Chocolate trees – Update!

I obtained two cocoa seeds recently. They were on the ground, in a seed pod underneath a cocoa tree, already spouting out of their seed cases. I love to grow interesting plants, and couldn’t resist the temptation to rise to the challenge.

The seeds were ‘obtained’ on Saturday 6th Feb 2010, and planted on the Sunday evening. On March 1st, I noticed the first sprout breaking the surface of the soil. The next day another sprout appeared.

I have kept them in a plastic bag on a windowsill overhanging a radiator, and then moved them to a propagator. Here they are at two weeks old (since breaking the soil surface):

14th March 2010

Today they have outgrown the propagator and are now residing in an upturned olive jar. Here they are as of yesterday (3 weeks old):

21 March 2010

The cocoas are now 4 weeks old, and still seem to be thriving. Watching things grow fascinates me every time!

28 March 2010. 4 weeks old.

The cocoa seedlings continue to flourish. What am I doing wrong? They aren’t dead yet!

5 April 2010

They will soon outgrow their upturned olive jar. I have no idea what I can keep them in next.

1 May 2010

3 May 2010

The cocoa trees are now 3 months old, and miraculously, both are still alive and flourishing. They both have a new layer of leaves, and are rapidly outgrowing their latest containers – a storage jar and an olive jar.

Update: Now 5 months old, the younger cocoa tree is flourishing. It lives in  bell jar cloche on a north west facing windowsill.

17 July 2010 - very happy indeed

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