Eryhtroxylum novogranatense seedlings

[Grower]

Hi

I thought i show you my E.Novo (Colombian Coca) seedlings that i have very recently grown from seed/berries.
The seeds/berries were germinated in moist sphagnum moss and when the sprout was about 0.5cm i put them into seedling soil or citrus soil.
I put the seeds sprout down, seed shell up about 1 cm down in soil at 45 degrees.
I have found out that putting them so the top is just barely visible in the top soil makes it easier for them to push themselves up through the soil.
I have about 14 seedlings (one sadly died recently) out of my 19 seeds/berries delivered.
However, of the 19 berries 18 did germinate and i have foolishly killed the others by not having experience how to do this.
But i must say it is an exceptional germination rate and the berries was of super quality.
I also have tried very recently with E.coca variety and i only got one who just have come up through the soil.
I have no intention to extract anything from these plants.
I'm a botanist not a cocainist.
To try chew some leaves is part of botany i think.
Anyone else growing Coca plants?
Pics:

 

[dg]

yes
i've found fresh seed easy to sprout and grow- but getting them to maturity in my dry climate has so far been impossible for me to do!

soon there will be a climate controlled greenhouse and i will ask my friend for more seed or sproutlings

good luck!

 

[Grower]

Tnx.
I have this hard task before me.
My climate is not good for these so i have to try it indoors.
I hope i can get at least one or two to bigger size.
I have recently ordered a E.Coca cutting but i am not sure it will get delivered.
I know in a week or 2.

 

[pinkoyd]

E. novo is actually quite drought tolerant unlike E. coca, so it seems to me that you should be able to grow it dg. It can be grown practically anywhere as a windowsill plant. It doesn't care for temps below 50F though. Here in FL they do great outside during the steamy wet summers and then they do fine indoors for the winter. Novo is grown commercially with irrigation in some desert areas of SA.

The main problem I'm aware of is that they can sometimes get shocked during shipping if sending a live plant across the country (presumably from being in a cold cargo hold.) Very tricky to recover them in that situation because the line between too much water and not enough is very fine indeed.

Good job there Grower. I have to say though your soil mix looks awfully wet. You might consder letting the dry out a bit. I use a very free draining mix of 3 or 4 parts perlite to 1 part potting mix. the roots penetrate ths very easily and provides lots of oxygen to the roots as well as allowing the plants to tolerate large amounts of rain.

 

[Grower]

Oh the soil was just wet when i put the seeds down the soil.
Now they are never watered, I just spray the soil with a water sprayer when the soil look a little dry.
I have found it extremely important that the soil is well draining.
If just a little bit to wet the sprout will die for sure.
It was maybe not so good taking pics when the soil was so wet but hopefully people will read this and understand that the soil must be kept just little moist, never wet.

The seedlings are actually little bigger now as these pictures are a few weeks old.
The biggest has about 8 leaves now.
I have also one E.Coca seedling just coming up through the soil and hopefully some more that will follow but i am not sure.
Even just getting these to come up from the soil seems harder than the E.Novos.
I think the E.Coca seeds/berries was of much worse quality than the Novos also.
The E.Coca cutting i ordered will be sent without leaves as a piece of stem with a root ball.
This is because of the legal status of this plant in almost all countries.
They did recover fine for a friend of mine but i can only hope it does the same for me and that it will actually show up as the seller isn't trustworthy at all.
We see what happens.

Grower