Cupuassu Theobroma grandiflorum graft compatibility with cacao

[Vernmented]

Has anyone grafted Cupuassu onto Cacao rootstock?

[nelesedulis]

Hi,

Yesterday I talked to a friend of mine who works at CEPLAC, an organ of the government of Brazil dedicated to the cultivation of cocoa, and he told me that it is not appropriate to make cupuaçu grafting in cacao, trees have different growth habits, Graft lives, but with time they die or do not develop.

So the correct thing is to have cupuaçu seedlings to do the grafting.

Has anyone grafted Cupuassu onto Cacao rootstock?

[Vernmented]

Thank you so much for getting back to me. I will have to hunt some fruit pods.

[fruitlovers]

Cacao is asexually propagated from cuttings. I'm guessing the same would be true of cupuasu? But you would need to use rooting hormone and mist house.

[Finca La Isla]

There is a lot of cacao propagated commercially here but I have never seen it done from cuttings.  Mostly it is patch budded but we cleft graft it.  I have airlayered it successfully as well.
Cupuasu can flower in about 3 years grown from seed.
Peter

[fruitlovers]

Here is a video explaining how to clonally propagate cacao by grafting, from  cuttings, and air layering. It is from CATIE in Costa Rica. The video is in english and pretty good quality.
I believe same procedures could be used with cupuasu.
! No longer available

[nelesedulis]

Hi Oscar,

Great video, CEPLAC here in Brazil, also have seedlings cloned by cutting, use this same procedure.
Cocoa there is much study here in Brazil, cupuaçu not yet, usually can use the same techniques for both.

Here is a video explaining how to clonally propagate cacao by grafting, from  cuttings, and air layering. It is from CATIE in Costa Rica. The video is in english and pretty good quality.
I believe same procedures could be used with cupuasu.
! No longer available

[Finca La Isla]

Perhaps the patch budding is used by CATIE and others, pretty much exclusively, because it is so efficient in terms of yield for scion material.  At the EARTH, a CR university, they cleft graft graft cacao and this technique has a very good reputation.  You just don't see layers and cuttings on a nursery level. 
Cacao grafts very easily and I usually start new nursery personnel with it for that reason.
Peter