Chocolate growing

If you love plants you might be asking – can I grow my own chocolate?  The answer is you can probably grow a chocolate (Cacao) tree with a little care, but unless you are living in a tropical growing zone you probably won’t be able to produce anywhere near the amount of cacao seeds it would take to make a single candy bar.

Cacao, or cocoa (Theobroma cacao subsp. cacao and. T. cacao subsp. Sphaerocarpum) is native to Central and northern South America but is now grown in several other countries near the equator. Africa probably grows the  most commercial cocoa now, but even Hawaii produces a small crop.  Please don’t confuse coca from which we get the drug cocaine, with cocoa or cacao.  They are distinctly different plants.

Cacao is farmed, but more than 70% of the commercial crop is still produced by small farmers in a semi-wild state.  It’s a tricky crop to grow because it needs very specific conditions.  It needs warmth and humidity, light shade, especially when young, protection from strong winds, the right soil conditions and to get the flowers fertilized it needs certain small insects to visit the flowers.  Then of course there is a tricky harvest and fermenting process before the beans can be used to make chocolate.

People in southern Florida have grown cacao plants outside in sheltered areas but outside of southern Florida and Hawaii, most American gardeners will need to grow their cocao plants indoors most of the year.  This can be done, but it’s a bit of a challenge.  

Cacao plants can be purchased from several tropical plant suppliers.  Logee’s is one.  (Find a link to Logee’s and other tropical plant sellers on the garden catalog page to the right of the blog.)The plants will be small when you purchase them, but in nature cacao is a small tree about 25 feet high with an extensive taproot.  Trees don’t produce flowers and seed pods until they are several years old and about 4 feet tall.  The cacao plant does make a handsome houseplant but if you want to see flowers and fruit pods you’ll have to let it become a pretty large plant with a deep, large pot.

Cacao description and habits

The cacao plant has glossy oval leaves that can get 4 inches wide by 24 inches long.  New leaves are reddish, and they gradually become bright green.  The leaves are able to move and adjust their angle of attachment to the stem in relation to the amount of sun they are receiving.  This is accomplished by a swollen area at the leaf base called a pulvinus.  It is normal for the plant to shed its lower leaves as it grows.

When cacao gets about 4 feet high, with a stem about 1 ½ inches in diameter and several branches, it may bloom.  Cacao has an unusual bloom habit in that the flowers pop out of a spongy bark layer on the main stem and older branches.  This is called cauliflorous flowering.  The plant usually has numerous flowers and produces them all through the year.  The flowers are small, pink or white, with 5 petals. 

Cacao flowers have both male and female organs but most cacao plants are not self-fertile.  They need the pollen from another plant to fertilize the female stigma.  This complicates growing cacao inside, because generally you will need two plants to get fruit.  There is one variety of cacao that is self-fertile called ‘Amelonado’.  You could ask the company you get your plant from if it is that variety.

Cacao flowers have to be hand fertilized when inside.  Tiny insects fertilize plants outside.  When fertilized the flowers turn into either red or green fleshy pods with grooves in them.  When ripe the pods turn yellow or orange yellow. Inside a ripe pod will be 20-60 pink to red seeds (they turn brown when dried) and a creamy, gelatin like pulp which is sweet and quite edible, although it does not taste like chocolate.

Cacao often produces more pods than the tree can support.  It does some self-thinning by letting certain pods shrivel, turn black and fall off, but farmers often thin the crop so the trees are not stressed.  It’s unlikely a home indoor gardener will have this problem.

Growing cacao

You could start cacao from seed but the seed needs to be planted soon after the pods ripen for good germination.  Its unlikely most gardeners would have access to those seeds.  Nurseries start plants from seeds or cuttings. You’ll probably want to start with a small potted plant. The plant will generally be a single stem for the first 2-3 years and then begin to branch at the top.

While they grow in the shade of larger trees in nature cacao plants grown inside need bright light.  In the winter this could be a south window but by March they should be moved away from the window a foot or so or moved to an east window until November.  You can also use grow lights, about 12 hours of light is good.  If you move the plants outside for summer do not put them in full sun.  You should try to find them a spot under a tree where they get filtered light or on a roofed porch or deck or the north side of a building.

Cacao should be kept above 50 degrees and in a humid environment.  Do not put plants outside for a summer vacation, which they love, until the weather is warm and settled and bring them in early in the fall.  Plants should be kept out of windy areas outside or drafts inside.  Increase humidity indoors to about 60 % or higher if you can.  Misting in the morning helps, humidity trays or a humidifier may be needed.  A warm, humid greenhouse would be ideal, but some of us don’t have that.

When you get your potted cacao tree let it adjust to the environment for a few weeks before transplanting it.  Transplant the tree into a larger pot when it has grown a few inches.  Move the plants up to larger pots every 6 months or so instead of planting a tiny plant in a very large pot.  Be very careful not to break or damage the large main taproot when transplanting.

Cacao needs a loose but well drained soil that is able to maintain a consistent moisture level.  Use a good soilless mixture, not garden soil in the pots.  Many home gardeners use an African Violet potting mix.  Preferred soil pH is slightly acidic, 6.5. 

When your cacao plant is as large as your home can handle stop transplanting it and you can prune some growth off the top to keep the plant from touching the ceiling.

Cacao needs to fertilized for good growth and possible fruit set.  Indoor gardeners can use an African Violet fertilizer or other blooming plant fertilizer that has some magnesium in it.  This can be a granular slow release fertilizer mixed into the soil or one you mix with water.  Dilute the water soluble fertilizer to half the recommended dosage on the label and use it each time you water.

Keep cacao plants moist, but never water logged.  Water until the water runs into the saucer underneath the plant and then dump the saucer.  Every six months leach the soil by sitting the plant in a tub or sink and letting water run slowly on the pot and out the bottom for about an hour.

Inside cacao sometimes gets whitefly or mealy bug like other plants and should be treated for them the same way.  It is normal for cacao to drop its lower leaves and most growers in the home environment will experience the browning of leaf edges during the winter die to low humidity.

If you get flowers, lucky you.  If you want to try for pods you can remove the male anthers from one flower and rub them on the stigma of another flower.  If you have the ‘Amelonado’ variety this could work.  If not you’ll need the anthers from another plants flowers.  If you have a greenhouse or tropical conservatory near you, ask if they have cacao in flower that you could trade anthers with.

If you get pods after that you will probably not have enough seeds to make chocolate with so I won’t cover the harvesting/fermenting process.  However you could taste the sweet pulp inside for a unique experience and maybe use the seeds to start new plants. Never pull off the pods, it damages the flowering area, use a knife and cut them off.

If you like a challenge and houseplants that are different, cacao may be for you.  If you are a person in a tropical planting zone you could contact your local county Extension office for directions on planting cacao in the ground.