I'm starting an Arabica coffee plant with your help today thank you so much for this information, I have blueberries and azaleas and gardenias so knowing how similar they all are is going to make this a lot more relaxing.
The only real difference here is the hardiness. The azalea will grow in your garden from zone 6 and milder the coffee needs zone 10 and higher. Everything else is similar. Aloha, Bill
That's exactly what I am doing now. Wow! I wish I have watched this earlier. I Love their big dark leaves. 🤣🌱 I thought I'm.the only one who likes keeping them as houseplants 😍👍
@@GreenGardenGuy1 I have subscribed to your channel,never been to your neck of the woods,maybe someday.I cut some Forsythia branches today from my winter garden hoping to force some blooms,it works every year! Stay safe and thanks for the info,gonna make a cup of coffee to keep warm.
Thank you! I got a Coffea Arabica plant a couple of months ago, but it came in a cluster of 8 6-8in sprouts. I transplanted them, thinking they were all suppose to stay together, but after watching this I'm pretty sure I need to transplant them into individual pots.
The people that create these little coffee house plants appear to have decided that a cluster of seeds planted in one hole has more consumer appeal than a single seed. I have seen 6 to 8 seeds in a pot before. As a house plant it's not important but if you are cropping the trees one plant per pot is best. Figuring how to prune a clump of coffee for fruiting is difficult. Aloha
We drove thru Captain Cook in Feb. I am almost certain every other house we passed had coffee trees growing...they were also all popping out whitish flowers.
North and south Kona districts are fully planted in coffee. Kona coffee has the big name in the market place and the geographical region where it is legal to call the coffee Kona is only 5 miles wide and 20 miles long. People plant the stuff every where in that region. Kau district is up and coming for coffee and they are beginning to plant that area full too.
Hey Bill today is April 14,2018 in Green Bay Packers country Wisconsin. I would love to raise my own coffee but not here I want to move--we just had a blizzard today. It is freezing!!!! I could save so much money growing my own coffee. But my dream is to Move to a tropical place by a beach Then grow tropical fruit. And coffee
I have several videos that talk about living in Hawaii & tropical climes. If you haven't run across them yet check it out. I was born in the upper Midwest and lived in Wisconsin for 15 years. I loved the place but i know exactly how you feel. The only other thought I had was coffee is a cool upland tropical plant so coffee and beaches don't mix well. A lot of the Kona coffee district is on the slopes of Mauna Loa and despite being on a mountain you can see the beaches from there! Aloha, Bill
Hi Bill! Thanks for the great video. I recently moved my coffee plant indoors (it's gotten too cold for it to do well outside) and it hasn't been doing well. The top layer of leaves are yellowing and becoming brittle while the lower, under layers are doing just fine. Any tips as to what I can do to save this plant? It's next to a very bright window that gets sun about 10 hours a day.
It may seem obvious but prevention is much easier than cure. Don't expose coffee to temperatures of 50 degrees for more than a few hours. It will damage them. Warmth, sunlight and fertilizer are about the only suggestions I have along with the time it takes to shed damaged leaves and grow new ones. The plant will probably wait until spring before it does a lot of growth. Check the soil pH. IT should be between 6 & 5.5. If it is higher than that repot into an acid soil and use acid fertilizer.
I wish I had this information a few years ago. My mother's friend bought me a bunch of coffee seedlings in a pot from a nursery, and I separated thim just fine, and got a few to be about 3' tall, and them they all died!!! i just recently aquired a few new coffee seedling from the same nursery, and now that I know what conditions they like, I hope I have better luck this time around!!!
Mine is small bought it a month ago and although it grows fine, it has some brown dry patches on some of the older leaves. I'm not very concerned because it's growing new fresh leaves but do you have an idea what causes that dryness on some leaves? Very informative and thorough video, thank you!
Patches on the margins or tip are fertilizer or salt build up burns. Large brown panels usually sunburn or drought. Small circular spots can be bacterial or fungal. Hawaii has a coffee rust fungus that makes the leaves die. www.google.com/search?sca_esv=598672006&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS954US954&sxsrf=ACQVn0-kQzPwKy_S71LQLU13minCBac-1A:1705368489738&q=coffee+leaf+diseases&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwip1KrY4OCDAxXtDkQIHQ99DTcQ0pQJegQIDRAB&biw=1536&bih=695&dpr=2.5
I work in a retail garden center in Michigan, and we just got some coffee plants in. They are multi-seeded in 6inch pots. I brought one home (because YEAH!), and now I get to learn about it. Do you have any specific advice about dividing and transplanting? Should I wait until springtime to do this? There are 12 stems in the pot, and each stem is between 5 and 10 inches tall. Thanks for the video!
I generally use a single seed in a pot when growing coffee. Since these folks decided to drop a whole row of coffee seeds into a single container dividing the pot is in order. There is nothing about coffee transplanting that is different from other plants. They are not very sensitive to division. Making sure the soil is moist and trying to shake the soil apart is the best advice I have. The coffee wants an acidic soil. Most potting soil is 6.5. Coffee wants 6 to 5.2 pH. Soils sold for azalea would be the right stuff. Since you are using this as a house plant transplanting now is fine.
Historically all coffee has been grown in tropical areas USDA zones 11 & 12. Usually this takes place in mountain areas where temperatures are cooler but some coffee is produced in hot low land areas. The variety of the tree makes a lot of difference in where it will grow. There are people in California who have been working with some hardier coffee varieties and hybrids and trying to grow the crop in USDA zones 9 & 10. I lived for 25 years in CA zone 9 and was able to fruit coffee with an unheated greenhouse. Out in the yard the stuff would die from cold. Here in HI the best coffee is grown in upland areas where the temperatures range between 50 degrees at night in winter and around 85 for summer highs. The Dwarf Cattura coffee seems to take the sun and the heat better than the Kona Typica or the Jamaican. Jamaican demands shading and suffers in sun.
Yes, I have done coffee cuttings. They work but the seedlings have much better roots and grow stronger. I only do cuttings to prove it can be done. Seed is really easy provided you are willing to wait for the germination. In Hawaii all the coffee farms are seed grown. Heat is a good question. Despite being a tropical plant coffee is a mountain crop and really doesn't like heat. The crummiest coffee on earth comes from the hottest locations and the best comes from cool misty mountain tops. In Hawaii it is possible to grow coffee down to 500 feet but the best is grown over 1500 where temperatures seldom rise above 85. I grew coffee in California and there the trees would survive temperatures above 90. I don't know the upper limit for thermal death but the trees prefer it cooler rather than hotter.
Another great video. hey Bill I have a problem with one of my Plum tree I was wondering if I can email you some pictures and if you can give me your opinion on it I put compost around the tree thinking it would help it and then I put compost tea same thing didn't work. I fertilize it and for some reason is not looking healthy at all please help
Sure, I'll have a look at it. Good high resolution images please. Close ups of places you feel show the issue well and otherwise over all tree pictures at close range with enough resolution that I can enlarge spots and look around. Send to greengardenservice@yahoo.com
3:10 I have 4 plants about this size but the trunks are very thin. They are about the diameter of a matchstick and completely woody. Their leaf growth has accelerated rapidly with spring and now I've had to use kebab skewers to stake them as they can't support their own weight. Will the trunks thicken much as they grow with them being so woody?
Coffee seedlings can be a bit willowy but they generally stand up on their own. I must guess that the light they are grown under is too dim. IF grown in strong light they usually stiffen up. Wind also helps toughen stems but if the plants have been grown indoors they won't easily move outside without getting burned. If you put them out for the summer do it gradually. Fertilizers with a high last number, N-P-K, will stiffen plants.
Great video. Question though, I have a young Caturra that I'm growing as a house plant. It has bloomed twice but so far no cherries. Does it need to be hand pollinated or is it still to young?
Good question. I've had potted coffee on the Mainland before and got fruit without hand pollination but my plants were usually where insects might get to them. I suspect coffee will wind pollinate so just shaking the plant when it's in bloom should work. Hand pollinating with a paint brush would also work but I have never needed to do this.
Bill, great video. My coffee tree is 10 years old, about 9 feet tall, very spindly with few branches and leaves. Would you recommend that we cut it down, to let it bush out some? If so, the trunk currently has no branches until you get 2 feet up. Where is it best to cut? And do we put a salve on the cut? I’m a real amateur. But love my tree!
If the tree is inside the house and spindly then I suggest more light and more frequent fertilizing. If it is outdoors then increase the feed. Coffee eats a lot of fertilizer like most agricultural crops. If it isn't fed it will be come thin, ugly and unproductive. Pruning will often cause a plant to fork and send out shoots but if the core issue of poor growth isn't corrected first pruning will only remove stored energy. Give the tree more sun, feed frequent to keep them short for picking.y and after the plants shows new growth then prune if you wish. Coffee responds well to pruning we often "stump" the trees here in Hawaii
GreenGardenGuy1. Yes, the tree is indoors, in western PA. Wish we were in Hawaii! So, I should fertilize with acidic fertilizer every week when watering? And put in s sunnier location, it sounds like. I’ll move to our sun room. Then, after it gets healthier you think it would be a good idea to stump below all branches? Look forward to your final reply. Thank you very much 🌳
Sun will help, here in Hawaii we grow coffee in full tropical sun. The plants will grow in shade but they do not fruit well there. As for fertilizer follow the label! There are no two fertilizers created the same and no two sets of instruction cross apply. If you are using Mir-Acid then I recall a label stating 7 to 14 day intervals. IF you use acid Osmocote I believe the label is every 3 months. In the field coffee is pruned for size control and to renew fruitful wood close to the earth. At home you would prune coffee more like a Christmas tree, for appearance. Trimming branch tips will cause forking and make the plant appear more full. Aloha, Bill
I'd love to buy some of the Kona coffee saplings and the other 3 varieties you mentioned. Do you sell and ship them? If not do you know of a nursery that will? Thanks in advance!!!! ✌🏽
I sell coffee plant locally to walk in customers. I ship coffee to the Mainland in wholesale lots of 100 or more. I sell coffee seeds retail to the general public inside the USA. If any of this works for you contact me at my email greengardenservice@yahoo.com
hmmm - i actually had bought seed and now have 7 plants... my understanding was coffee did well in the shade i remember reading certain plants are used to shade coffee in the field in Ag settings. You had mentioned to give it "a lot of light" Maybe you didnt mean direct sun, just indirect light ?? The reason i picked coffee was because i am space limited i have several fruit trees growing, taking up most of the sunny spots in the yard. i can plant coffee (also going to inter-space them, with Monstera Deliciosa) under the eves and on the North side of the house where it gets almost no direct sun. will that work ?
From your plant choices I figure you must live in nearly tropical conditions like Hawaii. There are a few guys working with out door coffee on part of the California coast though. Anyway, how you grow coffee really depends on your conditions. As a house plant it will not flower unless exposed to bright sunlight. A house is always darker than the environment this is why. Here in Hawaii at elevations from 500 feet up to 4000 feet most coffee is grown in full sun. Now there are a few shade growers here but they do it more for the sales appeal than the reality of the conditions. Shade grown coffee is supposed to be environmentally friendlier. Most of the information you see about shade growing coffee originates with the huge plantains in Brazil and other S American countries where the coffee is grown under low land conditions in climates that are really hot. Hawaii doesn't generally shade coffee because most of the coffee belt here never goes above the upper 80's Under these conditions full sun makes bigger and better crops with no damage to the plants. As I said, they are tough plants and quite flexible. The variety matter though. Cattura is a Brazilian type bred for sun and it thrives in it. Kona is from Guatemala and it is pretty good in full sun. Jamaican blue Mountain refuses to produce in sun here. The only way it will grow is in part shade. How you grow coffee will depend where you live, how hot it gets and what variety you are growing. In Hawaii my Kona and Cattura love the local sunshine but we have considerable daily trade wind clouds, cooling breezes and cool climate at elevation.
I just received two coffee plants, they’re about 6-7 inches each. Now my question, each pot has 4-5 plants with leafs all packed together. The pots are PACKED with roots. Do I separate each plant or leave them all in the same container?
I would separate but if they are tightly rooted it could be a challenge for you and the plants. Other possible choices are to let them grow as a clump or prune off the extras and save the best one. I'd go with the transplanting idea.
I just got a coffea arabica , about the size of the plant you showed being 12 months old. Will this plant specie grow to the same size as the others in its genus( the giant busby trees you showed) . I'm in northeast Ohio so it will stay a house plant, but I do put my sun loving houseplants out in my garden during the summer months , would this be beneficial for the coffe plant too?
Almost all commercial coffee is Coffea arabica. With in the genus there are many size variations. The only way a particular size can be assured is if the tree was purchased by cultivar name rather than genus & species. The Kona coffee I grow is typical of the species in size. The Dwarf Cattura is half that size. House plants can be placed outside in the summer but since they are not used to full sun they must be hardened off slowly to the light or they will burn. Be sure to quarantine and spray your plants before returning them to the house. Pest brought back in on the plants can be very difficult to control indoors.
I just read what you texted someone it was a house plant I moved it outside it has been in the 80s and 90s hear in RI I moved it out of direct sunlight so hopefully slow down the direct sunlight and stop burning the plant. But my question is will it learn to handle the direct light or should I keep it outside but not in direct light. And another question when I bring it back in in the fall I put it in a grow tent with a 600 wat LED grow lamp is this ok.
So you trouble is sun burn. The transition to the full sunlight out doors wasn't done slowly enough. Transition from true sun to artificial light is not an issue because artificial light is almost always weaker than the sun. The plant will be fine. It will grow brand new leaves out in the sun that are naturalized to the condition. Fertilize so the plant can grow new leaves. Aloha
I'd like to answer this but the question is missing something. I assume you want to know what sand or lava do in a soil mix? Both lava and sand are very low cost fillers in potting soil. They add bulk but they don't do much to the media that is beneficial. When i lived in the Midwest I used to use sand while building potting soils. I did this because it didn't hurt the mix and I owned the sand deposit. In Hawaii people add lava cinder to potting mixes because the whole Island is made of the stuff. It makes a miserable potting soil. I dislike it here in HI when I happen to buy plants grown in cinder and I really hated it in the Mainland because you can't judge moisture in the stuff. Fingers and moisture meters don't register in it. Where the plants are grown in HI there is 120" of rain a year so it doesn't matter.
I you live in Hawaii you can just drop by the nursery and one up. I have Dwarf Cattura and Kona. I do ship to 46 state minus CA, AZ, TX & LA. The minimum order is $100 of plants plus tax and shipping.
Aloha Bill! Question kind sir....I'm in Zone 8b, hot as hell Phoenix, AZ suburbs. Now, I'm not a coffee drinker, never could keep the stuff down, but my son in law adores Kona Coffee. I was wondering if those Kona Plants are available to buy from you for shipping here to AZ? Not sure if there is a Hawaiian law that only allows their growing there in your state? He's almost a botanist with his extreme knowledge of gardening and growing crops, although he doesn't currently have one going. Anyhow just was wondering, I'd never seen kona or even any other coffee plants for sale here. Thanks Buddy, great video, as usual! Hang loose man.
I have a nursery full of coffee plants but my intent for them is local sales and Mainland wholesale orders of 100 or more. Sending a single plant is logistically and legally a pain and I try to avoid it. I can ship seed easily though. If he wants a whole bunch of coffee plants I'm interested otherwise I suggest seeds.
Sometimes I am a bit slow on the up take. I just remembered that I recently shipped 100 Kona Coffee trees to Trish at Bouncing Bear Botanicals in Lawrence KS. I am not sure what she is asking for them but they are an internet company all set up for shipping on the Mainland. You might look them up on the web.
We generate a lot of coffee grounds here at the house. 100% of it hits the soil as fertilizer. There is no kitchen waste or carbon like paper that doesn't hit the garden. Then we add cover crops, chop and drop crops, chips from pruning and chicken manure. The coffee from starbucks is convenient to use as a mushroom substrate. I grow oyster mushrooms with it right in the starbucks bag.
my coffee plant started turning yellow. i read that i was due to low acidic soil so i added vinegar to it ( i swear i read it somewhere) and it dried out most of the leaves. How can i save it??? I changed the pot and soil right away but is there any fertilizer or extra watering is i should do?
Oh boy. What you actually needed was to use a bit of acid fertilizer as for Azalea or African violet. The nurseries sell special acidic fertilizer and they sell acidic soils. You can also find the stuff on Amazon. Use and acidic soil media feed on regular intervals with an acid fertilizer. Vinegar could acidify but not straight. Straight vinegar is used as an herbicide. It kills plants well. In a flower pot may be a tablespoon in a gallon of water or something like that is right. I am sure some one has a good recipe for this. As for the damaged plant, best of luck. Vinegar is a plant killer. Leach, leach & leach some more. Water is the universal solvent for removing too much of anything. Do not feed until you see new growth. The plant is in trauma, feeding could kill it. Leach and put in acid soil, wait for leaves.
I have a new coffee plant in direct sunlight outside. It was nice and green when I bought it but now the leaves are turning brown quick. Any suggestions?
Only two or three suggestions. 1. The plant was most likely grow in shade so it was sun burned when you placed it in full sun with out hardening it off in filtered light first. Try light shade on the plant. 2. The plant may have dried out burning the leaves, use a water meter directly into the original root ball. 3. Sometimes people over fertilize when transplanting and burn plants. If this is the cause the burn is mostly on the leaf margins and the rest will be very green.
My suggestion on melons is start the seeds 3 to 4 weeks ahead of the last frost. date. If they get pot bound the yield is reduced by a considerable margin. Pumpkins are the same. Plants around 3 weeks old are perfect. Tomatoes are 4 to 6 weeks. Peppers,& Eggplants are the longest at 12 to 16 weeks.
I suspect the grower dropped a bunch of seeds in a single pot to make the plant look full fast. If that is the case then yes, they can be separated. Use the potting soil for African violets or Azaleas. Coffee likes an acid pH.
@@GreenGardenGuy1 Oh! Ok, thank you! They're very small (one is just the round seed leaves and could be pulled right out, although i havent tried with the others), so I suspected that was the case. I know already-brewed coffee grounds aren't acidic, but are grounds (unbrewed or not) a good soil amendment for them? Mostly just our of curiousity I guess, lol
@@Gamerkat10 Don't use coffee grounds in potted plants. They pack and form an mat that is anaerobic and eventually goes to green mold. I have personally killed plants with them.. Save coffee grounds for garden soil in open ground. Use an acid soil media out of the bag. You will be much happier with the results.
I have grown coffee that was stored for 12 month with good results before. It has to have the parchment on though. If the seed is processed for coffee it will probably not grow well if at all. Be patient, they take up to 6 months to germinate.
Brown leaf tips are caused by three possible issues. 1. The plant has run dry and this damaged the foliage. Keep it properly moist and the plant will grow new leaves. 2. leaf tips turn brown from too much fertilizer, Feed less plant food more often. 3. Leaf tips brown from too much salt in the soil. Tap water that is over 6.5 pH usually carries salts that build up in the soil and slowly poison the plant. Transplant to fresh acid potting soil about every two year and when watering run water through the pot so you leach away the salt. Watering that is too light and pots that do no't drain well and can't be leached can cause this. Good luck, Bill
Two more notes. Make sure you do not use water from a water softener. That stuff is almost like sea water for the salt content. When transplanting make sure to use an Azalea mix as soil. It is pH 5.5 and will help out with that water by buffering the alkali materials.
GreenGardenGuy1 great advice I appreciate that. I wish I would of gone that route before. I have a few other coffee plants that I will be doing just what you’re recommending.
It is a pretty tough plant. Get the culture right, give it enough bright light and it will actually produce coffee. I grew the stuff in picture windows and unheated California greenhouses before planting an acre of it here in Hawaii. Aloha
Im growing 1 coffee plant now. I put worm casting, take care very carefully but it is growing bad day by day, leaves are burning and yellow . I dont know what happen? :-(
Declining plants are difficult to diagnose over the web. All I can do is tell you how the plant wants to be cared for. Perhaps in the list you might spot the problem. Coffee is an acid loving plant and requires a soil with a pH of 6.2 down to 5.2. Most commercial potting soils are 6.5 pH. This is too high and the problem can be made worse by high pH tap water. Use a low pH soil designed for Azalea and Camellia. Make sure the container has excellent drainage and leach the pot with water every third time you irrigate. Flushing water through the pot will flush away toxic salt that burns the leaves. Be sure the soil you use has rather coarse particles. Many commercial mixes contain fine black peat and this make mud in the bottom of the pot. Plants rot in the stuff. Plants in containers require frequent feeding. For coffee use an acid fertilizer labeled for Azalea or African violet on the suggested intervals. Aloha, Bill
Coffee is a high elevation tropical plant. It does not tolerate freezing but temperatures into the 50s at night are fine. They use an acid soil with good drainage. Soils sold for Azalea work fine.
Hey Bill, Great video as always. Thanks for all the info. However, I do have a question for you. First off, let me start by saying I live in Tx. USA. Where would I be able to get the Dwarf coffee seed that you mention in this video? Is there anyway you can send me a few seeds? I'm disabled & I'd really appreciate it if you could send me some seeds. I hope all is well in Hawaii. Aloha!!! ~Pete~
Well... we are many months from coffee harvest season here but I wandered through the fields and found enough coffee seed from last years crop air dried on the trees. Contact me at my email greengardenservice@yahoo.com for more information on seeds.
Paul Torres. you gotta remember Hawaiian acres has 0-6 inches of soil on top of lava. It's not Dakine soil like bills got. you have to rip the lava & making holes is no easy task after its been ripped. it ads great cost to your land to make it plantable. I've seen some rip the land, then bring in 12 semi loads of cinder, level & roll cinder flat like a parking lot then bring in a tractor with the drill bit to dig 1000 holes. That is some serious $$ before you can plant trees.. But once done it would be great. The land is beautiful but inexpensive compared to other places for a reason.
You got that right Freebird. I know several people who purchased the lava lands only to find the cost of turning them into useful surfaces was extreme. Guys who manage to grow good crops on the lava land often go to such an extent that it is almost terraforming! Working on A'a lava things are pretty easy but Pahoehoe and Basalt can be very difficult and take huge investments. Location, location, location. The better higher priced land usually always has the the best neighbors. The cheaper the land the more likely that your going to have a Meth addict for an neighbor. Price isn't just about soil and view.
GreenGardenGuy1 Thank you for your reply :) I noticed your coffee tree is very high and big while in my place mostly Arabica tree is not as big as yours, its around 1.5 meter here. But there are also Robusta here, they are big as your Kona Coffee. Thank you, I will Google more about Kona Coffee.
GreenGardenGuy1 Anyway, I also start plant my coffee tree. Arabica Sigararuntang from Java Indonesia. I start to plant in container, my Instagram is edukopi_id.
again bill she's got a pencil out she added it to the list you're really busting my beans for a retired old fart once we get the property there better be some cash left over cuz she's making a beeline for your place of course we'll mail you a list first and I'll try and hold her back thanks Bill say hello to Ellen for us... Paul and Jill
You might consider putting in a couple hundred coffee trees unless you have some good stock picks because Hawaiian coffee, like the pineapples and the honey keep getting more and more expensive all the time.
GreenGardenGuy1 is your buddy Chad's area off of moho area good for coffee and bees I found a few Lots same street four blocks to the West, Jill has been keeping notes about your advice on wind and mosquitoes Etc, we are still waiting for her surgery schedule so it looks like late September October for our month-long search and pick, we have a friend here in Fresno that roasts his own coffee who remade a popcorn popper with a swinging arm and I tell you I always add creamer to Folgers but his the creamer destroys the flavor of the coffees he roast, I can live on coffee Tomatoes corn sweet peppers damn I can't wait. PAUL.. PS if you don't have any bacon seeds I guess I'll have to off a few of those pigs that got your sweet potatoes
Pigs are not something a guy needs to raise here. Just keep you gun clean. I heard the neighbor popping away at one with a 22 magnum the other evening. Four blocks west of Chad is a really crappy road. To each there own. The roads in Hawaiian Acres are private so they never get any repair. One of my criteria was to buy land on a county road so taxes will keep it maintained and we get police patrols. The Moho road is paved county and gets maintained. It has enough lumps in it to launch a car at 30 mph but it is paved. Yes, coffee and bees raise fine in this area. Anywhere between 500 and 2500 feet is good. On the west side one guy is growing coffee at 4000 feet. I find it to be some of the best Kona coffee on the market, Mountain Thunder.
The reason has to be determined first. Did you recently move the plant from a dim light location to a bright light spot? This would be a sun burn and it will pass on it's own once the plant adjusts. Did you recently spray something on the foliage? This could be a chemical burn. Provided the issue wasn't wind drift from herbicide it will pass too. Otherwise brown leaves mean a plant is dying but there are usually many steps before the brown shows like defoliation, and yellowing.
