Coffee growing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As part of the harvest of coffee beans in December and January, knowledgeable workers select good mother plants and pick certain of the ripe cherries for their seeds.After being washed in clean water, the flesh of the cherries is pulped so the seeds can be extracted by hand. Don’’t destroy the pergamin-hull, but dry it 2-5 days in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

February is the month we plant the seeds in the sprouting beds. They are covered with around 1cm of fertile soil. It is important that the earth around the plants never dries out, but remains damp.To augment this, the seedlings grow on a shady spot. After 6-8 weeks, the seeds break out and soon sprout 2 leaves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As Costa Rica’s rainy season begins in early May, one or two weeks after the plants have broken out of the seed, the seedlings are transplanted in pairs in plastic bag's or directly into the earth in the intermediate growing plot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the raising patches the plants remain approx. twelve months. Before planting the soil is prepared. With lime nearly the soil in the pH value something, always sour in tropical countries, is raised. Since the sowing now about 8 weeks passed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Usually, the plants stay there one year, until the beginning of the next rainy season, in May.By now, the plants are between 8-12 inches(20-30cm) high and can be replanted in their final location on the farm. It is necessary to wait for the rainy season, before beginning this transplanting. Workers plant the small coffee trees every 4-1/2' apart, in rows that are 9-10 feet apart.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The plants must grow one year more, to the start of the next rainy season. It is now that their first flowers appear, but the plants are still short. The coffee plants are now 2 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 At the end of the third year after planting the seeds in May again,the plants are around 4 to 5-1/2' ft. tall (1.1-1,6m) tall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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