Applying fertilizers

Fertilizers cost a lot of money.

So the grower should use fertilizers only when this will make him earn more money.

36. When you have tended your cocoa trees, when you have hoed the weeds, then you should apply fertilizer.

Spread fertilizer around each cocoa tree, but be careful not to put any on the trunk, the branches or the leaves of the cocoa tree: otherwise the fertilizer will burn the free.

Spread the fertilizer in aring around the trunk at a distance of about 1 metre from it, where most of its small roots are.
Apply fertilizer twice a year: in April and September.

Spread the fertilizer around the tree at a distance of 1 metres

37. It is useless to apply fertilizers In a plantation that Is not well cared for.

A grower who does not prune his cocoa trees and who does not hoe the weeds should not apply any fertilizer.

If the plantation is not cared for properly, fertilizers do nothing except feed the trunks of the cocoa trees, the suckers and the weeds.

The grower loses his money.

38. Different soils have different fertilizer needs.

Ask the extension service how much fertilizer to use.

For example, in Ivory Coast:

· on the more sandy soils, along the coast, use compound fertilizer, which contains nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash: fertilizer formula 13- 10- 15;

· on the more granitic soils of the interior, use another compound fertilizer: formula 12- 15- 18.

The quantities for each tree are as follows:

· during the first two years: in April: 125 grammes; in September: 125 grammes.

· during the third year and from then on: in April: 250 grammes; in September: 250 grammes.