Author Topic: My first chocolate tree  (Read 15181 times)

Soren

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #25 on: April 30, 2012, 01:49:34 AM »
I have been trading seeds with Jim for 7+ years, and he has a lot of rare stuff which is hard to find elsewhere. Even more perishable seeds have arrived in good condition, so I can highly recommend him. I agree with Oscar that transit times can be long, but for me in Uganda that goes for everything coming this way - I have never found cacao to be hard to germinate (on the contrary), but they are are very perishable.
By the way, Jim just told me he has updated the seed website, and this is the new link; http://www.guaycuyacu.net/seed_sell.html
Søren
Kampala, Uganda

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #26 on: April 30, 2012, 05:35:25 AM »
I have been trading seeds with Jim for 7+ years, and he has a lot of rare stuff which is hard to find elsewhere. Even more perishable seeds have arrived in good condition, so I can highly recommend him. I agree with Oscar that transit times can be long, but for me in Uganda that goes for everything coming this way - I have never found cacao to be hard to germinate (on the contrary), but they are are very perishable.
By the way, Jim just told me he has updated the seed website, and this is the new link; http://www.guaycuyacu.net/seed_sell.html

Hi Soren,

Thanks for sharing! It's always great to hear about new seed sources ;)

Tak Søren ;D ;D ;D
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

amrkhalido

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #27 on: April 30, 2012, 10:06:35 AM »
Wow Soren ,, his new website contains lots of new seeds like Achacha ,, thanks for the update ,,

Amr

lkailburn

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #28 on: April 30, 2012, 03:50:19 PM »
Those seedlings look great! I currently have a red pod and yellow pod type growing. They are about 4' tall but currently hating the lack of humidity. Been trying to build a good setup for them

-Luke

fruitlovers

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #29 on: April 30, 2012, 07:08:06 PM »
Those seedlings look great! I currently have a red pod and yellow pod type growing. They are about 4' tall but currently hating the lack of humidity. Been trying to build a good setup for them

-Luke

So easy to set up an overhead micro sprinkler or mister. If you have a timer you can set it to come on for a couple minutes per hour.
Oscar

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #30 on: April 30, 2012, 07:09:26 PM »
I have a quick question. My leaves at the tips are turning brown and these little things sticking off between the leaf and main trunk are turning yellow also. Does anyone have an idea as to why this is doing this??

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #31 on: April 30, 2012, 07:16:12 PM »
Does anyone have an answer for this??Its like 50% humidity during the day and almost 100% during the night. I havent watered the plant since friday. The soil still feels moist to the touch. I did put the tree in miracle gro cactus potting mix (only fast draining soil i could find) and mixed it with sphagnum peat moss








fruitlovers

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #32 on: April 30, 2012, 07:23:44 PM »
I have a quick question. My leaves at the tips are turning brown and these little things sticking off between the leaf and main trunk are turning yellow also. Does anyone have an idea as to why this is doing this??

Are you using chlorinated water? They don't like chlorine, use a chlorine filter. Also you need more than 50% humidity. I recommend minimum 80% humidity, but you can lower humidity at night also to 80%.
Oscar

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #33 on: April 30, 2012, 07:26:07 PM »
actually yes the first time i did use tap water. I didnt have time to let it set out. Its been 4 days since I watered it do you think i should water it?? I checked today's humidity. It didnt get lower than 80% humidity today. so should i let my water sit for a few days or use distilled water?

fruitlovers

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #34 on: April 30, 2012, 07:30:28 PM »
actually yes the first time i did use tap water. I didnt have time to let it set out. Its been 4 days since I watered it do you think i should water it?? I checked today's humidity. It didnt get lower than 80% humidity today. so should i let my water sit for a few days or use distilled water?

Chlorine does evaporate if you let the water sit. But some cities also use chloramine, which will not evaporate. Some cities even add fluoride, which is also injurious to many plants. So first you should find out what is in your city water? You should water cacao every day! Cacao loves lots of water. But soil should have very good drainage, no standing water.
Oscar

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #35 on: April 30, 2012, 07:34:56 PM »
It drains fast but the sphagnum moss retains moisture. Do you think distilled water would work? or natural spring water? 

amrkhalido

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #36 on: April 30, 2012, 07:44:50 PM »
Oscar ,, regarding the water ,, can tap water kill seeds ,, as i never have any sign of germination for cacao or mangosteen or jaboticaba ,, lychee, longan, jackfruit, cashew, grumichama, rolinia, surinam cherry, dragon fruit, starfruit, avocado, sugar apple, everything that i planted have germinated and i am using tap water for everything ,, why these ?
And for cacao i even got whole pods and planted their seeds ,, still with no success ,, and mangosteen seeds from fresh fruit i got from singapore ,, never as well

Please advice as whether not to try again or try with different arrangements ,,

Amr

fruitlovers

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #37 on: April 30, 2012, 08:04:48 PM »
It drains fast but the sphagnum moss retains moisture. Do you think distilled water would work? or natural spring water?

Distilled or spring water should be fine. If you have too much sp. moss the mix could get too acid very fast as sp. moss is very low pH, i think around 4, and cacao likes pH around 6.
Oscar

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #38 on: April 30, 2012, 08:06:39 PM »
It drains fast but the sphagnum moss retains moisture. Do you think distilled water would work? or natural spring water?

Distilled or spring water should be fine. If you have too much sp. moss the mix could get too acid very fast as sp. moss is very low pH, i think around 4, and cacao likes pH around 6.

it was like a half/half mix. I dont want to remove the tree seeming how I just planted it on friday im sure its already stressed enough. Is there a way that I can test the pH of my soil?

fruitlovers

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #39 on: April 30, 2012, 10:59:50 PM »

it was like a half/half mix. I dont want to remove the tree seeming how I just planted it on friday im sure its already stressed enough. Is there a way that I can test the pH of my soil?

Yes with a pH soil meter. I think they cost only a few bucks.
Oscar

lkailburn

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #40 on: April 30, 2012, 11:56:01 PM »
Those seedlings look great! I currently have a red pod and yellow pod type growing. They are about 4' tall but currently hating the lack of humidity. Been trying to build a good setup for them

-Luke

So easy to set up an overhead micro sprinkler or mister. If you have a timer you can set it to come on for a couple minutes per hour.

I've got a little 'green room' set up in the basement with an ultrasonic humidifier on a timer, but the timer only goes down to half hour blocks and man i'm having a heck of a time getting this dialed in right. The humidifier also has a humidity level sensor knob. One teeny tiny turn to the right, and it's on full blast for the entire 30 minutes completely vaporizing the room so much you can't see in front of you! haha. one teeny tiny turn to the left and it seems like it never kicks on at all :-(. Just gotta get it dialed in. I might try looking for a timer that will let me do smaller increments. Full blast might not be so bad if i could set it to run for only 5 minutes at a time, once or twice an hour instead of a whole 30 minutes.

Thanks!

-Luke

EDIT: Also, OP didn't mean to side track your thread. Though your leaf edging does look significantly similar to mine when it's unhappy with humidity levels.

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #41 on: May 01, 2012, 06:50:12 PM »
I dont think my tree is doing so well. I dont know whats going wrong. My top leaves, the really small ones are dried up and falling off. Three days ago they were nice and red but now they are falling off :( anyone have any ideas?




lkailburn

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #42 on: May 02, 2012, 10:48:56 PM »
How are your seedlings doing? The young growth may just have shocked from change in climate when you brought it home. are you able to keep the humidity a little higher?

-Luke

CacaoGuy

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Re: My first chocolate tree
« Reply #43 on: May 03, 2012, 10:27:28 PM »
How are your seedlings doing? The young growth may just have shocked from change in climate when you brought it home. are you able to keep the humidity a little higher?

-Luke

It seems to be doing fine now. I finally got my cacao pods today. i cut them open and got those seeds planted.