It takes a couple of years... and unlike bananas, Theobroma cacao is SERIOUSLY picky....they like dappled light... and that means that they like dappled light. I have burnt mine to death in early morning sunshine. They like high humidity and lots of water... and they get fairly large.

Hey guys! I just joined this forum. I have a chocolate tree that needs help. It was doing wonderfully for so long (I've had it for more than a year...in san francisco). The leaves are turning brown and I'm not sure what to do. I can't find any pests on it...maybe it has a disease. Has anyone had this trouble with theirs?

browning of the leaves is almost certainly a sign of too much sun light. They are true shade lovers, and need to be kept in the gloomiest part of of the greenhouse, or garden if the climate permits.

They get brown leaves from cool temps, and light breezes too. The mature trees I've seen down here are seriously ugly.

Mine is potted, growing under my Grapefruit tree. It is very pleased with the recent rains-the downward hanging leaves were reaching up today.

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Cacao tree

I planted a Cacao seed a year ago last March and now it is 7 feet tall. It is growing inside and doing very well in Northern Califoria. What do I do now, should I prune the stem to make it branch. I just can't bear to cut it.

My cacao loves the shade of a massive live oak. It is about 3 yrs old and produces a red fruit (most are yellow)which has a nice, rich flavor (fruit not chocolate seeds). This variety is from Puerto Rico.

Hey Pestocat where in Norther Califonia are you? You can root cacao from cuttings. It's a 7 foot tall stem right now? If you could post a pic of the tree I would love to see it. Have you seen the cacao tree in the Concervatory of Flowers in S.F.? Its cool it is flowering right now. Thanks or giving me the curage to try cacao in Nor-Cal.

I have never seen a cacao that wasn't beat-up looking. Theoretically it is possible, maybe in a perfectly climate and light-controlled greenhouse, but in their natural state it is a ratty plant.

We have ours in a nice protected shady location under some other trees (what it likes), and it doesn't get too cold here, and this is how the foliage always looks:
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These are happy plants, producing pods (you can see a couple in the background of the first shot), but they look like hell. I've seen them at botanical gardens-- same thing.

Hi
I have four Cacao plants that I grow in the bathroom, it´s the warmest and most humid room in our house. They are about 1,5 years old and the fruit i took the seeds from is from Trinidad in West Indies. Here is a photo (they have grown pretty much since i took this)

Here is a link that might be useful:

Hi Plummy,
Coco the Cacao tree is inside the house and we live in Palo Alto.

The tree is now about 7 feet tall. Coco has been fascinating to watch grow. It grows in 4 to 6 week cycles. There is a very rapid growth for about 2 weeks and then after the stem has grown about 12 to 20 inches and leaves are about 20 to 25 inches long, the growth stops and then the leaves change from a very pale green to a bright green. The leaves are very delicate when they are in the pale green phase.
pestocat

I live in Sacramento... Mine seems to do so much better in a greenhouse...but mine blew over and I am going to be moving so I haven't built another...:o( It is sad and suffering now...

Hi Plummy,
Here we go again. I think I got picture process this time. Coco the Cacao tree is inside the house and we live in Palo Alto.
Full View of Coco
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Top Crown of Coco...6 weeks growth
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The tree is now about 7 feet tall. Coco has been fascinating to watch grow. It grows in 4 to 6 week cycles. There is a very rapid growth for about 2 weeks and then after the stem has grown about 12 to 20 inches and leaves are about 20 to 25 inches long, the growth stops and then the leaves change from a very pale green to a bright green. The leaves are very delicate when they are in the pale green phase.
pestocat

Pestocat.
Nope still no pic. I lived near Palo Alto but moved north. I think I will try growing cacao now. Thx for the info.

3rd try

Full View of Coco

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Top Crown of Coco
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pestocat

Here lemme try

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1306872}}

Ok, let me try Photobucket to host the pictures. Yahoo worked for a day then it stopped.
Full View of Coco
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Top crown that grew in about 6 weeks time.
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Nice tree!! How old is it? I'm about to order some cacao pods and will grow some seeds. I will also be ordering a cupuasu fruit, its pricy but worth it in my opinion. I just can't wait to try them. hope you get fruit of your tree :)

The young leaves of my plants are red before they turn green. MAybe i have a different kind?

hmmm... I don't think so, Zwiebel, do you have a pic?

The tiny flowers that appear on the trunk.... they need pollination to produce. How do you deal with that? Here in South Florida it's not a problem, although temps dropping below 60 mad them mad. I had to move them to the greenhouse early. They went crazy over the warmth and humidity. Under those conditions they didn't seem to mind the light.

Plummy,
I planted the cacao seed or nut in mid March 2004. I just don't know what to do about trying to stop the verticle growth. I don't want to prune the top, but....
pestocat

I think pruning is the only option, or perhaps just pinch out the growing tip.

Last Sunday I cut the stem (9 feet tall now) and the top 2 leaves. As I've mentioned before, the growth process is fascinating. In the last growth spurt, Coco grew about 15 inches in 2 weeks and produced 21 leaves. The longest leaf is about 25 inches after the growth spurt. The new leaves start out very fragile and are a sort of pink/green color. The leaves droop straight down. Then with time, the leaves get a dark green color and then point down at about 45 degrees. With no more growth, what will happen next. Certainly the trunk will get bigger in diameter. What else can I expect.
pestocat

Mine is growing like crazy now too. I have to cut it back, since it no longer will fit under its mother grapefruit tree.

The huge, pink leaves are beautiful. My tree lifts up its leaves in any kind of rainstorms.

A very interesting plant!

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: New leaves