A chocolate tree is known as a cacao tree that often grows in tropical weather but if you love gardening you can try growing it in colder climates too. Gardening demands a lot of awareness and care for your plant. Chocolate is the best and most favorite dessert famous globally. Growing cacao indoors could be very fascinating for most of us. A cacao tree is usually grown outdoors to get the maximum productivity out of it but can you grow chocolate in the US? let us tell you a piece of very surprisingly positive news, you can grow your own chocolate tree indoors(even in cold climates). Expect a few fewer pods than that of the outdoor plant but you can grow it.
An outdoor cacao plant can grow up to 2-5 pods per year. This tree blooms in the summer and ripens the pod in winter. Let us know more about how to grow a chocolate plant in this read ahead.
How to Grow Cacao From Seed?
Growing cacao tree from seed is the best way to start your chocolate gardening journey. If you want to grow cacao from seed then you need to understand a few things
- The seed you want to use for growing a tree should be fresh, and intact.
- Only the fresh seeds germinate well.
- Start with opening the cacao pod without cutting the seed inside, even a little bit of cut on the seed can hamper its germination capacity.
- The seeds are covered with sweet white-colored nectar around them. This nectar has to be cleared off first.
- The nectar surrounding the seed is very juicy and good to taste so you can simply put it in your mouth and suck out the nectar and then use these seeds to grow a chocolate tree.
- These seeds can't be dried like other plant seeds.
These cacao beans in your hands are the cocoa solids used for making chocolates. We will use them for planting cocoa.
How to Plant Cacao Seeds?
With everything being done at home you can set up your oven light on and place the seeds in the oven. Once the seed starts to germinate in the warm atmosphere inside the oven you can see that it is germinating.
This germinated seed is now transferred to the soil.
But you can think of buying a seed germination setup to avoid the risk of losing the seed germination probability. Starting from a cacao seed for a chocolate plantation may need a lot of patience. You can also choose to buy a Chocolate Tree Red, Cocoa, Theobroma, Cacao, 2-3 feet tall, Container from a Florida at Everglades Farm.
Also Read: How to Grow Dragon Fruit in Florida?
How to Grow A Cacao Tree?
After the seed germinates and grows in the soil you should know that these little saplings are warmth lovers. They love to grow in warm weather hence you should prepare an environment of 70 degrees to keep them growing. These little saplings grow at room temperature and they grow well.
- Put it under filtered light in indoors probably a south-facing window or a room with ample sun.
- If the plant is already bearing the pods you can take care of it till the pods ripen.
- If the plant is yet to bear pods then you will have to wait for at least 5 years for the first crop.
- Creating favorable conditions for the plant or tree can lead to the blooming of the indoor (inside) cacao plant. This plant will start bearing numerous tiny flowers and just a few of these flowers will produce cacao pods.
- The cacao tree flowers do not grow on the stem but directly on the trunk.
- Expect the fruit to grow very slowly and beautifully. It might take up to 8 months to get the fruit.
- Expect the harvest in the month of February or March.
Also Read: 7 Best Fruit Trees to Grow in Florida
How Long Does It Take To Grow The Cacao Fruit
The technique you have opted for, in the cultivation of the tree can decide the time required for fruit production.
- For the grafted tree it takes 1-2 years to fruit.
- The air-layered and propagated tree also takes 2 years approximately for fruit.
- Propagated trees by seedlings may take up to 7 years for fruiting.
Once they bear fruit when you take proper care of the tree you can savor the fresh homegrown chocolate.
The cacao seeds are dried and roasted to get a crunchy flavor when you eat them. Generally, they are fermented by the chocolate bean producers to remove the white nectar to process the bean further.
Conclusion
Growing your own fruiting plants that you love in your house garden or indoors is often a fascinating fact. Gardening can be more than a hobby for many who love to stay with these plants and take utmost care of the plants. Seeing the plants grow and fruit is one of the biggest happy feelings for any gardener. You can grow almost all the fruits and vegetables if you wish to. Everglades Farm believes in home gardening just like you do. We sell the best plant varieties to you for your gardening. We not only sell the plants but also encourage other methods to home-grow these plants like using seed or propagation methods.
The blog has an entire idea of what chocolate plant cultivation is all about. Understanding the right temperature and the way to take care of can leave you with home-grown delicious chocolate treats. Grow chocolate at home and use the cocoa beans for planting again. Visit our site now for buying the best fruit and vegetable plant now at affordable prices with minimal shipping charges now!
Also Read: Growing Indoor Olive Trees