Does anyone have access to theobroma cacao var. criollo there on the islands? I've currently got var. forastero and some of an undetermined parentage - tho the cotyledons were white and may be of mixed criollo or trinitario parentage.

I'm just trying to find confirmed criollo seeds. While I live in TX, I get my coffea arabica parchment/seed from a farm on the Big Island, and all my cacao came from the Big Island - harvested from pods, cleaned and packed in damp peat seems to work great - the seeds usually have rootlets by the time I get them 5 days later, but so far I've had 100% success in sprouting them... My ultimate goal - find seed from a cacao porcelana criollo. Drool.

So far they're growing great. The forasteros I have are into their 4th year and are likely to produce flowers. One produced a few last year. The others still have a few years to go - they're recent seedlings. Has anyone hand pollinated these babies? While other greenhouse specimens here on the mainland have successfully born pods from local pollinators, I'd still like to be certain of pollination. I've read that successfully hand-pollinating cacao can be a bit challenging...

Cheers,

Mike

Living the Islands thru plants... cheaper than airfare. :)