Sleeping near Cacao Trees

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on December 16, 2011 at 10:25pm

how about 1m from a cocoa tree 8-)

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Forbes on December 16, 2011 at 11:00pm

I like that

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Permalink Reply by Ben Rasmussen on December 17, 2011 at 11:45am

I've got a couple potted cacao trees on my kitchen table. I guess I could move them into my bedroom, but I don't think that's what you're going for. :)

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Forbes on December 17, 2011 at 12:48pm

Great idea.  I will try that.

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Permalink Reply by Davy Asnong on December 20, 2011 at 6:39am

Where do you live?

I know you'll need a good climate for producing the pods, but the tree on its own, any chanse it will grow in Belgium? :)

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Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on December 20, 2011 at 1:47pm

Davy:

If you can grow cacao in New York City, you can grow it in Belgium. Indoors, under a daylight grow lamp (12 hours/day, regular cycles). You will probably want to start out on top of a heating mat, too. This will keep the tree warm and if you put a tray on top of the mat and put water in the tray the warmth will help keep the moisture level up, too.

One reason you won't get pods is no pollinating insects, not just climate. I have seen pods on the trees at the NY Botanical gardens - never more than one or two. But they keep the ground under the tree completely clean of leaf litter and don't like many kinds of insect in the greenhouses, so no pollinators.

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Permalink Reply by antonino allegra on December 22, 2011 at 7:40am

Growing a Cocoa tree indoor seems quite a cool thing to do, does any one have any link/direction on "how to grow a cocoa tree at home"? ... Thanks

NIno

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Permalink Reply by Sebastian on December 22, 2011 at 8:00am

grow them all the time here - keep it in a bright (indirect sunlight seems to work the best), very warm (85+ F), very humid place.  Unfortunately, where I live, there's winter, and the only place in the house that meets those requirements is the bathroom usually.  Water every 2-3 days (watering frequency/amount is the trickiest part for me, as it's very easy to overwater).  In the summers, the trees thrive outside, but watch the night time drops in temperature.  Japanese beetles also see cocoa as a special treat.

If you manage to keep it alive for a few years, you can hand pollinate.  The largest one i've managed to eek out has been about 6' tall (and i've got a very, very black thumb..)

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Permalink Reply by Steven L Watson on December 23, 2011 at 9:04am

For the lat several days I have lived among the cacao tress along with the Monos in Ecuadorian Amazon.

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Permalink Reply by Ancel Mitchell on December 26, 2011 at 12:51pm

We live on an old cacao plantation, so pretty much if I'm home then I'm within 100 feet of cacao trees. See the pods from almost every room of the house :) and the squirrels that eat them. And the boas that eat the squirrels.

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