Taking cuttings from Caffea arabica

[Vertmorpheus]

I have a nice healthy 1.5 metre tall coffee tree, growing in a large (450mm, coco based mix) pot, got beans (30 or 40, but not bad given the stunted and neglected state I rescued it in) off it last season and a few of the unripe hangers on ripened up only this week as the weather warmed up. It has a lot of branches, a couple of matured "water shoot" etc, some branching..nodes galore... thinking of taking some cuts, in addition to starting seed. Just wondering if there was anyone with any hands on experience at taking cuttings from coffee who may have some good advice? I know how to take cuttings, just want the local yokals take on doing it with coffee any input greatly appreciated!

Spring has sprung... better get a towel...

VM

Apologies if this has been gone into in mind boggling detail already, Mr Search Engine and I just do not get along.

[SaBReT00tH]

how long did it take to grow beans? I've had one for 2-3 years and no beans.

[apothecary]

I don't see why it would be harder than any normal soft 2-3 nodes cutting with lots of humidity and a tad of rooting powder.

But your query raises an interesting question in my mind, can arabica be clonally propagated via leaf cuttings, like its Psychotria relatives?

[Vertmorpheus]

Not sure on an exact time from seed to seed, so to speak... I picked mine up as a stunted, unhappy, rootbound 1 foot plant grown from seed, from Northey St City Farm nursery in Brisbane (nice people, but they need a kick in the bum when it comes to taking care of some things)... went home and got her into a 200mm pot, 90 percent cocopeat medium, 5 percent coarse sand, 5 percent compost to get things going... maybe two years later and shes over a metre tall, around the same wide, was covered in the flowers last year and fruited up fairly well (the maggies pinched a few beans, man you thought birds were fast already...). They like a spot that gives them some nice direct light now n then but some shade to lurk in all the same (best spot seems to be on the northwestern side of a bigarse grevillea, nicely broken light) , the odd mist with the hose to keep humidity up when the air dries out... and they get grumpy if things get too far into the alkaline. Mine might be 4 years old overall, hard to be sure how long it was in its tiny pot at Cityfarm though. My coffee gets kelp (emulsion and dry granules), blood n bone, potash, compost, the odd speck of chook poo, but not a whole lot. They seem a bit like gardenias as far as whining about cal-mag-iron more than most other things, the BnB with a very light touch of dolomite seems to take care of it most of the time. Keeping humidity up during flowering seems to help flowers actually set seed rather than just dropping off too. From memory, mine fruited properly for the first time after I have it a light haircut to branch up a little.

Problem is I only have one, and to keep all that blood out of my caffeine system I'm going to need more

Re cuttings, I'll prob end up taking off one of the water shoots, as well as some heeled semi hard cuttings (getting fairly woody in central parts) and some leafy tips too... hadn't thought of leaf cuttings, might give some a go while I'm at it...shes big enough and lumpy enough not to croak it over a bit of a prune. Got a few seeds around, unfortunately some went mouldy in storage so I'm reluctant to start from them, figure cuts have to be a bit faster anyway. I might even get some piccies organised. Not sure what "variety" it is, it had standard nursery tags on it though so it can't be anything too obscure. I know some strains bear earlier/larger/longer than others...seems like a good all rounder, this one.

Cheers for the input,

VM

Edited September 21, 2007 by Vertmorpheus

[shruman]

I do'nt know the first thing about cuttings but I have heard with seeds u need to plant them fresh & keep them moist till they pop. Apparently letting them dry out will make them unviable, this is by no means diffinitive but it is what I heard.

BTW I still would'nt mind a cut if ur successful ;), good luck.

[dqd]

Also the parchment is left on for germing apparently, (explains my lack of success ), or so saysthis handy link

[GingaNinja]

i germinated some seeds last year that i picked fresh but forgot about and they dried out well. planted a month or few after first picking them.

i got almost 100% germination. now got way to many cos i didnt expect them to all pop up.

[Andrew]

Here are some links I was looking at yesterday

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/006/AD219E/AD219E00.htm

http://www.rirdc.gov.au/pub/handbook/coffee.html

Edited September 22, 2007 by Andrew

[Vertmorpheus]

Wow, cheers guys... yes Shru, you get one too... all goes well I should have the odd one or two laying around!

I hear the "parchment" layer (assuming you mean that semi-hard bubble around the darker seeds inside) helps them get cranking before the fungus moves in...also heard that it acts as a "water timer" i.e. if enough water can cross that bubble , there must be plenty in the surrounding area to give the plant a decent head start... dunno, never germed them personally, but I have some whole, some entirely husked, and some semi-fucked with (thats hort terminology right there) seeds to play with, let yez know how it all goes either way... failing all that, I have plenty of spare nodes to play with, can't be all that hard... just asking if anyone had any special tricks before I went and dismembered it

Thanks again,

VM

[XipeTotec]

did u have any luck with cuttings... care to share your tek?