coffee growing and coffee tree

Archive for November, 2011

The young plant continues to grow for up two or three years, buy which time a specific balance  between the shoot and the root system has been achieved which is appropriate for maturity and flowering. this reproductive phase enables the first crop to be picked in the third year. Thereafter, the annual flowering – fruiting rhythm superimposes itself on the rate of vegetative growth. the plant is then compleat, both physiologically and economically. It is considerd to be fully mature when it is five to six years old. It is then close to 3 m in height, although it is often pruned down to 2 m for convenience in harvesting.

Growth of the young coffee plant  is initially at the expense of the cotyledonary reserves. It continues to grow in height until the first branches are formed. this occurs from the fifth to the eleventh pair of leavs in robusta. The cotyledonary leaves wither and fall approximately four to six weeks after appearing above the ground.
At the age of approximately one year, the young coffee plant has four to eight pairs of branches. The shoot system now has all its vegetative structures, i.e terminal bud, axillary buds and foliage on the branches. The annual growth rhythm is, from this stage, closely linked to the climatic conditions; the alteration of the wet and dry seasons regulates this growth; vegetative dormancy the dry season prepares for and induces flowering