In 2021 we ordered nearly 4,000 Salmwood (Cordia alliodora) saplings from another farm in southern Belize. At the time we were happy to get them at this scale as often finding me than 10-20 of anything in Belize other than ornamental flowers for resorts is difficult. We received 3,500 of the 4,000 we ordered and are happy to say they are doing great in the areas that had been cleared by the former owner of the land. The logistics around getting these trees was, to say the least, onerous though.
We repeated this order in 2022 but also ran germination tests for Salmwood onsite at Finca Chocolat. Thanks to Sam Tzui, our Assistant Farm Manager, we had decent success with our onsite tests, and this year we went “all in” on germinating our own Salmwood at Finca Chocolat. I am happy to say that has been a huge success!
This is the first batch of about 5,000 that are coming up and we will double that with the next set. In 3 years these trees will be 25-30′ tall and will work in symbiosis with the cacao we will plant under them by providing shade and leaf litter to the cacao. They may not look like much at the moment but we are extremely happy with our results and thankful to not have to deal with the logistics of procuring and moving thousands of saplings this year!