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To be or not to be... an almond tree
Apr. 9th, 2010 04:23 pmSo in doing some research, it seems like one of the trees in the yard is a bitter almond. This has me thinking about if there is a good reason to save it or not. It has beautiful pink blossoms at the moment, but that is about all the pros I can think of. (Please help me think of any reasons I have overlooked!)
It is also a big tree taking up a lot of space and light in a very small yard that is already very full of trees. Among other things removing this tree means we could definitely have lilac.
Bitter almond has a lot more hydrocyanic acid than sweet almonds, so at least raw they are more dangerous. Just a few can be incredibly dangerous to small ones, which granted we don't have any at the moment. I am not super worried about random people coming in the yard to eat them though. You can use them if they are cooked, which decomposes the HCN, but they are not used to nearly the extent of sweet almonds. Have any of you worked with them?
In the fall the fruits are everywhere, and at least this past (very wet) summer the outsides went moldy right on the tree. This is mostly an issue as there are mold sensitivities in the house. Hard to say if this was a huge health factor, though as the weather in general made for a pretty miserable summer.
It is also a big tree taking up a lot of space and light in a very small yard that is already very full of trees. Among other things removing this tree means we could definitely have lilac.
Bitter almond has a lot more hydrocyanic acid than sweet almonds, so at least raw they are more dangerous. Just a few can be incredibly dangerous to small ones, which granted we don't have any at the moment. I am not super worried about random people coming in the yard to eat them though. You can use them if they are cooked, which decomposes the HCN, but they are not used to nearly the extent of sweet almonds. Have any of you worked with them?
In the fall the fruits are everywhere, and at least this past (very wet) summer the outsides went moldy right on the tree. This is mostly an issue as there are mold sensitivities in the house. Hard to say if this was a huge health factor, though as the weather in general made for a pretty miserable summer.
