Basic maintenance

Basis maintenance for the young cocoa is to keep the grass in the estate short and the various vines off the trees. Vines on the young trees literally strangles the life out of the plants and it will not survive beyond the first year on the ground.

Removing vines



 
taking a break

 

                      Replacing young plants

Some challenges

Some challenges
The challenges were not just the weather, it came from leaf cutting ants (bachacs). These are a huge challenge to control as they destroy in a week what took months of care to germinate and start producing new leaves. Control is by the use of bait specifically formulated by the local companies to treat with this pest.

Caption: One pod serves man, birds and beast

Harsh dry season

 

In the year 2010, Trinidad experienced months of drought which led to the loss of hundreds of young cocoa plants as well as shade crops (banana and plantains) which were not large enough to be effective. To survive the dry season, (which is normally January to the end of May), crops are sowed from June to November.



They are with us the in dry season and in the wet

Phased development

The planting of cocoa and shade crops such as plantains started in September 2009, with the aim of developing the estate in phases, and by having the first crops in the ground by June in 2010. Trinidad has two seasons a wet and a dry, therefore shade crops such as bananas and plantains must be planted along with the cocoa plants.

 

Clearing unwanted material

 

Access created with gravel after clearing trees



 

Resting after "felling" some trees



A chain saw is a powerful wonderful tool.

Preparing the land

The estate is planned, knowing how it should look before starting, and how will you get the cocoa beans to market? The footpath, clearings, tracks are part of the establishment of the cocoa estate. starting with selecting which trees and unwanted vegetation, such as heavy undergrowth should be cut.

 





 Preparing approximately 200 young cocoa plants for the estate.

 

Yellow orchid flowering on dead tree.

 

Another look at a wild yellow orchid growing on a dead tree. Observed during land preparation.

Challenges in making an estate

In Trinidad there several factors which one has to overcome when deciding to invest in establishing a cocoa estate.. Some of the challenges include financing, skilled labour, facilities, and predial larceny. The will to succeed, trusting friends and family makes it possible.

Other interesting animals and reptiles

The foothills of the central range provides the ideal habitat for the venomous mapepire (fer-de-lance) snake, and some interesting spiders. The tropical rainforest of Trinidad play host to many varieties of spiders, lizards, snakes, frogs and other reptiles. I thought all snakes laid eggs but the mapepire gives birth to baby mapepire.

 

A Mapipire Balsain killed during maintenance. I counted 34 young snakes in her stomach.



 

Another view of the baby snakes in their sacks.