Hi. I know nothing about gardening, but have become curious about the
possibility of having a small cocoa tree. Would it be possible to grow
one indoors in the UK? Given the size of the tree at Kew, I imagine it
would have to be a bonsai. If this is feasible, where would I get a tree
or seeds?

Thanks in anticipation,

Ross-c

Ross Clement wrote in news:3e1ae94b@isls-
news.wmin.ac.uk:

Hi. I know nothing about gardening, but have become curious about the
possibility of having a small cocoa tree. Would it be possible to grow
one indoors in the UK? Given the size of the tree at Kew, I imagine it
would have to be a bonsai. If this is feasible, where would I get a tree
or seeds?

I have never tried it, but I understand that the seeds become non-viable
rather quickly, and are always very difficult to germinate.

Checking this vague recollection before posting, I found this site:
http://chocolate.tastyrecipes.info/c...ticle1006.html

and also:

http://www.alohatropicals.com/Fruiti...sandTrees.html - A US site that
sells the plants.

I don't know where you could get one in the UK, but if you are determined,
you might want to try rummaging through the sites listed in the DMOZ UK
Tropicals and Exotics category: http://makeashorterlink.com/?A29423103 and
perhaps phoning some of the nurseries listed to ask if they can suggest a
supplier.

Alternatively, you might want to try something a bit easier: chocolate
cosmos perhaps? It has a dark brown chocolate-scented flower that can be
grown in a pot on a windowsill, and is reasonably widely available on the
web and in garden centres.

Victoria Clare
--
Victoria Clare
gardening high up in South East Cornwall
http://www.clareassoc.co.uk/
--

The cocoa tree - Theobroma cacao, is a moderate sized tropical forest
tree to around 40ft. requiring high temperatures and humidity
throughout the year. Seed has a rather short viability span once
removed from the pod, Furthermore (if my memory serves me correctly),
the seed needs an associated mycorrhizal fungus in order to germinate
properly and would therefore be unlikely to germinate successfully in
normal compost. Outside of its native haunts of Central America, it
is difficult and rather exacting to grow and is almost certainly not
able to withstand the conditions of the average home. Sorry to put a
damper on such aspirations, but this one ain't 'one for the pot'.

Dave Poole
TORQUAY UK

I know it's an old question...but unanswered.

I live in Northern Wisconsin, about 1 hour East of Minneapolis, Minnesota. our winter lows often hit -25F to -40F or lower. About latitude 42N. Summers hit the low hundreds.

Here's my experience with growing Theobroma Cacao from seed.

In Late spring of 2006 I decided to start some cacao seed, since I'd always wanted my own tree and I was recovering from surgery.

After searching the internet I learned a lot about the trees--some of which proved later to be of dubious value.

My trees are now 4.5 years old, and the tallest are now hitting about 6'6." With luck, I may see fruit next spring.

To obtain seeds (I wanted a pod so that I could taste the liquor which surrounds the seeds, something treated as a delicacy but which cannot ship,) I finally found a person in the Dominican Republic who sold me a pod for $15 postpaid.

Data I have says that the seeds die after 10 minutes at 49F or if they dry out.

The trees themselves can withstand slightly lower temperatures, but have no tolerance for drought or for sitting in water.

My pod was about 8" long, yellow and had about 50 seeds. I managed to plant 15 of them and now have 12 trees.

I sprouted them by putting them some on some damp paper towels in a plastic container kept at around 80F. Some just sitting in the open husk of the pod. The pod seemed to work as well as the containers.

I moved them after sprouting to foam coffee cups filled with compost.

Cacao have very long tap roots, so I was searching for a tall narrow tree container, but the furthest I ever got was 2 liter soda bottles, which I filled the bottom with sphagnum, then marble chips, then pure composted manure (data said they like rich soil.)

If they dry out completely, they die. If they dry out partly, they drop leaves.

Mine spent 4 months in 2008 living in a room with one Southern window and one partially blocked West window (Sept-Dec) getting watered when I remembered, and sitting on the floor where the temperature varied from around 7oF down to the lower 40's as well as the reduce light.

I lost 3 of 15 plants to this abuse.

I moved them into a lightbox, a bit over 6' high x 2' x 4' made from a shelving unit and lite with 6 35W florescents.
(Data said they need bright, indirect light.)

The box is lined with a plastic concrete mixing bin (disposable) which is filled 1/2 with gravel, the 2 liter bottles sit nestled into the gravel--except for the cats knocking them over, they seem to do o.k..

The sides, top and bottom of the unit are lined with heat-shrink window film, with a layer of aluminized plastic bubble wrap insulation on the outside.

I try to water them every day, but about every 3-4 days is the most I can do for all of them--some of the better potted ones could go for longer (some drain faster.)

From my experience:

They do need to be kept moist, but not in standing water.
They can survive on far less light than their natural habitat.
They have huge leaves - up to 12" or more by 3-4."
Mine don't seem to branch, though that may be a function of size or age.
Once dry, totally dead. But worth continuing to water if ANY of the leaves are still green when discovered.
I haven't tested the taproot, since I haven't gotten around to re-potting them--nor have they had more fertilizer of any sort since potting 3 years ago.

I have found trees for sale occasionally from Hawaii, I can no longer find the man I purchased the pod from.

I had an inquiry a couple years ago from a man in Italy who wanted a tree, but due to customs and shipping issues, I couldn't find a good way to get it too him in live condition.

Two of my trees are very small, under 20" and were the very last to germinate--I've kept them as candidates for bonsai.

I'd be willing to trade or sell some, so long as we can find a way to ship them and keep them from dying in quarantine.

This winter I plan to move them to a knew home, new pots and less light--since controlling light seems to control size.

None of my local insects seem to care for them.

My research said that they require fertilization by a small moth of some sort? I plan to try hand-pollination should they set flowers.

I would consider it a far better candidate for a houseplant than most suggest, though of course the trees will vary in how they react.

They are relatively insensitive to lighting (both intensity and timing, they should be day-neutral as tropical plants.

My procedure was to baby them as seedlings, trying very hard to maintain 80-90% humidity and 80F+ and while I didn't exactly succeed, the germination rate was good, and the plants survived. (Circumstances prevented me from planting the other 35 seeds.)

The current growing environment is designed to maintain high humidity while permitting drainage. So far, house temperatures down into the upper 40's have not been a problem for the plants within their grow-box.

I expect that with a properly designed pot, and impermeable material covering the base of the tree, that the humidity of the room may not be important. Though it will definitely affect the rate at which the tree uses water--these trees have no water conservation mechanism at all so far as I can find out.

Ideally, I think they need to be grown in an enclosed and controlled climate--at least to ease care-taking.

Truthfully, these have been far easier to grow than the many avocado pits I tried to start over the years--the best way I found to start avocados was to toss them in my compost pile...they won't live through the winter, but they grew better and faster than any I tried to sprout in water.

They are touchy about water though. And once they dry out, they're gone.

I've posted some current pictures.

I'll try and remember to post updates on them later.

Chuck wizodd ATtention google mail