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>> Marjory: Hi everybody this is Marjory Wildcraft with Grow Your Own Groceries and today I'm
so excited.
I'm in Phoenix, Arizona with Alex who is the owner of Tropical Mango Exotic and Rare
Fruit tree nursery and what I'm so excited about is what we have here are young baby
chocolate trees.
Now the Latin name for the chocolate tree is Theobroma cacao.
We'll just call them cacao trees.
What I'm so excited about is the possibility of growing these in our backyards in greenhouses
and I'm going to talk today to Alex about what does that look like and how do you take
care of them and how much chocolate are you going to actually get from that.
Alex, these are one year old seedlings, is that right?
>> Alex: Right, I start them in March so they're just under a year.
We start them directly from seeds from homegrown ones right here in Arizona.
>> Marjory: About how old does it take before it starts fruiting?
>> Alex: Typically the plant usually reaches five or six feet in about three years and
that's about the time that it starts.
The tall-tell sign is when it starts growing from a straight and branches at the top at
that point it reaches maturity and then you start pruning off the lower leaves and the
branches and fruits.
>> Marjory: How much space would I need in my backyard greenhouse would I need-how much
floor space and then how much height would I want to get?
>> Alex: At the bottom you're just basically looking for two or three feet.
There's no leaves on the center-the pods are all growing on the trunk and the foliage
is all up on top so as long as you're able to move in around that's about it.
>> Marjory: So like three or four feet in diameter would be plenty?
>> Alex: Yeah, you could probably get two plants in that.
>> Marjory: Really? Then how tall can they go?
>> Alex: Again, it's about five or six feet is the ...
>> Marjory: Minimum?
>> Alex: Yes.
Then beyond that it's up to you whether you want to go that high and you have a big enough
pot that can handle the root structure and the nutrients that are required to produce the pod
>> Marjory: What kind of soil are they going to like-is there any special things with this
or just a good rich fertile soil?
>> Alex: Yes, but in the sense considering they're an acid loving plant so you're looking
for something in the low sixes as far as ph.
They do very well with some kind of azalea mix or treating them like orchids.
They grow in a real loose, very highly rich organic composted soil.
>> Marjory: You're going to need a lot of good fertility with these guys?
Generally they just want to stay nice and moist?
They're not real drought tolerate.
>> Alex: Yes.
They like the water to run off, they're used to a lot of rain, but not puddleing and kind
swamp type conditions. Similar to like rain forest-you know the water usually goes off into the rivers
but everything's wet all the time.
>> Marjory: Am I going to need two?
Like some things-are they self-pollinating?
Most fruit trees do do better with more than one.
Are they self-pollinating?
>> Alex: Yes, they are.
If you're going to grow them indoors and you're lacking insects or any kind of pollinator
you'll have to help that process out.
>> Marjory: With the q-tips and the doing the flowers.
>> Alex: Yes, the flowers are the perfect so all you need to do is move the pollen around.
>> Marjory: To get it to self-pollinate-you can pollinate it for it?
>> Alex: Correct.
They flower throughout the year so it's a continual process.
>> Marjory: You're constantly getting fruit and flowers.
For most people that don't know the fruit is actually not the chocolate part.
The fruit itself is delicious I've had a chance to try it but it's the seeds of the
fruit that you process to make chocolate.
Do you have any idea of how many pounds of seeds we could get out of one tree as a typical
yield?
>> Alex: Out of one tree actually it will be less than a pound.
It's going to take-you'll get anywhere from 30 to 60 seeds per pod and it'll take somewhere
around 500 or so to make a pound of chocolate.
>> Marjory: Wow so it is possible but you have to really be-you have to love it the
way I do in order to grow it to get a lot of chocolate.
>> Alex: Yeah two or three trees would probably in order to get one or two pounds consistently
because it'll take about ten pods in order for you to have enough seeds to work with.
>> Marjory: These are a tropical plant so they're not going to be able to handle a
freeze at all.
Do you know what is the lowest temperature that they're going to be able to withstand
and still be able to fruit?
>> Alex: Ideally it could take probably down into 40s and live.
If you're encouraging fruit you're going to have to maintain at least 60 degrees at
a minimum and very little of that if possible.
>> Marjory: You're going to have to keep a nice warm environment for them?
>> Alex: Yes it will have to be a temperature controlled greenhouse it won't be able to
wait until morning for sun.
>> Marjory: One of the whole things that got me so inspired about this was I was in Washington,
DC at the National Botanical Gardens and they have this gigantic greenhouse and right when
you walk in there's a 25 foot fruiting cacao tree there and I don't believe they were
using grow-lights so it looks like you'll have enough sunlight for them to fruit at
the latitude of Washington, DC which is about Kansas City and Sacramento across the United
States.
Do you know how much further North that would go or is that just something we're going
to have to experiment with?
>> Alex: Yes-if you look at how they grow in nature they're an understory plant where
they're grown commercially for the chocolate.
They're usually shaded with other type trees so they don't get the full brunt of the topical
sun.
Diffuse light is fine.
>> Marjory: They may do well in even further northern climates.
>> Alex: Possibly.
>> Marjory: Possibly.
We'll all have to experiment.
If you know anybody growing one in a northern climate greenhouse by all means get in touch
with me and let me know.
>> Alex: I do have sold some as far to Alaska but I have never been in touch with the owners
to know how it's done.
>> Marjory: Wow. That's pretty amazing.
Well thank you so much for your time Alex we really appreciate it and as we get this
growing we'll stay back in touch with you and let you know how it goes.
If you want to try this experiment in your greenhouse in your backyard Alex has a website
and is available to ship these trees apparently even to Alaska.
Do you want to give them your website?
>> Alex: Yes, the website name is tropicamango.com.
>> Marjory: Thank you again Alex, this is Marjory Wildcraft with Backyard Food Production
and Grow Your Own Groceries and we'll see you on another segment.