing with them (one of my favs). And it survived hurricane Ian as well as any of our 60 fruit trees! Hardy, beautiful, fruitful. What more can you ask for?