Plant Profile: The Mesquite Tree

I love growing plants from seed. It is something I have been doing since I was a kid. I started with wanting to grow trees as an adult because living in the high desert of California with 100 degree weather it seems like we are always seeking shade. If you have shade from a tree you can do yard work or sit outside a little longer. Buying a tree is expensive, so starting from seed is economical. Invest in some potting soil, pots, seeds and time and you will have a tree that everytime you see it you will be so proud of it. Also, so many trees have easy to harvest seed pods that just make it so tempting to try growing them.

In this blog post I am hoping to share some information and history about mesquite trees that you may not have known about and to teach you how to start growing your own drought tolerant trees.

About the Mesquite Tree:

One of the easier trees to start from seed is the mesquite tree. They have easy to harvest seed pods, medium sized seeds to work with and have a very high germination rate. An interesting side note is that the mesquite tree is a member of the legume family native to arid and semiarid areas of North America (California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana and northern Mexico), South America, northern Africa, and eastern Asia. This is a very hardy, drought tolerant tree. Drought tolerance is especially important now in California with all of our worries over water. With mesquite trees you will have a pretty big tree within 3-4 years which is moderately fast growth for a drought tolerant tree. Most water wise plants grow pretty slowly but if you provide them with adequate water in the first few years of their life, you can begin to taper off the amount of water over time. My biggest mesquite tree gets watered once a month (including in the hot, dry summers) and even then I can stretch that out to six weeks or more.

Let’s get started with what types of mesquite trees there are. The North American varieties are Honey, Velvet and Screwbean. The South American varieties are Chilean, Prosopis Juliflora, Creeping Mesquite, White Mesquite and the Black Mesquite.

The North American trees grow in the hardiness zones 6b-9 and can tolerate freezing temperatures, are slower growing, can grow as high as 40 ft or less, prefer and thrive in dry climates and produce edible bean pods for human and livestock consumption.

The South American trees grow in the hardiness zones 8-11, are faster growing to the extent of being invasive in some locations, can grow as high as 52 ft or less (except for the Creeping Mesquite that grows only to 9ft.), they are more of an ornamental tree and some varieties such as the Chilean require regular watering.

I am not absolutely sure what type of North American variety I have but after some research I am pretty sure I have the Velvet.

The South American variety I have been working with is the Chilean. I have noticed that the sprouts from these seeds have grown a lot quicker than the other variety of mesquite that I have worked with. Since the Chilean mesquite grows so quickly they are susceptible to wind damage because their root systems have not had time to fully establish a depth that helps protect them.

Chilean Mesquite in my parents backyard.

Some Interesting Facts and History About the Mesquite Tree:

The mesquite tree has played a part in North American history that I had no idea about and I found all these facts very informative and interesting.

Every part of the tree is useful and has a purpose.

Native Americans have used the clear sap to treat stomach aches and the black sap to treat wounds. They used the roots for firewood and chewed on them to treat toothaches. The leaves were made into tea to stimulate appetite and the bark was used to be weaved into baskets. The bark was also roasted and then stored for food supply. The most important and beneficial purpose of the mesquite was its beans and pods. They were ground into a flour to make cakes or fermented to make a fizzy alcoholic beverage.

Mesquite beans and pods are highly nutritious with around 35% more protein and 25% more fiber than soybeans. These beans and pods are sweet and have a low glycemic index; some scientists are looking into mesquite beans and pods to help regulate blood sugar and combat diabetes.

Mesquite blossoms help bees by providing nectar for them. In return the bees make delicious honey.

In times of drought Mesquite beans became a primary source of food for settlers and cattle. In 1841 during the Texas Santa Fe Expedition, Ken E. Rogers’ journal was quoted as saying, “When our provisions and coffee ran out, the men ate [mesquite beans] in immense quantities, and roasted or boiled them!”

During the Civil War mesquite beans were served as passable coffee.

Many wildlife species including: deer, coyotes, javelina, rodents, rabbits and cattle have been known to feed off the mesquite beans.

Mesquite trees are nitrogen soil fixers and help improve the soil and their wood is used for BBQ’s, smokers and furniture.

Although all these facts are very interesting and informative, do not try to eat any part of the mesquite tree without consulting a physician first.

Do not feed any part of the mesquite tree to your pets or livestock without consulting a veterinarian.

I have been told to be cautious with mesquite beans and pods around horses as they love to eat them and are prone to colic afterwards.

I only wrote about these facts because I found them interesting but not to try them at home.

How to Grow Your Own Drought Tolerant Tree:

The first step to growing your own drought tolerant mesquite tree is to collect some mesquite pods. Hopefully you have some trees already to collect from whether it is from your own tree, a family member’s (I have taken quite a few bean pods from my parents tree’s) or a friends. Harvest time is in the late summer when the beans are dry and begin falling from the trees.

A helpful side note is do not bring the beans into the house and place them on your kitchen counter! They may have bugs inside them that will crawl out of the pod and onto your counter in the night. I may or may not have experienced these disgusting, little, uninvited houseguests first hand. So, keep the seeds you collect preferably outside in a paper envelope…just in case of bugs.

Okay, so now you have collected the dry beans. How the heck do you get them out of the pod? That can be a bit tricky. The tool I use the most is pruning shears.

Notice the ridges in the pod? Those are your seeds.

Step 2: Cut in between the ridges. I like to start in the middle of the pod. I find the best and easiest seeds to work with are in the center.

Step 3: Make another cut a few ridges down.

Step 4: Now cut across the top of the seed pod.

It should look like this. You should be able to see the individual pockets for each seed.

Step 5: Now you can start to pull the pod apart. This can be pretty tough the older and drier the pod is. You may need to make smaller cuts with your pruners. Sometimes I have used needle nose pliers at this point.

If you are at this stage, you are half way there and need to keep pulling apart the pod to get to the seed.

This shows the layers of the pod and seed covering that you will need to get through.

You did it! You have reached the prize of getting your mesquite seed! This one looks healthy and viable.

After you have extracted the bean from the pod you are ready to plant the seed that you just worked so hard to harvest. Planting them is just like you would any other seed. These are nice seeds to work with since they are not itty bitty. Since these are tree seeds I like to start them in a pot no smaller than 3”. They will have a large tap root that you will not want to disturb in the process of potting up.

I use a normal potting mix, not a seed starting mix, to fill the pot. Premoisten the soil and plant the seed approximately 1/4”. Cover the seed with potting soil and moisten again to adhere the seed to the soil. Seeds should begin to emerge within 5-7 days.

Once your tree is roughly 6”-8” tall, pot up to a gallon pot. You will want to continue potting up your tree until you are ready to plant it in the ground. Potting up encourages your tree to grow. I have noticed that if I have a tree that has stopped putting on new growth, it most likely needs a bigger pot or to be planted in the ground. Once you are ready to plant your tree in the ground it will start growing quickly.

I hope you found this blog post interesting, informative and encourages you to try growing your own drought tolerant mesquite tree!