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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Cacao Newbie Usually Has a Green Thumb
« on: September 05, 2020, 01:46:46 PM »
2-3ft tall cacaos arrive perfectly intact, in the mail. but the leaves fall off, within 1-2 days of unpacking them. On my second attempt, now.
Are they drought-deciduous, and do you believe they will come back? I understand that cauliflorous growth may come anywhere out of tender parts of the cacao plant, for so long as it stays green.
We're experiencing high heat, in southern California, right now. My other tender tropicals are mulched, under partial shade, and loving it -- except for these new cacao, right out of the box.
I also have people randomly giving me their failed nursery plants. They are apparently grown in soilless medium on a nutrient drip. I give it compost tea, and they come back from the dead. I bring this up, because some of these leaves on my cacao were larger than the tiny pot, they were shipped in. This round of (now-leafless) cacaos has been placed against a shady wall, in an aerated hydroponic situation, and still comes across as drying.
Are they drought-deciduous, and do you believe they will come back? I understand that cauliflorous growth may come anywhere out of tender parts of the cacao plant, for so long as it stays green.
We're experiencing high heat, in southern California, right now. My other tender tropicals are mulched, under partial shade, and loving it -- except for these new cacao, right out of the box.
I also have people randomly giving me their failed nursery plants. They are apparently grown in soilless medium on a nutrient drip. I give it compost tea, and they come back from the dead. I bring this up, because some of these leaves on my cacao were larger than the tiny pot, they were shipped in. This round of (now-leafless) cacaos has been placed against a shady wall, in an aerated hydroponic situation, and still comes across as drying.