Third try. This might be my coffee tree. Or it might be an empty space. Oops. Don't know what happened to the middle one.
Coffee in Whitehorse. I love the plant and wonder if you could give some info about how to grow one - from beans or do I need to track down a plant? Understand that they have a lovely perfume and wonder how large they have to be before they flower? I live on the Sunshine Coast and wonder if it would survive outside in the summer? Hope that spring has arrived up there and that you have been able to ride your motor bike by now. Margaret
I bought this one a lot of years ago at a local flower shop. Since its been flowering and making beans I thought I'd have a whack at growing some. Try to get some green beans before your local roaster kills 'em- soak 'em and put 'em in a pot. Or -and this is more fun- find somebody that has a flowering plant, pick a few bright red cherries, bite 'em and enjoy the third world candy. Spit out the skin, get as much of the sweet pulp off as you can, then soak the seed for a few days to get the rest of the pulp off. Rinse in clean water and plant 'em. Carl
Carl, Some questions: How old is the tree? Is this its permanent location? If so, which directions are the windows facing? Is this the same tree that creates a mess when it flowers? Is that a loquat tree hidden behind the cabinet in the first photo? It appears to be doing nicely. What do you have growing in the propagator? Anything interesting? I noticed your tree is actually 2 or 3 trees growing in the same pot. Looks good. Makes me wonder if I should put a few of mine together for a bushier look. Coffee plants are frequently available in 4" pots with each pot containing around 4-7 plants for a very reasonable price. I wouldn't bother with seed unless you want to grow a specific kind of coffee. I wonder if a coffee roaster would be willing to sell or give people a few (unroasted) seeds on request.
Wow, 25 years! A person could get attached to something like that. How would you describe the fragrance of the flowers?
Citrusy. I've never had enough flowers all at once to make a room smell nice, but if you stick your nose close enough its pretty nice. Margaret: I wouldn't say spring is here quite yet, but I did see a crocus trying to poke its head up on the hillside behind us. And the Trumpeter swans are starting to send scouts north looking for open water.
Don't know. Don't even know if it's really a word but the message got across and that's all that counts.
Here are some pics of my 10 year old Kona coffee tree. Never goes outside, and is either fruiting or in blossom year round.
Very nice, jgee. I have some questions for you too: Which direction is the window facing? What humidity levels are typical at this location? Has it ever been pruned? (It doesn't appear so.) Did you purchase the tree as a potted plant or did you raise it from seed? (I'm curious as I've never seen a Kona coffee tree at retail; they're usually either unmarked or labelled as Arabian coffee. Do you have experience growing Arabian coffee? If so, how does it differ from Kona? After 1.5 years my trees are now roughly 10-14" tall with the larger ones having branched out.
Junglekeeper, Window faces South, but the Patio is covered, so the Coffee tree never actually sees any direct sun, but lots of bright light. Humidity is high in the winter as I live across the pond from you in Campbell River, so very similar to yours. Why do you ask? I pinced out the leader at 6 feet about 3 years ago. And this year I started pincing out the tips of the lateral branches to encourage some bushiness. I am a little leary to change anything, because it is doing so well. My tree is 10 years old, and was grown from a seed we found at a plantation on Maui. Kona coffee is actually Arabica Typica, just grown in Hawaii. About 80% of the coffee trees grown in the world are Arabica Typica. BlueMountain coffee, the most expensive coffee in the world, grown in Jamaica, is also Arabica Typica genus. jg.
Thanks for the information, jgee. Since you have successfully grown this tree, knowing the environment and conditions in which it was done would help others in their attempt. I was not familiar with this terminology. This page was useful in providing an explanation.
Re: my coffee tree 2009 OK, bear with me here, its not my computer or my camera. 0506 and 0507 are the parent in its new spot. East facing window and two cfl's to supplement. 0508 are some of the most recent crop of cherries. 0509 and 0510 have just come through the winter in a fairly cold window. 0511 was in the coldest window, and we did get to -50 this winter. Notice the mini leaves on 0509 and 0511. I'm going to leave 0509 alone, and prune 0511 to just above the mini leaves and see what happens. These plants are Hardy! The ones I traded to Midnight Sun Roasters looked more like Junglekeeper's. Now here goes with the attachments... Carl
Thanks for the update, Carl. The mother plant is a little less dense than before but it's not too bad. Will the bare branches leaf out again? I'd be interested in the result of your pruning experiment. Please update this thread when there's something to report. I had forgotten about jgee's tree. My trees look like the top of his/hers. I expect they'll become less dense as older leaves are shed from the branches unless of course they are replaced by new ones.
Hi Junglekeeper, and thank you for restraining your horror. The bare branches aren't very consistent in their growth. Leaf browning seems to go from stem to tip, and while some twigs are absolutely dead, others show new, and durable, growth right at the tip. Foremost on the need to do list is repot. Problem A: it must weigh about 200 lbs including the clay pot. Problem B: the only suitable replacement pot I've run across so far is a less-than-beautiful two bit plastic two footer that retails at Cdn Tire for $70. I'm thinking I'll wait for whiskey barrels at the landscapers', and bring my engine hoist up from the shop. Carl
It might be worthwhile to consider reducing the height of the tree. Perhaps at a future date after you've had a chance to see what happens in your pruning experiment with the small ones. Removing the top may have the benefit of causing the tree to bush out thus solving the bare branch problem. The local Home Depot has some faux pots that are made of some lightweight material, perhaps fiberglass, but look like something else. I've seen some that look like terracotta, and concrete. I believe they're available in small and large sizes as well as in various colors. That would help in reducing the weight. There's always the option to keep the tree in the same size pot by a combination of foliage and root pruning.
Most coffee farmers will not let their plants get too leggy...it makes for difficulties harvesting. One particular coffee plantation I visited in Guatemala in March, the farmer has particular varietals planted in separate fields and areas of the mountain. When one of the varietals gets too leggy (5-7 years), they prune heavily, down to a stump. This allows maximum light to get at all the plants (and a very dead looking section for a year or so). It will be 2-3 years before they harvest fruit from those plants again, however, the increase in density and volume of fruit production makes this practice worthwhile (at least for this grower). I’m not assuming anyone would want to prune their coffee houseplant quite like this, but you’d likely see it return, reborn.
11 degrees last night, mid 20's in the daytime. I moved everything outside. Pruned the heck out of the now raggedy looking parent tree and am hoping for the best. Last year everything flourished out on the deck, so fingers are crossed. All my plants took a beating this winter. I started hauling my own water from a local treatment plant and its very hard. Lots of mineral deposit. They started to recover after I ran their water through a Brita filter. 7059 is the parent plant, 7060 the offspring.
Thanks Revjay and Junglekeeper. I guess I need to be a little more radical with my pruning. I'll let you know how it goes.
Hi Pinenut, what store in town did you get your tree at? Maybe i can get a cutting from you or buy one from you. Your tree is gorgeous.
