In the previous post “Planting New Coffee Trees” I discussed coffee seeds, planting the seeds and transplanting the seedling pairs. In this post, I will show how small coffee trees are transplanted to their final location. After being transplanted, the coffee tree will take two years to start to produce coffee in a small quantity. Two years after that, the tree will be producing in full swing. It will need to be fertilized three times a year, during the wet season. Foliar is also applied. Foliar feeding is a technique of feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to their leaves. After the 5th year, the tree will be pruned for the first time. This will reduce the yield, which up to that point had been increasing every year.
| Year | Yield |
| 2 | 10% |
| 3 | 25% |
| 4 | 50% |
| 5 | 100% |
Matias maintains the new seedlings
Once the seedlings are one year old, they are ready to be transplanted to their final location. A hole is dug for each tree with a 6.4 feet (2-meter) separation between rows and 4-foot separation between trees.
1. Digging the final holes
2. This hole is perfect
3. Place the tree in place, preserving the root ball
4. Fill with soil and pat down
5. Several rows completed
Next article will be about picking and milling the cherries to extract the beans. This was one of the most interesting parts of my week in Costa Rica. Matias uses a trailer based milling machine from Columbia. Stay Tuned.