PlantFiles: Monkey Puzzle Tree
Araucaria araucana

Does anybody have any experience planting from seed? I found some under a large old specimen in Hillcrest, San Diego. I think they may have dried out and are not viable. I'd like to hear from anybody who has had experience planting from seed.

well i have one of these trees and i been doing this research stuff and i live back in the country and it drops them pod looking things, and well they weigh over 20 pounds. this thing is crazy. it has to be over a 100years old. the house i live in is my great grand mother's house she built. but it is soooooooo tall. the pods are over 12inchs long. well ok

There are many Monkey Trees in Victoria, BC, Canada - we even have a Monkey Tree Pub!! (where one once grew, and has been now taken down to make more room for pub patrons). Many LARGE ones on residential properties grow in Victoria - they aren't too hard to find as they stick up above our large fir trees.

On a fun note, my boyfriend and I play the "monkey tree" game while driving (although we know where most are in Victoria), but when we see one, we get to 'anti-up' (punch buggy) on eachother with them - the rules are, you can't use the same tree in the same day, and you can't 'anti-up' until you actually see the tree. Its a fun game while driving (especially being the passenger in the vehicle).

Enjoy Monkey Tree Climbing- LOL!!!

From Shine2:
I haven't grown this plant, but just wanted to share with fellow gardeners that there is a beautiful specimen of Araucaria araucana growing at Hoyt Arboretum in Portland, Oregon. During the 1906 Lewis and Clark Exposition people from Chile gave out either seeds or small plants to people from Portland and went home and planted it in there neighborhoods. I am not sure which neighborhoods they are in, but will find out and share the infomation with you. Many people grow Araucaria heterophylla (Norfolk Island Pine) as an indoor plant. It is a favorite Christmas tree in Hawaii.

I'm from Argentina but I live in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, temperature here is quite high to grow this tree, so I’ve always wonder how different it would be from the other native Araucaria that grows in my country and that is also cultivated here where I live as an ornamental tree (A. angustifolia). There are also other types of exotics Araucarias that are cultivated here (A. Bidwillii, A. heterophylla, etc.) but are completely different from A. araucana. There’s no way to confuse them!

Anyway! I’ve always seen this tree by pictures until I’ve made a trip to Patagonia! Oh my Gosh!! They are beautiful!!! Separated or in groups, they are just beautiful!! I had the chance to go to National Parks over there and literally be able to hug araucarias 800 years old!

I’ve brought some seeds with me and I’ve made them germinate. Actually, I had four little trees but they didn’t make it through the summer. Too bad!

Now, I see there’s people that say they grow this tree in Florida.
Gus.

I really love the Monkey Puzzle Tree and bought a 2 foot tree from a mailorder nursery back in February 2005. I planted it in a pot using cacti soil mix as recommended by my local nursery since it has good drainage. I kept the tree in my greenhouse until May 2005 and then put it outside. It grew well until about August 2005 when I noticed the leaves starting to turn brown. It looks like I wont be able to save the tree but I have no idea what I did wrong.

Iwant to purchase another Monkey Puzzle Tree and give it one last shot.

Hans

We bought our home, built 1892. It is located in a fishing village, which now is about 1/10th the activity of the community when it was originally formed. Back in the 1900s, ships used to come into the harbor on the bay here. The original owner of this house would go out to meet the ship captains and invited them to dinner. One of the captains had brought the seeds from monkey puzzle tree in Chile and gifted one to her. She planted it and it has been growing for 90 + years.

It was quite the landmark in the village and was featured in a drawing along with the historic house in Back Roads of Washington. We have few actual photos though, of what it looked like over the years as it was maturing and still holding it's limbs and green color.

While it was spectacular back in its day, when we bought the house it was losing its limbs and looking scraggly. By the next year, it was more brown than green. We had a neighbor brave the nasty, spindly branches and cut them off upwards to open some space and hopefully save the tree. It was planted at an intersection and its huge growth cut off visibility.

I'm not even sure if the tree is still 'alive' now as it is all brown and there are only hints of green at the tip and in some few new side branch shoots. We are loathe to take it down, but I don't know enough about the nature of a mature monkey puzzle tree to know if it is living or dying. I'm concerned that if it is dying, at some point it will topple and that will mean some serious damage. Again, we don't know the nature of aged monkey puzzle trees or their life-span. It's our homeowner dilemna.

See the photo I entered showing the mature 90 + yr old monkey puzzle tree. Photo taken at dusk, so it's dark, doesn't show how brown the limbs are in daylight.

Araucaria araucana is native to Chile and Argentina. This magnificent tree can reach 50 m height and 1000 year old trees have been found in Chile. Their natural habitat is in the mountains (between 600 and 1700 m.a.s.l.), at full sun and specially growing in volcanic, well drained and nutrient rich soil. Their root system goes down very deep.

This tree is 'dioico'; i.e. has female and male flowers on separate trees. Adult trees only grow branches on their very top. They grow slowly during their first years and will produce fruits around their 25th year.

Their popular name is "Pehuén" and it is the sacred tree of the Pehuenches (Pehuén men) that have always lived associated to this tree from which they obtain their food. The seed is edible and used in many ways. It can be eaten cooked the same as chesnuts. Pehuenches make flour to bake their bread, etc.

Arauco is the area of the country where they mainly grow.

To propagate this tree you must be sure you have VERY fresh seeds, because they are viable only 3 to 4 months. They must be cold treated at 4°C, wrapped in humid newspaper and left in the fruit-compartment of the refrigerator for a whole month. Then they must be sowed in individual bags or pots in a mix of equal parts of river sand, acid soil and compost. Be sure the bags/pots have good drainage. Otherwise, the excessive water can cause yellow leaves and roots to rot.

This tree is recommended for parks, plazas, city landscaping and only very large private gardens.

These are rather peculiar trees, or at least they are from my perspective. These trees cannot be grown in any part of Canada except the warm areas of coastal British Columbia, meaning that these trees are very different from the ones I'm used to seeing in Ontario. The large bract-like leaves are certainly a feature unseen on Canadian conifers.

These trees have a very interesting growth pattern that isn't easy to see unless you observe a specimen for a period of time. Instead of producing one whorl of branches a year like other conifers such as spruce and fir, Monkey Puzzles produce an average of only two thirds of a whorl a year. Thus, a tree with 50 whorls is actually 75.

We live in Fresno, CA. we inherited our tree as well. When we first arrived the tree was surrounded by juniper bushes. The tree was small and grew very little. We removed the junipers and the tree doubled in height in little over a year. That was 10 years ago and this year was the first that cones started to hit the ground. The tree is shapely and beautiful. It always draws a comment from visitors. If you plan to plant one, give it plenty of space away from walkways. Buy a good pair of gloves and wear a hat and goggles when pruning. I have had little problem keeping it looking good despite the occasional role of TP in the branches!!

I have had mine in my sunroom ,which has overhead skylights, for about 5 years. It's about 7' tall. I'm in Central Illinois. The decorative pot it's in is sitting in a larger pot without touching the bottom. The bottom always has water standing and the roots have snaked through the original pot and are exposed and touching the water at all times. I'm afraid to transplant now. But lately I've noticed the tips of the branches are dying (only about 1-2") Don't know what I should do now.

We recently purchased a home with a Monkey Puzzle tree in the front yard. It is about 80 feet tall and very beautiful. That was until last week when 8 to 10 pound green cones started falling from the top of the tree. I have put up barrier tape to block part of the driveway. We were told, by the previous owners, that these dropped in the fall every other year, but this seems very early. We really love the tree and it is very unique, but our front yard looks like a scene out of CSI.

My trees are 120 years old - part of a large garden which belonged to a Sanitarium in the 1890's. The dropped limbs and cones are extremely dangerous. Cones the size of basketballs have dropped, weighing 17 pounds! As these cones drop (from the top of the tree) they break the lower branches, badly damaging the shape of the tree. Only the male tree keeps a nice shape, since it doesn't suffer the damage from the cones.
You might like this unique tree, but few gardeners will live long enough to enjoy seeing this tree grow to its full height, or to bear the consequences of the dangerous cones. If you must have one, plant it in a large space - away from pedestrian traffic.

All the araucarias - the Norfolk, Hoop, Bunya, Cook etc- are named after this. It is named for the Araucanos indians in whose territory it grew (hence Araucaria Araucanos). The seeds were eaten by the Spanish in the nearest ports, but the tree had never been seen till explorers went inland. It was one of the most popular 'gardenesque' trees in Victorian gardens, and often grown on estates in avenues. In England it seems to grow quite quickly, and with a more pronounced trunk. It is called a 'monkeypuzzle' because one 19thC observor commented that with such a spiny trunk and leaves 'even a monkey would find it a puzzle to climb'. A quintessential tree for a period garden.

I had purchased a monkey puzzle tree about 6 months ago at a local nursery here in Wisconsin for $25. They didn't know much about the tree so I am trying to find out all that I can. At the moment I have it growing in my apartment in a pot. It is about 4 feet tall and very healthy. I treat it lightly with fertilizer and water regularly. I would say though that it receives full sun. I am a bit confused as to its actual value.. Some sites state that they are quite expensive and rare. I personally love it and it draws a lot of conversation when people come over!

I enjoy seeing the dif types of trees and plants from one climate to another. I moved from the Canadian prairies to the West Coast and this tree is def something we didn't have. I have also discovered it in England growing strangley tall and all trunk. I am now in the Netherlands and am suprised to find them thriving in this wet climate.

The Monkey Puzzle can be grown from seed. Sow in heat, about 70F, in spring. The seeds are very large and can be sown one to a pot. Germination should occur after a month or two. The trouble is that the seedling tends to emerge above ground with their seedcoat attached and this has to be carefully removed. After germination the seedling can have its heat reduced. I obtained my seeds from Chilterns.

The image posted by agardener2 Looks more like A. bidwillii (Bunya-Bunya Pine) to me. The trailing branchlets are definately not a feature of the cool growing A. araucana!

I live in the central valley of California where the summers are extremely hot and have a Monkey Puzzle Tree in my yard which is approximately 70-90 feet tall. While it is a magnificent tree, I find it to be a royal pain in an urban landscape. It is very messy - there is always debris to clean up (you'd better have heavy duty gloves due to the razor sharp edges). I inherited this tree and it is planted close to the street which is frequented by walkers. The seed cones fall only from the top part of the tree every few years and weigh up to 10 pounds. There have been some near misses! Just make sure you have plenty of room if you plant one, and plant it in a spot which won't have a lot of people or property underneath.

As a lover of spiny, weird things, this has always been one of my favorite trees. It is like a tree-cycad... stiff, incredibly sharp, all over- trunk to tips of branches. Alas, though living in So Cal, we are often blessed with great growing seasons and a humongous variety of possibilities, this is one of the few that only grows were it doesn't get too hot. Several attempts at this species have all failed. It can't handle the heat of inland Los Angeles climates. Too bad.

Many comments below (notably the two negative ones) are obviously directed toward the Bunya Bunya, or False Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria bidwillii), also a very tall, massive tree with huge cones (Monkey Puzzle trees have fascinating cones, but they are not unusually large or dangerous) that grows well (and significantly faster than a Monkey Puzzle tree) in warmer climates such as those of inland and southern California. The two species are not that alike however, and those comments below provided by those who obviously do not know the difference, need to be taken with a grain of salt.

this is a very interesting tree. it is often confused with araucaria bidwillii--and the latter is often sold as the former because, i would guess, more people will buy something called "monkey puzzle" than something called "bunya-bunya." of interest, perhaps, is that the other common species of this genus, a. heterophylla, is the norfolk island pine, which looks cute in a pot in a northern office but looks very ugly in a tropical landscape.
the largest true monkey puzzle i've seen is on the capital grounds in sacramento. huge old specimen on the northwest corner of the mall.

This tree always gets a comment. From people asking me where to get one, to my Father calling it Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. We live on Long Island, NY. It is groing very well, We did lose a few bottom branches to this bad winter. Overall very unique plant to Have. WE Love it !!!! Frank & Jackie

I has seen this tree grow for years and it pretty heavy pine cone which is green but very carefully when the heavy pine cone drop to ground then I pick up the pine cone and sure it weight about either 5 or 8 pounds green fresh pine cone then it dried up tan pine cone also it has seeds inside of the leaves. It's take long time to sow the seeds.

I have seen two of these trees in Thomasville, Georgia and one in Pavo, Georgia. The one in PAVO is on the MILAM Nursery Farm on Rt. 122. It is over 150 years old according to Mrs. Milam. It is majestic and worth stopping by to see. They were brought to Georgia via England. The Brits brought it back from Chile and propagated it in England. Mrs. Milam says that the branches that turn up on the end are the ones to use to root new seedlings.