How to Grow Cocoa / Chocolate

Two Young Cocoa (Chocolate) plants (Theobroma cacao)

Cocoa, the source of chocolate, comes from the tropical rain forest plant Theobroma cacao.

Things You'll Need

• Cacao (cocoa) plant

Instructions

1. Chocolate plants must be kept frost free. They will not handle cold weather at all and may die at temperatures below 50F. To grow cocoa pods, plants need to be kept above 70F and above 60% humidity (70% preferred) they do not like temperatures above 90F. Although older plants can handle sun, they stop producing after about 10 years if grown in the sun. The cocoa plant prefers shade as they would get if in their natural habitat the rain forest near the equator.

2. The cocoa plant makes a great house plant although if you want it to produce pods so you can make chocolate, the humidity must be kept fairly high. You can do this by placing the plant on a tray of pebbles that you add water to. Make sure the cocoa plant is not kept wet - protect it from standing in any water. The cocoa plant does like frequent watering but does not like to stand in water.

3. Cocoa plants like frequent small amounts of fertilizer every 2-3 weeks. A balanced 4-4-4 fertilizer that has magnesium added would be very beneficial for tree growth. Cocoa plants can be maintained at 4-5' in containers. One interesting thing about the plant is because it is a rain forest plant, the leaves turn to get the sunlight they need.

4. To produce the pods in order to make chocolate, the flowers will need to be hand pollinated as soon as they open. The flowers only last a day, so t is important to and pollinate them when you see them. It will take 5-7 months after the pods have formed until they are ripe enough to harvest. You can also clean the seeds and plant them for new plants - the flesh around the seeds can be eaten as fresh fruit.

Tips & Warnings

• Plants can be propagated from seeds, cuttings, or layering

• Keep plants in humid warm areas 25% shade

Resources

• Logee's Tropical Plants