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hoorah, thanks. Next is to remove the winds from the equation and add some rain (even once a week/2 weeks) during the dry season, and we are goldenWow! Sounds like business as usual in latin america. Just out of curiosity, do you know what soil classifications are common in your area?Never checked. I know that our soil is porous red clay or clay sand, it's very unusual and i've never seen soil like this anywhere else. It has all the properties of sand when dry, it breaks into small tiny particles and flows like sand, but when it's wet it becomes totally like clay to a degree you can make dishes out of it. Very porous and light, plants love it. No need to amend as it's very rich in minerals, we just add compost but I don't think even that is needed since the pasture has been amending it with rotting matter, it's also full of worms so no need for vermicompost.
What you are describing sounds like clay loam. It is typically regarded as the most fertile soil world wide. Congrats for finding such a gem.
So this mun kun si was looking pretty awful in the pot to begin with. I was hoping it'd bounce back after going in ground but yesterday it dropped almost all leaves at once but also seems to be trying to FlowerWhen was the last time if was sprayed with micronutrients?Anything I can do to help it?
Thank you. The "no dry season" makes me sad, our dry season is extreme (elevation 1000m and strong winds).could you please describe the exact growing conditions for cacao in your area? amount of water, soil type, shade type that you use? If possible a photo of your soil. I also want to grow cacao very easily
We’re a few miles from coastline 150m above sea level. Soil is acidic, varying levels of clay, nutrient poor. People grow it in full sun to heavy shade and it does well in all though full sun leads to disease, full shade other diseases. Optimal is shade trees every 15x15m with shade managed through pruning. We get 1500-2000mm rain annually without any dry season. We have native ingá here too but people use rubber trees or other natives for shade things like laurel, guanandi, biriba (tropical hardwood, not the anonna), and others. Every Theobroma thrives here though and it’s why Bahia was the worlds top producer before witches broom fungus destroyed the industry (though it’s recovering and thriving now with resistant varieties).
DON'T prune. Fruits develop on old growth, and jabos are slow grower. Only prune dead or sickly stuff when needed.
