March 25, 2021
UPDATE - Criollo Yariguies Cacao Project - COLOMBIA
Planting cacao trees is hard work and take time. On the average it takes 3-5 years to go froom seed to fruiting tree. At the farm they already already have 2,500, between grafted in young cacao criollo plants (from comercial cacao seeds), graft in old cacao trees and nursery (from white beans).
Between grafted in young cacao plants(from comercial cacao seeds): 900
Grafted in old cacao trees: 1.400
In nursery (from white beans): 400
Below are some photos, with the first criollo flower/blossom on the farm that they grafted almost 8 months ago and you can see also Keiran (The volunteer from Virginia) with Miguels' brother Sergio helping prune criollo trees 2 weeks ago.
For the past six years we have been working with an amazing group of farmers in Santander Colombia. We are honored that they have the trust in us at Tabal Chocolate to be part of their initiative to plant more criollo trees in their community. Criollo is one of the rarest genetic varieties of cacao on the planet and has a delicate taste. This group of farmers has grouped together to plant thousands of trees and to educate additional farmers on the process needed to prune and raise the trees.
We want to share this journey with you. our goal is to take a group of chocolate and agricultural fans to Colombia to visit these amazing farms and learn about the journey that cacao takes from tree to chocolate bar.
For the past six years we have been working with an amazing group of farmers in Santander Colombia. We are honored that they have the trust in us at Tabal Chocolate to be part of their initiative to plant more criollo trees in their community. Criollo is one of the rarest genetic varieties of cacao on the planet and has a delicate taste. This group of farmers has grouped together to plant thousands of trees and to educate additional farmers on the process needed to prune and raise the trees.
We want to share this journey with you. our goal is to take a group of chocolate and agricultural fans to Colombia to visit these amazing farms and learn about the journey that cacao takes from tree to chocolate bar.
March 11, 2021
Miguel reports that they have already planted 2,500 criollo cacao trees and now are planning to graft another 500 in cacao trees that are 10 years old. They are planning to plant another 4,000 criollo cacao as new plantation, which means, they are starting from white seeds.
With his cousin Miguel Marin, they found a really good sector of land that does not have molinias (moniliophthora roreri) (fungus) problems. The cacao planting in this area will be much more successful and easier to plant. The only important thing with this, is that the harvesting of cacao pods from these 4000 trees will start in at the end of 2023, because it takes a cacao tree 3-5 years to product harvestable fruit.
Grafting criollo cacao branches onto well established trees
speeds up the time it takes for a tree to yield cacao fruit.
AUGUST 24, 2020
Below are some photos of the progress of the criollo yariguies cacao project. This week they started the graft work on one of the farms that works with with them to learn the grafting techniques. They will graft 700 criollo trees on that property.
