Thread: Mama coca

I finally got some Erythroxylum Coca seeds which I'm trying to germinate. The plan is to raise one or two as room plants and two or three others in a controlled environment under fluorescent lights (saving bulbs).

Is there anyone here that has experience with growing this plant and succeeded?

Anyone interested in knowing more about this amazing plant, here is an interesting link: http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=R1TBdk8hrT4 (white marching powder)

Coca is a very nutritious and healthy plant, has more calcium than milk, more protein than meat. It's basically very beneficial to the human body and cannot be compared to the chemically extracted and processed cocaine. Au contrary, cocaine addicted people can use coca thea when they try to kick that habit and the results are really promising.

If everything succeeds, I'll post a grow log.

i understand it likes the same conditions as Camellia sinensis (the tea plant). they are growing tea outside in the UK now

I heard seeds are only viable for a few days so it's very hard to get?

Originally Posted by Meduzz

I heard seeds are only viable for a few days so it's very hard to get?

It depends, if they went through a birds system, they are viable for a few weeks. You can get the same effect by treating them a few hours with lemon juice. However, I got mine from a company in the Netherlands and the seeds where picked just a day or two before they where shipped.

(PS what is wrong with the forum, have to click at least five times submit before a topic posts).

So after waiting almost three weeks, the first sprout is emerging. I'm very excited about this project.

NICE

(PS what is wrong with the forum, have to click at least five times submit before a topic posts).

It's a bug of this forum, where working at it....

Have you got them in a greenhouse ? What temperature do they have ?

Originally Posted by GOD

Have you got them in a greenhouse ? What temperature do they have ?

They are in a tiny green house used to germinate seeds and it is placed in the hot air stream of a webserver which is online 24/7.

What germination % have you had up till now ? They like it warm 28°C . Dont turn the pots around . Germination can take up to 2 months . Your going to need a light ???

Please show progress .

Originally Posted by GOD

What germination % have you had up till now ? They like it warm 28°C . Dont turn the pots around . Germination can take up to 2 months . Your going to need a light ???

Please show progress .

So far 20%, 2 out of 10 within 3 weeks. Temperature is around 25 constant so I'll try to get it up. I'm going to use fluorescent lights (saving bulbs) for the lighting, the same type as those which are succesfully used to grow cannabis. Untill then, I put them under 2 tl lights 16 hours per day while still in the green house.

Depending how succesful this grow will be, I want to try to get one plant in my living room with a wall mounted tl light shining down in a straight angle.

Will post new pictures as soon as I have something interesting to post.

There are warm white and cold white flourescent bulbs . The warm white has a more red spectrum and the cold white a more blue .

18 hours light works well . If you put the light in the greenhouse you can put a cloth over the top so the heat and most of the light stays in .

If you keep it in your living room you might have to get a humidifyer to get the humidity above 40% so it doesnt dry out .

In the sommer they can be put outside .

Please keep us informed .

Hi Ketter

Yes they take some time huh!
I have planted 5 of the coca plants!
It took almost a month before they came up!
You'll see it takes its seedpit along with herself as she goes up.
Never remove that, not even it seems you can remove it.
The first leaves are still generating in the pit before it falls off.

I fucked one up by removing its pit before she letted it naturally go.
But yes, they take some "fucking" time haha!
You'll see, it's gonna take forever haha

Thanks for the replies!

Will update this thread with greenhouse pics in a few days.

Third seed sprouted last night btw

50% germination!

Here's the first sprout, notice the seed pod at the end of the sprout (which I won't touch, thanks Cannafarmer )

Made a simple greenhouse with aritificial lighting. No saving bulbs yet, this is just a sprouting chamber (probably going to try to germinate some Sirian Rue just for fun after this).

Few pics. 50% germination so far.

The temperature is around 26 constant. At night when the light is out for a few hours, I put the heater on in that room which should help them along during this seedling phase.

80% germination so far. The guys that I got the seeds from believes 100% will germinate.

Some new pics:

once the first non dicotyledonous (true) leaves open they should get a bit tougher.
its something ive always wanted to grow. keep us up to date

Since this morning 100% germination, all 10 seeds sprouted. I waited to long with putting them under light so the plant that germinated first, almost touched the 'roof' of the propagator. I repotted is yesterday, putting half of the stem underground and it seems to have worked.

More pictures this weekend

its not usually a good idea to bury the stem too deep. it can rot. better to use a support

Originally Posted by druglessdouglas

its not usually a good idea to bury the stem too deep. it can rot. better to use a support

I agree, I was in doubt if I should do it. If I hadn't done it, this one plant would have touched the ceilng of the propagator by now. It seems though it turned out well, she looks very good

excellent
are you using a light? if you are, moving it closer to the plant usually stops the plant stretching. they usually stretch when they arent getting enough light. its not easy to get a light close if they are in a propagator, but you should take them out as soon as they are above the soil anyway to stop them damping off.

edit: i had to look at the other pics. the light is hanging at an angle which is good. put something under the tray so the plants are closer to the light, and arrange them so the tops are the same distance from it. avoid the end inch of the light because it gets too hot. smallest seedlings under the lowest section of light, tallest towards the middle. about 6cm from the light tube is ideal, closer when the true leaves open, they wont stretch then. they look healthy so far
and take the top off the propagator, they dont need it and it just encourages mold.

How tall are they and how many leaves have they got ?

Thanks for the tips!

Ok so far they range between 1cm - 8cm. The earliest one has six leaves, 2 just starting and pointing up, two small ones and two that start to look like real leaves. She is the one I repotted yesterday where I just let her slide down so her stem got about 3cm's more below ground. I doesn't look like it stressed her at all. One other has four leaves which still have to open completely. One still has the seed pod hanging and a few others are just emerging above ground.

The reason the first one stretched had indeed to do with the light but since I put all of them under 2 cool white tubes, they are doing great. The other seedlings stopped stretching, I noticed the difference in how they looked after even one hour in the light (they started to look like they feel good ). I prefer to keep them in the propagator until all of them are a bit more developed. I take of the lid a few times a day for longer durations of time to get them used to dryer air.

I work from home so I'm able to keep an eye on them throughout the day. So I keep clean the propagator, remove excess water with a towel and I just mist a few times extra instead of soaking everything and give way to molds and insects.

More pictures in daylight this weekend.

Has anyone got any thoughts / experience with fertilising them ? The when , what , how much and how often ?

Originally Posted by GOD

Has anyone got any thoughts / experience with fertilising them ? The when , what , how much and how often ?

The guy I got the seeds from used bumblebees to fertilize them and if I am informed correctly, they flower four times per year. There's some good info on www.cocagrowers.org but that site is down temporarily, there's a mirror right here:

http://www.cocagrowers.i-formatie.com

i think God meant feed when he said fertilize. in english plant food is fertilizer.
(i dont know what they require in terms of food)

Sorry I guess I was very stoned when I replied.

Of fertilizer:

The plants can be fed when they are three months old. You need fertilizer in the following measurements:

N-P-K/9-3-6

10 grams per liter of potting ground plus 1 gram of magnesium sulfate (MgS04.7H20).

If the plant is in growstop due to low temperatures during a longer period of time, the mix is changed to 3-3-9 to give them better resistance.

HC

Nice one HC . Thanks . I think i was unclear in my last question .

Does anyone have any information about how big they should be and how many leaves they should have at what stages in their growth ? So . How old everyones plants are , how high they are and how many leaves they have ?

Originally Posted by GOD

Nice one HC . Thanks . I think i was unclear in my last question .

Does anyone have any information about how big they should be and how many leaves they should have at what stages in their growth ? So . How old everyones plants are , how high they are and how many leaves they have ?

Young plants grow about 2cm per month. I've seen pictures of plants one year old and they still look like young plants. I have yet to find out what the turning point is, an adult plant can grow 2cm per day. How many leaves they should have is difficult to say. Young plants which are still becoming adult, will not have very much leafs but this will improve over time.

Each spot where you pick a leaf will return two new leafs. This is one of the reasons why you have to trim/cut the plant so it will not overgrow itself.

Here's a nice shot taken today of my firstborn:

beautiful.