Trouble with indoor cacao

[lkailburn]

Hello Everyone!
I'm a new member here(see my post in the Introduce yourself section). I have a 4' cacao plant that we bought from a local nursery about 6 months ago. It had been doing alright, but lately seems to be getting worse and worse. The biggest issue we are having is browning of the leaves around the edges, which then will drop. I know cacaos are HIGH moisture lovers, and living here in CO with about 20% humidity we have quite the challenge. We do keep a humidifier directly on/near the cacao that we run during the day time, about 6 out of 7 days(we forget to fill it sometimes lol). It's potted in a mix of Eco organic potting soil, Eco organic compost, a healthy portion of peat, as well as a good amout of perlite. I try to keep it moist, and will water it when it's dry maybe 2" down in the soil. We fertilize it irregularly with citrus food, but probably every other month(according to pacakage, 1 Tablespoon per gallon, we feed it one gallon). It is next to(not in front) of a west window. i know these are an understory, so ti gets indirect light, with only splashes of direct light depending on position of the sun. One thing that has changed, is we used to drag it into the shower for watering and completely soak the soil. But lately we have not done that(it gets heavy! lol. Instead we will just water it by hand where it sits.
Here is a photo of an affected leaf.

Has anyone had similar or seen similar leaf issues? I also notice the color of the leaf yellows significantly when the edges start to brown. The affected leaves were not only from the bottom up. It was kind of sporadic, but within the past week, most leaves were starting to show signs of heading down that path. I would hate to lose this guy. I like to think i'm one of very few who are trying to grow cacao in Colorado :-)


I appreciate your help!

Luke

[FlyingFoxFruits]

I wonder what the PH of your water is?

The cacao normally sheds leaves (from bottom to top), and they turn brown at tips in process.

I think your tree looks fine, as far as moisture goes...matter of fact, you can easily rot the roots of cacao with too much water...

My guess is you need micro nutrition and proper Ph in your container...


These are the two factors that your tree is missing.

Try applying turfpro (and if you can afford also the Turfpro Iron Forumula).  I bet the application of a nice micronutrient will bring this cacao out of its funk...but very slowly...I have a cacao that had similar issues, of nutrient deficiencies and overwatering...it took months to rectify the situation, but now she's happy as a clam, with huge green leaves.

Also...keep an eye on newly forming leaves...if they come out pale, and yellow (almost see through), u have a problem with nutrient deficiency.  If the come out red, like wine...that's a good sign the Fe and other nutrients are making their way into the leaf...and your tree is healthy as far as nutrition goes.

GOOD LUCK, u really are pushing the limits...I'm proud of u.

[CoPlantNut]

I'm going to guess the problem is the 20% humidity in your location.  I've tried growing cacao several times here in Colorado before, and the only way I have been able to prevent the leaves from browning at the edges is to keep them in constant humidity (60% minimum-- in my experience, 40-50% just wasn't enough).

   Kevin

[lkailburn]

Hi Guys, thanks for the suggestions! Kevin i definitely agree the natural humidity (or lack of) here in CO is probably the biggest battle. I did notice a significant improvement in the plant when we set up the humidifier directly on it. We used to have it across the room, but when we moved it right next to the plant, the new growth survived rather then died out.  Kevin do you have a greenhouse that you were growing them in? I would love to hear more about your experience, i don't know any one else who has a cacao plant.
Anikulapo - since owning it, it has flushed out twice now. the first flush dried out(prior to moving the humidifier on the plant) and the second survived but was a pale yellow. I know i have seen photos of cacao in its natural habitat and it's flush color is beautiful, deep and rich. I'll look  into turfpro (i'm not familiar with it at all). And a PH test is easy enough.

BTW here is a picture from 1-2 months ago, just after the new growth reached full leaf size. You can see the humidifier behind it. The plant is sadly worse off now than it was in the photo



-Luke

EDIT: Also, in regards to watering, what schedule does everyone else water at? As i said i let maybe the top 2 inches dry out, but the cacao is in a very deep container, i'm just not familiar with its root structure and root watering needs.

[FlyingFoxFruits]

Put a dry cleaning bag over the plant! like a mini green house!

You'll need to stake it up with four bamboo poles to keep the plastic off of the leaves.

Humidity is your problem...now that I see the leaves.

[lkailburn]

You guys are terrific! Thank you!

-Luke

[nullzero]

Theobroma grandiflorum, did the same thing to me. I had less then optimal humidity conditions. I am thinking of not trying to grow any Theobroma, until I get a nice greenhouse in the future.

[CoPlantNut]

My first cacao was grown in my dorm room at the University of Colorado 19 years ago; it lived and grew a little but always looked bad and was a magnet for spider mites.  I gave up on it when it was a couple feet tall- put it outside to see how it would fare in Colorado weather, and it was toast within hours.

Several years later I grew another couple plants in my first basement plant growing chamber when I could give it 60% humidity; that plant did great until my A/C broke while I was at work one day.  The temperature in my grow-room was over 100 and the humidity below 30%, and the cacao was a limp pile of leaves.  It never recovered from that.

I haven't tried growing cacao since, but there are bearing-age plants at the University of Colorado greenhouses in Boulder.  I think that Theobroma really require constant humidity to be happy.

   Kevin

[fruitlovers]

My first cacao was grown in my dorm room at the University of Colorado 19 years ago; it lived and grew a little but always looked bad and was a magnet for spider mites.  I gave up on it when it was a couple feet tall- put it outside to see how it would fare in Colorado weather, and it was toast within hours.

Several years later I grew another couple plants in my first basement plant growing chamber when I could give it 60% humidity; that plant did great until my A/C broke while I was at work one day.  The temperature in my grow-room was over 100 and the humidity below 30%, and the cacao was a limp pile of leaves.  It never recovered from that.

I haven't tried growing cacao since, but there are bearing-age plants at the University of Colorado greenhouses in Boulder.  I think that Theobroma really require constant humidity to be happy.

   Kevin

Yes the cacao likes constant high humidity. I suggest 80% or higher. They also like partial shade when small, suggest 60% shade cloth.
Oscar

[FloridaGreenMan]

Here's some Cacao grown indoors in a foyer at the Amer Orchid Society building in Delray Bch FLA. They had pretty high humidity year round.

[lkailburn]

Great photos! I've never seen such rounded pods before. Do you remember if it was a special variety?
Ah HA! i see in the first photo they too have the brown leaf edge(top of photo) so i'm not the only one heheh.
I have heard they like 80% humidity. I need to take some measurements but i'm going to see if i can fit the two of them into one of those 5 shelf mini-greenhouses from the big box stores.

Thanks,

-Luke

[fruitlovers]

Almost all the types of cacao here are elongated--football shaped. Round is much rarer here. We get the brown edged tips on leaves here also, but only on older leaves that are old and drying out. If your whole plant has leaves like that there is a problem that is more serious.

[lkailburn]

Indeed Oscar.

Since posting, I moved the two cacaos into our bathroom and moved the humidifier in there. here's what that looks like LOL





I need to figure out what kind of mini greenhouse to build them so they can actually get some filtered sunlight as well and move them back out from the bathroom. I thought maybe i could just buy an extra one of those 5shelf mini-greenhouses sold at bigbox(currently have two that have my tropical seedlings) but the cacaos are too big already. Gonna have to just build something.

-Luke

[sultry_jasmine_nights]

I have 60 cacao (small yellow and medium red types) seedlings now out on the back screened in patio. The seem to be getting kinda tall lately and the leaves paler. I am wondering if they are not getting enough sun? They get some slanted morning sun then shade the rest of the day.

[fruitlovers]

I have 60 cacao (small yellow and medium red types) seedlings now out on the back screened in patio. The seem to be getting kinda tall lately and the leaves paler. I am wondering if they are not getting enough sun? They get some slanted morning sun then shade the rest of the day.

Spindly plants usually means not enough light.

[Guanabanus]

With many types of plants, burnt leaf edges can be from insufficient Potassium, insufficient water, or too much water!  There are other possibilities too.