Better Farming Series 22 - Cocoa (FAO - INADES, 1977, 32 p.): Choosing seeds and growing seedlings: Choosing seeds

Better Farming Series 22 - Cocoa (FAO - INADES, 1977, 32 p.)

(introduction...)

Preface

Growing cocoa

Cocoa is grown on trees

What varieties of cocoa can be grown in Africa?

Why cocoa is grown

Choosing seeds and growing seedlings

(introduction...)

Choosing seeds

Sowing seed sin nursery beds or in baskets

Lifting seedlings from nursery beds

Choosing and preparing the plantation site

Choosing the site

Clearing the site

Preparing to plant cocoa trees

Planting cocoa trees in a plantation

Taking care of the plantation

(introduction...)

Weeding and soil cover

Pruning cocoa trees

Applying fertilizers

Protection from insects and diseases

Harvesting the pods

Processing cocoa beans

If you want to have fine cocoa trees which produce a lot of big pods, you must choose carefully the seeds you are going to sow.

6. If you choose your own seeds:

· choose the biggest pods from the trees which bear a lot of fruit.

The good quality of the tree and of the seed enters into the new plant, which will also yield many big pods.

The best seeds for sowing are those from the middle of the pod.

7. Sow the seeds as you remove them from the pod

Never keep the pods more than one week, otherwise the germ may die.

If the germ is dead, the plant will not grow.

8. In some countries cocoa seeds are often sown directly in the plantation, that is, where the trees are to grow.

But this is a bad way of sowing, for many of the plants will not grow, and you cannot choose the best seedlings.

Takes the best beans from the middle of the pod