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Post by boombonniewhale on Jan 5, 2018 14:47:37 GMT -5
Hello all-
It's 2018 now and haven't noticed any new updates on artificial cacao cultivation. I.E. Greenhouse or indoor. I've decided to put my bean to bar plans on hold since there's some fear mongering in the media about chocolate shortage by 2050. In order to protect any livelihood in this industry I've decided it's best to build a greenhouse and have my own hobby sized cacao garden (its going to take a few years).
I've bought some resource books and have looked up on youtube instagram and googled through every free resource I can find. The thing is I've only come across a very small handful of greenhouses that have sucessfully kept these trees alive as it is a fairly newer concept. I realize that it is the most difficult and finnickey tree out of any. But have there been any success in getting pods under artificial conditions in recent years?
As a follow up question: When I get my climate controlled greenhouse up and running, should I keep them in pots? I understand they have taproots as tall as the trunk of the tree, but in my northern living condition wouldn't the ground be too cold to plant into the ground and shock the tree into death or dormitory?
I am aware this website is more based on bean to bar, which was my initial plan to do first then the greenhouse, but I'd rather have my own instant supply getting up and running at least while I'm honing my bean to bar skill.
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Post by boombonniewhale on Jan 6, 2018 16:25:37 GMT -5
I realize that this is not really the right forum for the answers I need. Thankyou for checking out my question here and if anyone is interested I'll be posting on chocolate life instead
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Post by bmikiten on Jan 12, 2018 19:28:56 GMT -5
Hi!
I'm doing this in Texas in a small greenhouse. I've not gotten pods yet due to the age of the plants and quite honestly, due to the requirements for certain insects that pollenate the flowers, I'm not sure if I'll get any but it is fun. My largest plants are 5' tall and others are 2 and all in pots. I have heaters and even humidifiers running more often that you'd expect in an effort to control conditions and match something more tropical. During the summers when it gets to 100F+, I have to keep them in a ventilated greenhouse to limit drying. Fun? Yes. Effective? No.
Brian
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