Carob
Ceratonia siliqua
Built for hot, dry ground — one deep soak a month in summer and nothing at all in winter suits it.
Spacing & sowing
- Plant spacing
- 26 ft 3 in
- In-row spacing
- 26 ft 3 in
- Between rows
- 32 ft 10 in
- Square-foot density
- Not suited to SFG
Growing
- Type
- Fruit · Perennial
- Botanical family
- Mixed / other
- Sunlight
- Full sun, and it takes reflected heat off a wall without complaint.
- Watering
- A single deep soak each month in summer; none through winter.
- Feeding
- A light feed in spring, and none at all once the tree is settled.
- Frost tolerant
- Yes
- Flowering
- September
- Pruning
- Barely any pruning — shape it early, then leave it alone.
Through the year
- Mar–Jun Bud Break
- Jun–Sep Fruiting
- Sep–Sep Harvest
- Sep–Dec Flowering
- Dec–Dec Dormancy
- Jan–Mar Dormancy
Companions
Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme, Cistus
Pests & problems
- Scale insects Scale insects along the branches
- Powdery mildew Powdery mildew when the air stays humid
- Root & crown rot Root rot in waterlogged ground
- Carob moth (Ectomyelois ceratoniae), whose larvae feed inside the pods
Garden allies
Beneficial predators that hunt this plant's pests — grow their favourite flowers nearby to recruit them. companion plant
- Hoverfly SyrphidaeHunts Scale insects
Bee-mimicking flies whose legless larvae graze aphid colonies clean while the adults pollinate. A ribbon of shallow, nectar-rich flowers kept in bloom all season recruits wave after wave of them.
- Ladybird (lady beetle) CoccinellidaeHunts Scale insects
The gardener’s favorite ally: adults and their alligator-shaped larvae each eat thousands of aphids, plus scale, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied sap-suckers. Grow flat, open flowers for the adults and never spray a colony that ladybird larvae are already working.
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's herbarium at cottagegardencompanion.com