Probably, every person would like to have an exotic coffee tree as a houseplant . The main obstacle to this is the erroneous opinion that the cultivation and care of it will require very significant efforts and investments, but in fact this statement is not true, because coffee is a plant that is easily grown at home.
Despite the fact that its history began in Africa, they learned to cultivate it almost all over the world, the only exception is the regions with inadequate cold climate for coffee. It will be enough to arrange comprehensive care for him, and in a few years you will be able to please yourself with a drink prepared not only with your own hands, but also from fragrant grains grown at home.
Coffee is a home plant
The coffee tree is a bush with a sevenfold crown and dark green leaves, the glossy coating of which provides the plant a unique shine. The flowers are white, visually similar to jasmine. A coffee plant at home, receiving proper care, can bring an annual crop, the volume of which will be up to 0.5 kg of green beans. When growing, you must be aware that if you expect to get a fragrant drink in the future, you should try to provide the plant with conditions that are ideal for growth and correspond to the hot climate of the tropics.
When choosing seeds that could be used for planting, keep in mind that not all coffee varieties will produce the expected grain growth when grown, and if it is important for you to see the finished result in the form of sprouted sprouts as soon as possible, it is better to give preference to the most popular sort of coffee - arabica. It is this variety that takes the leading places on most coffee plantations and perfectly adapts to growth at home, without requiring special care.
Since the coffee plant - Arabica is the most suitable variety for germination, you should know its most common varieties:
- Abyssinian.
- Mundo-new.
- Bourbon is the most productive variety brought by the French to the island of Reunion.
- Maragogyp - differs from other varieties of arabica by the largest coffee beans, being essentially a coffee mutant. It easily adapts to any type of soil, however, it acquires its taste and aromatic features. This variety cannot be considered popular, as it does not differ in high productivity. That is why its seeds will be very difficult to find for planting.
Breeding
Essentially, coffee is a plant that can only be grown in two ways:
- By sprouting, the shell of the coffee bean is quite hard, and it is often difficult for the sprout to overcome it in order to germinate, especially when it comes to beans purchased in an ordinary store and almost lost their ability to grow. Keep in mind that even a few packs of coffee planted may not give you a single sprout, because even from a hundred seeds that you personally remove from the plant, only a few will sprout in a few months. In order to speed up the process, cut a small area from the shell or purchase a special liquid in a specialized flower shop that will dissolve it for a certain period of time.
- Vegetatively - the easiest way to grow, the only difficulty of which is to purchase the cuttings, planting which, you will see rapid growth within a year. In addition, in the case of a ready-made sprout, you don’t have to worry about creating a beautiful crown, and when growing from grains you will have to work hard on it. Such a process begins to bear fruit in 1-1.5 years, however, it must be borne in mind that in the absence of proper care the plant is more than short-lived.
Coffee is a houseplant, the care of which is not difficult due to its unpretentiousness. Do not count on significant growth in the early years. The maximum that you can count on is an increase in size by 10-20 cm, but this is already a lot. In the future, the plant begins the process of rapid branching. In this case, you do not even need to carry out additional trimming procedures. Keep in mind that it is better not to use the first crop as a drink, but to try to sprout new shoots from it, because, firstly, in this way you will not be overly worried that the only coffee plant may die, and secondly, the crop will so small that it’s only enough for 1-2 cups of drink.
Seed features
When planting a coffee plant, care for which is not difficult, be prepared for the fact that the cultivation process will be a very painstaking task. First of all, this concerns not only the growth rate, but also the temperature features in which the pot with the plant should be kept.
A pot of grains immediately after planting them in the ground must be placed in a sunny place, constantly maintaining a temperature of at least 20 degrees. Thanks to this, you will provide the sprouts with an additional incentive to grow faster.
Keep in mind that coffee is a plant that does not like outside interference too much. Trimming is required as little as possible. It is best to do this procedure only if the dimensions of the bush are much larger than you expected. Also, do not worry that during the flowering period the pollination process that is not natural for ordinary plants does not occur and, as a result, you will not get the expected yield, because the berries are formed as a result of the self-pollination process.
If you plan to use the ripened berry for further planting, it will be necessary to clean it from the pulp and rinse with water. After which, for about 30 minutes they will need to be soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate and proceed to the landing as soon as possible.
Soil features
The most popular question for people who are going to grow a home coffee plant is: "How to care?" First of all, pay attention to the soil in which you are going to plant. The optimal option is a mixed type of soil with the addition of a mass of various elements that enhance its natural acidity.
The stages of soil preparation differ from the stage at which the plant grows:
- Soil for planting seeds and sprouts: you need to prepare a loose substrate from sheet soil and river sand, in which there will be no obstacles to the penetration of moisture. First of all, before placing the future plant in it, it will be necessary to pre-sterilize the soil. To do this, hold the soil in a water bath for at least 5 minutes. Seeds must be placed flat on the surface of the soil. If the procedure was performed correctly, the first sprouts should be expected after 1.5 months from the time of planting. As soon as the first leaves are formed, the seedling will need to be transplanted into a soil more favorable for growth. Keep in mind that the first transplants will be required annually for at least three years. After this period, the optimal period for this procedure will be once every 2-3 years.
- The soil for transplanting a large plant is a mixture in equal proportions of elements such as acid peat, sand, leafy soil, humus, charcoal and moss. All these components can be purchased at a specialized flower shop. Keep in mind that a young shoot is much faster transformed into a full-fledged tree in the event that you purchase a fairly large pot for it initially. In this case, the root system will go deeper, so that the plant will receive the maximum amount of nutrients from the soil.
Keep in mind that if you are planting vegetatively (from the shoot), the cut stalk will need to be placed for 1-2 hours in a special solution. All the required components must be purchased in a flower shop in advance, and only after that they should be planted in the ground with a depth of no more than 3 cm. Moreover, as soon as the plant has the first new leaves, it will be necessary to carry out a transplant procedure similar to that required for the sprouts grown directly from seeds.
Flowers and berries
Coffee is a plant that, as a rule, blooms only in the warmest time of the year. For the first time, a sprouted plant blooms only after 3-4 years from the time of planting. During this period, small bright white flowers are formed in the leaf sinuses, which, blooming, have a pleasant aroma. Flowering time usually does not exceed 2-3 days, however, the fruits ripen much longer. Coffee during this period should never be sprayed, since in this way you can completely ruin the breeding process.
After a certain period of time, small, round green fruits begin to set in their place. As they ripen, the hue of the fruit changes to rich red, due to which they begin to visually resemble cherries. In each formed fruit, there are only two grains, which, in essence, are “coffee” in the sense that is familiar to most people. The period of full ripening of fruits for a plant grown at home, varies within one year. Then you can proceed to the direct collection and use of grains.
Coffee plant - how to care
When planting, be sure to consider that this plant is extremely photophilous. At the same time, if in the hot climate of the tropics it is necessary to obscure it, then in apartment conditions, on the contrary, it is necessary to provide adequate lighting, in the absence of which the plant will not only grow weakly, but will not bear fruit for a long time. It is best if the winter coffee is moved to the warmest south side in the house, but even in this case, one should not forget that the critical temperature mark for this plant is 15 degrees and it is not recommended to lower it. Therefore, on especially cold and cloudy days, it will be necessary to turn on daylight lamps in the immediate vicinity of the plant, which will provide it with vital light and heat.
Coffee is a rather capricious plant, it grows best, provided that the lighting to which it gets used does not change its path. Therefore, turning the plant, you will achieve only beautiful leaves, but lose the long-awaited harvest. In this case, do not put coffee in direct sunlight or put a pot on the north side, where the lighting is the weakest.
In the hot season, coffee should be regularly moistened (as the top layer dries) with the help of settled water, the temperature of which should in no case be lower than room temperature. Also, special attention should be paid to leaves, which also will not be amiss to regularly spray (except for the flowering period).
Remember that if you need to rearrange the pot in a new place, for the first time you need to carefully wrap the plant with gauze, which will create the usual diffused light and help it adapt quickly to new lighting optimally. Moreover, all that he needs for growth is to make timely transplants, which any person will cope with, even without proper experience in the floriculture process, but familiar with the basic requirements for care.
Watering
Watering this plant must be given special attention. The water you use should not contain limestone impurities that have a detrimental effect on the root system. In addition, coffee requires constant support of special acidity in the soil, to ensure which it is necessary to add a few drops of vinegar or crystals of citric acid to the settled water prepared for irrigation. Despite the fact that the plant loves moisture, one should not allow its increased content in the air.
As a natural top dressing, it is necessary to use mineral liquid fertilizers at least once every 1.5 months, so you will receive the rapid growth of new shoots and provide the plant with all the necessary nutrients.
Nutrition
Regardless of regular top dressing in the spring season, during the period when flowers are expected, this plant urgently needs to increase the content of nitrogen and phosphorus in the composition as much as possible. The main source can be ordinary horn shavings or bone meal. In addition, do not forget that it is impossible to determine if the soil has sufficient acidity without special devices, so be sure to consult a flower shop to find the most suitable fertilizer to ensure optimal nutrition. If for any reason you don’t have enough funds for the transplant for the period of transplantation, use ordinary, finely chopped moss, which can be found in large quantities in the forest area.
If, thanks to the proper use of fertilizers, the plant begins to grow rapidly, and you are moving precisely to increase its bushiness, carefully pinch the side shoots, and if a certain part of them has dried up, carefully cut them at the base of the leaf cover petiole.
Difficulties you may encounter
When caring for a plant such as coffee, be sure to keep in mind that if the soil is not acid enough, the leaves may lose their dark green, glossy hue and become discolored. The leaves of coffee begin to turn yellow rapidly and, subsequently, completely dry out if the plant does not receive a sufficient influx of fresh air. In addition, if the humidity in the room is excessive, the process of decay will begin to occur on the leaves, after stopping which the plant will need a large amount of time to fully recover.
In addition, it will not be superfluous to take a few consultations from a specialist in growing coffee in the field of protecting leaves from the most common pests:
- Spider mite.
- Scaffolds.
- Mealybug.
- Aphids.
Only in this way can you be completely sure that your plant will be able to fully develop at home and, over time, will delight you with aromatic fruits.