At Finca Chocolat, every tree we plant is an investment in the future—one that will produce cacao for decades to come. Each year, we germinate over 15,000 new trees, selecting seeds from our best-producing cacao trees to ensure strong genetics, high yields, and disease resistance.
The journey from seed to field is a careful, hands-on process that requires patience, precision, and dedication. Here’s how we do it:
Step 1: Selecting the Best Pods
The process begins in the fields, where our crew handpicks large, healthy cacao pods from our highest-yielding trees. These trees have proven themselves over the years, producing consistent harvests and showing strong resistance to disease and environmental stresses.
Step 2: Extracting and Cleaning the Seeds
Once harvested, the pods are brought back to our onsite nursery, where the seeds are carefully removed. Each seed is covered in a sticky, sugary mucilage, which must be washed off to allow for successful germination.
After cleaning, the seeds are placed between sheets of heavy paper, mimicking the warm, humid conditions found on the rainforest floor. The paper is kept moist but not soaked, ensuring the seeds remain hydrated while preventing mold growth.
Step 3: Preparing the Nursery Bags
While the seeds begin germinating, our crew gets to work preparing 15,000 nursery bags—one for each future tree. These bags are filled with a custom soil mixture that varies from year to year, depending on what we’re able to source most easily. The mix typically includes:
🌱 Dirt – Provides a stable growing medium.
🌾 Sawdust or rice hulls – Helps aerate the soil and improve drainage.
🔥 Inoculated biochar – Enhances soil fertility by providing a habitat for beneficial microbes.
This nutrient-rich blend ensures strong root development, giving each tree a healthy start before it is transplanted into the fields.
Step 4: Transplanting the Sprouted Seeds
Once the seeds sprout, they are carefully transplanted by hand into their nursery bags and gently covered. These young cacao trees will spend the next five months growing in the nursery’s controlled environment, where they are monitored for proper growth, watered as needed, and protected from pests.
Step 5: Moving to the Fields
When the rainy season begins, the young trees are ready to be planted in the fields. This timing is critical, as the increased moisture helps ease transplant shock and ensures that the trees can establish strong root systems in their new environment.
Once planted, these trees will become part of Finca Chocolat’s thriving cacao farm, where they will flourish for decades, producing high-quality beans that will eventually be transformed into fine chocolate enjoyed around the world.
Sowing the Seeds for the Future
The annual germination and planting cycle at Finca Chocolat is a reminder that great cacao starts long before harvest season. Each tree we plant is a long-term investment—not just in chocolate, but in sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship, and the future of fine cacao production.
Stay tuned as we continue to track the progress of this year’s seedlings—we can’t wait to see them take root! 🌱🍫🌍