Tips on Growing Ice Cream Bean Trees

The ice cream bean tree is natures cotton candy and is a fast-growing tree offering many uses, including the delicious taste of the exotic fruit.

These fruit trees have edible sweet cotton pulp bean pods, giving it the ice cream name. It tastes like sweet vanilla 🍦 with a cinnamon note and texture like cotton candy.

The tree has many names, and the indigenous people used it for different things. A common way is to enjoy the cottony pulp directly from the pod, but you can use it to sweeten or flavor foods.

Plant Name: Inga edulis

Other Name: Ice cream bean, guama, guaba, cuaniquil, inga trees

Plant Type: Fruit trees

Native Areas: South and Central America

Light Requirement: Full sun to part shade

Watering: Regular watering

Fertilizer: Light potassium when losing leaves

Toxicity: Slightly toxic eaten fresh

Temperature: 69 °F to 82 °F

Propagation: Seed Pod

Growth: 60 feet tall

Soil Type: Sandy and loamy, well-drained soil

USDA Hardiness Zones: 9-12

More About Inga Edulis Ice Cream Beans

The exotic tree from South America has many names and is widespread. You can find hundreds of species in the genus, and 50 produce edible fruit that are different in shape and size.

Compared to other legumes, the tropical tree has long pods with a cylindrical shape to enjoy as edible fruits.

The ice cream bean tree is a fast-growing specimen, but it does develop the cream bean on older wood, and after cutting, it grows back fast. At times it regrows to form a stump with new shoots.

Een livestock enjoys the cream bean of the genus Inga while the branches make nutrient-rich mulch, and the bark is used medicinally. The fast-growing tree makes for excellent shade trees as the canopy creates dense shade.

Furthermore, compared to other legumes, the cream bean tree fixes nitrogen in the soil and helps with erosion control. Thus they work well growing with other food crops, and the funny thing is that some people call it the monkey tail.

The tree can reach 98 feet tall but usually remains around 60 feet.

The leaves are dark green, and they flower in clusters at the end of the branches looking like brush white flower tendrils. The pods can reach up to three feet long curved, or straight. People crack the pods open to enjoy the edible pulp.

Still, the seed is not eaten as it is very bitter.

Ice Cream Bean Tree Varieties

While the Inga edulis is a common species known as the ice cream bean tree, you find other species also spoiling us with their delicious 😋 fruits, as seen here:

Inga feuillei

The edible bean pods are called the pacay in Peru, and they differ in size to shape, but the inside remains the same. Many also refer to it as the vanilla ice cream bean tree.

Inga rhynchocalyx and Inga spectablis are ice cream bean trees with edible fruit. Still, while we are on exotic beans, why not check out the vanilla orchid you can enjoy with your food?

Ice Cream Bean Tree Care

When you grow ice cream bean trees, they develop fast from the seed and can germinate before the pod is picked. Still, the seeds lose their viability within days, and obtaining one outside the native range is not easy.

But if you are lucky, you can get your hands on a seedling to plant in spring or summer when warm. You can plant them outside in winter in growing zones above 50 °F. Also, choose a sunny area with ample space for this tree to grow.

Light and Temperature

The ice cream bean tree needs up to ten hours of full sun daily, so choosing a sunny location is essential. An ideal growing zone is 9-12, with temperatures ranging between 69 °F to 82 °F.

Thus provide your ice cream bean tree with morning sun. A healthy tree in cold regions can survive a light frost, but cold temperatures will kill them. So, need to potted trees will need to be brought indoors.

Still, when ground outside in winter months, you may find some dropped leaves as they are semi-deciduous. Once established is a relatively stable tree.

Water and Humidity

Young plants need regular watering about an inch per week to establish. We recommend watering around the soil line. Once the ice cream bean tree becomes established, you can water less as they are somewhat drought tolerant in a prolonged drought.

Still, they grow their best with moderate watering. Furthermore, they can stand for months in waterlogged soil, followed by months of drought. For a potted tree in winter, you can reduce watering but water frequently in summer.

Soil

The icecream bean tree is a natural nitrogen fertilizer known as a nitrogen fixer in the ground in the legume family. Hence, the trees can grow in poor soil and will increase the nutrient content naturally. The dropped leaves you can use as an organic fertilizer or mulch with other plants.

Still, we recommend avoiding clay soil where possible, and for potted plants, use an organic mix like well-draining soil. The tree prefers a soil pH of 5.0 to 6.5.

Fertilizing Ice Cream Bean Trees

You need not feed the ice cream bean tree, but if you notice leaf loss when not cold, you can add an organic potassium feed like a kelp meal to the soil. We recommend avoiding nitrate forms like when you add nitrogen, as it fixes its own nitrogen.

Pruning Ice Cream Bean Tree

The best time to prune your ice cream bean tree is late winter to early spring. You can do heavy pruning and use the wood for a fire. But the regrowth will take a while, and the beans develop on the old wood to harvest.

Your mature tree will need regular pruning to provide an even canopy structure. Remove branches to provide equal spaces on all sides, allowing air circulation. Remove branches crossing one another in the middle.

The beans develop on branch tips, and you must be careful not to remove them when pruning.

Ice Cream Bean Tree Propagation

The whole pod, if available, can be sprouted, and they are true to the parent to grow exactly as the same tree. Alternatively, you can take cuttings, root them in coarse sand, and water them well until established.

Common Pest and Diseases

While ice cream bean trees develop these delicious seed pods and rectify their own nitrogen, it is a fairly easy tree to care for; it still has issues you may encounter.

Problems Growing Ice Cream Bean Trees

A common problem is providing ice cream beans with year-round sub- and tropical climates. When the tree gets too dry or cold, it struggles to grow and produce fruits. So, you need to provide them with warmth year-round.

You may need to grow container-grown ice cream beans yearly in a larger pot.

Pests

While many insects do not bother these trees, they have a symbiotic relationship with ants and protect the leaves from herbivore damage.

You may get a problem with the fruit fly, and the best practice is to remove fallen pods, especially before they break open, before using something like neem oil.

Another pest is the mealybug you can remove by wiping it off with a damp cloth or a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. Also, ensure enough room by pruning away branches that can attract pests.

Diseases

Some concerns are basal stem rot causing issues in humid climates. Still, these trees are very resistant to most fungal diseases.  

Harvesting and Storing Beans

When the time comes to harvest the beans, it is pretty straightforward.

Harvesting Beans

The best time for harvesting harvest beans is when they are plump and fall to the ground. If you need the ripe fruit, use a picking device or cut the pod stems that cling to the ice cream bean tree.

Storing

You find the cotton candy wrapped inside the hard pod when you harvest them. You can keep them for up to a week in storage. The best is to enjoy it when it is ripe before germinating. Use the pulp to flavor your syrups, or freeze it for longer, but the flavor will be milder.