thunderbird Posted March 11, 2007 Hi guys, hoping someone can help me as i cannot seem to find information on growing conditions for viridis, carthagenensis and caapi. I have recently finished some other ethno projects and want to turn my attention to these valuable plants which i recieved about six weeks ago. I have one each about 8" on my balcony and they do not look very happy, they appear to be struggling (leaves are somewhat withered and browned on the edges). How often should they be watered? Are they very fussy about potting mixes (ive got them in some cheapo generic mix). I cannot figure out if i am watering them too much or not enough. They still have plenty of (saggy) leaves, but if i don't work it out i can't see them lasting. Temperature range is from 85f to 70f they are mostly in shade with probably an hour of direct sun. They are supposed to be related to Coffee plants i wonder if i could just find the guidelines for growing a coffee plant in a pot and follow that? kind regards tbird Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Green Chemist Posted March 11, 2007 Here is some advise for you mate and I am speaking from experience. I have 2 Caapi plants and one P. Carth. I live in Brisbane so get lots of warmth and Humidity. 1st: make sure they are in big pots so they have room to grow. 2nd: Buy high quality potting mix and some manure from bunnings and and mix 70% Potty to 30% manure. I placed some Spagum moss in the bottom of the pots and also on top of the pots to help keep mosture and the roots cool. DON"T USE CHEAP POTTY MIX. When you repot them, water them in with a seasol solution and seasol once a month. Seasol is the magic word when it comes to plants. If it gets cool make a humidity tent for them. Make sure the caapi has someto to grow on for when it gets bigger as it likes to grow upwards. My caapi averages a about 10cm to 15cm a day growth. Only had all 3 for about 2 months and it is already nearly 2 m. My plants also get indirect sunlight. Don't let other plants drop their leaves into the pot as some plants will retard the growth of them if their leaves drop into the pot. I water mine every 2 or 3 days depending on how hot it is. In winter when it is cold you can maybe water 4-5 days. DOn't drown everyday as they don't like it. Hope this helps Cheers Green Chemist Temperature range is from 85f to 70f they are mostly in shade with probably an hour of direct sun. What is that in degrees??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thunderbird Posted March 11, 2007 (edited) Temperature range is from 85f to 70f they are mostly in shade with probably an hour of direct sun.What is that in degrees??? thanks for those great tips hopefully there not to far gone to revive i have the yahoo widgets weather thing on my computer and it gives its readings in farenheit which i am familiar with having lived in the US for many years after metric came in Australia (they still got miles, gallons, etc). Currently the widget is saying 72F and the Weather channel is saying 22.3C for this area, so give or take a degree C, actually have a little conversion utility on my pocketPC, lets see... 85F = 29.444C 70F = 21.111C = 299 Kelvin = 529.670 Rankin (for any scientist types :D) Edited March 11, 2007 by thunderbird Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Auxin Posted March 11, 2007 1.8C+32=F (F-32)/1.8=C Good thing to memorize if you have the nasty habit of using °F, or if your in a country that still uses fahrenheit (ie. liberia, myanmar, or the US ) Shouldnt relative humidity also be considered? World of difference between 30° & 20% RH and 30° & 80% RH Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
apothecary Posted March 12, 2007 1.8C+32=F(F-32)/1.8=C Good thing to memorize if you have the nasty habit of using °F, or if your in a country that still uses fahrenheit (ie. liberia, myanmar, or the US ) Shouldnt relative humidity also be considered? World of difference between 30° & 20% RH and 30° & 80% RH You can just type it into google, "38 degrees fahrenheit in celsius" and it does the calculation for you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hellonasty Posted March 15, 2007 Shouldnt relative humidity also be considered? World of difference between 30° & 20% RH and 30° & 80% RH Yeah escpecially important for Viridis. Mine go completely dormant at lower humidity regardless of temperature...Once I put it in the green house raising the humidity from less than 20% to near 70% and the thing will go nuts at a constant temp of about 30deg. Good point Auxin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grantoss Posted January 17, 2009 Hi there, I have a Viridis and a Caapi growing also and I live in southern Vic. My Viridis seems to be doin fine but my Caapi is not growing anything like u mentioned above. It hasn't grown noticably at all since i bought it from another user from this forum. It certainly doesn't look dead but the leaves are drying and it just ain't growing. Can anyone that has experience growing this plant in a similar region to Sale or similar climate at least please let me know what they used for success. I use only 100% certified organic potting mixes and have plenty of sheep manure to add so please any help b4 it's too late and I lose my little baby. Peace Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grantoss Posted January 17, 2009 Yeah escpecially important for Viridis. Mine go completely dormant at lower humidity regardless oftemperature...Once I put it in the green house raising the humidity from less than 20% to near 70% and the thing will go nuts at a constant temp of about 30deg. Good point Auxin. Beautiful. I'd better do this then because as i stated... mine barely has grown at all. Maybe not at all, I'll raise the humidity and see how i go. Cheers P.S. I know this is an old post but for some reason the whole blog did not show up.lol So i'm not that much of a dumbass!!! lmao Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stonehenge Posted January 17, 2009 My caapi are in the ground and grow like mad. I have fairly high humidity and it rarely gets down to freezing. Freezing temps will burn it but it survives just fine. The growth is great and I have two of them which flower every year now. They are in flower as we speak, this is winter here. I hope to have some seeds by spring as I did last year. Let the soil dry completely out before watering again if you are using pots. Do not over fert, curled up leaves are a dead give away of over ferting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chiral Posted January 17, 2009 Mine are in the ground and they just blow me away how fast they grow..this last 2 weeks I swear one of them has grown up a small tree trunk about 2 feet...makes me laugh cause its next to the uninteresting viridis and it has grown about 2 inches in the same amount of time. Oh and I noticed that they love to get wet and love to be watered heavily daily...in fact they seem to grow faster the more you water them. H. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
genki Posted January 18, 2009 Hi there, I have a Viridis and a Caapi growing also and I live in southern Vic. My Viridis seems to be doin fine but my Caapi is not growing anything like u mentioned above. It hasn't grown noticably at all since i bought it from another user from this forum. It certainly doesn't look dead but the leaves are drying and it just ain't growing. Can anyone that has experience growing this plant in a similar region to Sale or similar climate at least please let me know what they used for success. I use only 100% certified organic potting mixes and have plenty of sheep manure to add so please any help b4 it's too late and I lose my little baby. Peace how much sun is your caapi receiving? mine was in the shade for a large part of the day and it didn't really do much so i moved it to full sun which made a significant difference. the growth is slow but steady (probably partly to do with the size of the pot she's in). almost forgot to add im in melbourne Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bio Posted January 18, 2009 (edited) well, they're rainforest plants .... so the appreciate being under canopy ... do not seem to appreciate full sun for extended periods ... nor do they respond well to wind. watered daily hey?? that's interesting .... mulch works wonders ... ive just moved them all from a sunny spot to something more like where whey would grow in their native environment. have a few in quite shady spot, and they reach for the sun, and they get THICK stems / trunks. more light seem to make them faster, but more spindly ... in my experience anyway. the morning after they were rescued from the sun, the drooping leaves reached for the sky again. So folks .... canopy canopy canopy!! :D how does alba compare speed-wise to viridis ?? edit addon: caapi is a mutant!! ive seen it unhappy, didnt really grow much over a whole year ... was next to a basalt rock wall amongst bamboo (plenty of water too coz they 'rain' ... soon as it was under canopy .... its going mental skywards ;) Edited January 18, 2009 by bio Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
genki Posted January 18, 2009 i had mine sandwiched between two significantly larger P. carths (canopy) and it did nothing for ages. direct sunlight has brought it back to life. it requires more water because of it but i wouldnt dream of moving it back to where it was. not suggesting everyones plants will react the same just relaying my experience with growing caapi in a cooler climate Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toast Posted June 23, 2009 I have a B. caapi, 2 P. viridis and 4 P. carthagenens and they are all dormant at the moment. I repotted the B. caapi after receiving it from SAB and over the course of the 3 weeks it lost all of its leaves. They gradually grew back but it has not grown for a few weeks now. I think this is because of the cold weather. I keep the Psychotria plants under shade cloth, which they seem to prefer to being in the shade of a large bush. They are also dormant at the moment. I think this is also due to the cold weather, and hope they will pick when things start to heat up. I am hoping to buy my first house soon, so hopefully all these plants will be in the ground some time in spring . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
