Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Has anybody tried growing these or even Cashew nuts??

Somebody told me the have seen them here, but can't remember where.

not seen either here apart from the ones all ready to eat in the bags

Have seen pistachios growing here, but only the tree as it was wrong time of year for the nuts but they do fruit. In the village of Hisarkoy, which is on the Yilmazkoy to camlibel road, there are a couple of fields full of pistachios. Pistachios can be grafted on to a root stock of the bush known as citlemit or mese, as they are all in the same family.

Lots of things happened, since I posted this question and have only just remembered to look at it again. I have seen some trees growing near Ziamet, but I also have been told about grafting, did not know, what variety tree to use, so this is very useful knowledge. I shall investigate further.
Don't want to grow Cashew now. I read about it and they would not grow here, but it is seriously difficult anyway.

Mese is oak, I know, but the other one?? Can't find a translarion at all. Any help??

Messe is indeed oak but here in cyprus there is another bush which the T. Cypriots call messe.
Messe is a bush found in many areas of the island, If you cross to the South at the Metehan crossing in Nicosia, there are lots of messe bushes growing in the central resevation and they have been trimmed into a pom pom shape.
Citlemit is almost the same to look at as Messe but has very hard chrunchy berries in the autumn which are intially red in colour but they turn a turquois ble when ripe. Both bushes are have very resinous sap which when burnt gives off a smuttie smoke. I believe that Antep fistik can be grafted onto either variety.
I too would like to do some grafts, it is quite easy, if you want small stock for grafting, again these are available at the Forestry commission near to IKEA. I may be able to find you the latin names of both varieties.

I would like the latin names, if anything, just because I'm interested and I will be able to read about the plants. I know the one with the red and then bluey berries.
I'm afraid here in Dipkarpaz Latin is not often on the menu
It can be quite hard to find the name of plants, I bought several plants in Famagusta Pazaar, but the seller was not sure of their names. A challenge for me!! If I get stuck, I will photograph them and post them on this forum.

Hi Dippersgirl
I managed to fing the booklet I needed togive you the latin names of mese and citlemit

mese is called Pistacialentiscus
citlemit is Pistacia atlantica as,
their names suggest they are related to the Pistacio family. You should be able to find pictures on the web.

Hope this helps.

Hope these scans may help - they're from an excellent book called Wild and Planted trees of North Cyprus by Serkan İlseven

Thank you so much for this great information!!! Will keep you posted on the progress!!

Just as a side note - I was told that one of these bushes makes great BBQ fuel - I had a feeling that it is possibly the mastic bush ('cos it burns really well). Do any of you know anything about this?

p.s. I think that I just answered my own question, under the mastic Bush entry (not the mastic Tree) it does say that it is used to make charcoal....

Still, I'd be interested if you know anything about it...

both the mese and citlamit contain sticky resin which helps the wood burn really well. The flames given off have sooty smuts due to the resin.

Do you own the book, Keith?? Looks really interesting. Amazon don't sell it

The author gave a lecture at the local gardening club, and had some copies for sale. It doesn't have an 'ISBN', so it's not going to be stocked by the likes of Amazon!

Try the Publishers - Kozansoy in Gazi Magusa - 0392 366 6777

I think that the chap is a Geography Teacher, and wrote the book because of a lack of teaching materials.

It is so detailed that you feel that he knows every tree and bush in TRNC on a personal basis

There are a couple of people called Serkan ilversen listed in the TRNC on-line telephone directory: -

http://rehber.analiz.net/mrsea/index.jsp

So if you get stuck, you could try them...


SERKAN İLSEVEN,
8154727 (Phone),
Karakum Kyrenia.

SERKAN İLSEVEN,
8213133 (Phone),
July 20 C. Alsancak.

You are obviously a keen gardener!
I was amazed, when he listed all the places were pistachios grow in TRNC. I have seen the one's in Ziyamet, just from the road, we did not have time to stop.
The bushes yesilphil suggests do grow here in abundance and our friend, who is very good with grafting, says he will do it for us. I just would like something more established. I'm worried, I will never see these nuts, if we start with something too small.
7-8 years it said on one internet site!
I'm not that ancient , but all the same. I want to see a good few years of harvest.