Every Culpan macadamia tree begins its life in the nursery. It is the longest and most delicate stage of cultivation: here a selected seed becomes, with patience, a strong plant ready to face the field. While coffee spends only one year in this phase, macadamia demands twice the time, because its nature is slow and its root needs to mature at its own pace. Every plant that leaves the nursery carries two years of observation, careful watering and human attention behind it, and it is that early investment that defines the quality of an entire productive life.

A white coffee flower with raindrops at Culpan

We start with the best seed

The quality of a plantation is decided long before planting. That is why our qualified workers hand-select the best macadamia seeds, those that come from the healthiest and most productive trees on the farm. We choose nuts with a thick shell, uniform weight and healthy appearance, and discard any that show damage, stains or irregular size. This initial filter, simple in appearance, is one of the most important steps of the entire cycle.

That carefully chosen seed will be the plant of our future. By starting from reliable source material, we ensure that every new tree inherits the qualities we look for: vigour, good adaptation to volcanic soil, resistance to the humid climate of the area and a nut of consistent quality. The seeds are placed in germination beds with loose substrate and kept under controlled shade until the first roots emerge, at which point they move to individual bags to continue their development.

Two years of patience

Unlike coffee, which spends one year in the nursery, macadamia needs two full years of care before it is ready to be planted. It is a slow-growing tree, and forcing that pace would only weaken the plant. Care in this phase includes a well-drained substrate, partial shade, frequent watering without waterlogging, and close monitoring of each bag to detect pests or stress signs in time.

During those two years, the plants receive shade, watering and constant attention. Their development is monitored, the root is protected, transplants are carried out when needed to prevent the root from coiling inside the bag, and weak or malformed plants are discarded. Only when a young tree has reached between 40 and 60 centimetres in height, a firm stem and a well-formed root system does it move on to the next stage: planting in the field. This filter ensures that only the most robust plants reach the crop's final soil.

In Numbers

The nursery in figures

2 years

Of care in the nursery

By hand

Selection of the best seeds

Follow the cultivation step by step

After the nursery, the tree reaches the field. See how we plant our macadamia.