Morphological characteristics and growth Environment of Coffee trees

Coffee is a perennial evergreen shrub or small tree of Rubiaceae. It is a horticultural perennial cash crop with the characteristics of fast growth, high yield, high value and wide market. Wild coffee trees can grow to a height of 5 to 10 meters, but coffee trees planted on the manor are often cut to less than 2 meters in order to increase their fruit and facilitate harvesting. Coffee tree opposite leaves are long oval, smooth leaves, the end of the branch is very long, few branches, and the flowers are white, open at the base of the petiole connecting the branch. The ripe coffee berries look like cherries and are bright red with sweet flesh and contain a pair of seeds, namely coffee beans (Coffee Beans).

Growth habit

Coffee beans like warmth, drought and cold tolerance, afraid of freezing, seedlings and adult plants are vulnerable to frost defoliation to death, seeds can not mature. Coffee beans are not strict on land, and idle land can also be planted, but it is suitable for sandy soil with good drainage, deep soil layer and loose and fertile soil.

Seed propagation

(1) seed collection, seed washing and seed storage

In the full ripening stage of coffee (the full ripening period of medium-grain coffee in Hainan Island is from February to March and small-grain coffee from September to November), fully mature fruits are picked from strong and high-yielding mother trees to make seeds. After the fruit is harvested, immediately peel and wash the seeds, the method is to put the fruit on the hard and rough ground, grind the peel with a brick, or peel it off with a peeling machine, then put it in water to remove the peel, take out the seed, stir it with furnace ash, and rinse it in water to wash the gum on the surface of the seed. In the process of seed washing, be careful not to break the seed shell so as not to affect germination. The germination rate of seeds without seed shell is only 54%. If the seed shell is preserved, the germination rate can reach more than 80%. After the seeds are washed, they should be dried in a ventilated place and should not be exposed to the sun. When the seeds are exposed to 15% water content, the germination rate will be significantly reduced. Dry seeds should not be hidden for a long time. Medium-grain coffee will lose its germinating power when it is stored for more than three months. For small seed coffee, the harvest time is from September to November, and it is the winter with low temperature after seed collection. The seeds can be stored and sown in February to March of the following year, but they should be placed in a cool, ventilated and dry place and checked frequently to prevent mildew.

① nursery land selection: it is appropriate to choose close to the water source, good drainage, fertile, deep soil layer, loose loam or sandy loam as nursery land.

② soil preparation and application of basic fertilizer: the soil in the nursery should be fully ploughed and raked into fine pieces, ploughed 20 to 25 cm deep, stone, grass roots, sundries should be removed quickly, and then the border should be 1 meter wide, the path between the border should be 50 cm wide, the east-west direction of the border on flat land should be 5000 million jin, and calcium superphosphate should be 50 kg 100 jin, and the fertilizer should be fully mature and evenly mixed with the soil.

③ erection of shade canopy: coffee seedlings can not tolerate strong light, so shade canopy must be erected. The shade shed is divided into two kinds: big and small. The big shade shed is 180 to 200 centimeters high, and the area can be divided from several to several mu. The small shade shed is 80cm high and 100cm high, one for each bed. The big shade shed has the advantages of convenient management and uniform light transmission, but it is difficult to obtain materials. But the shading net can also be used, the management of the small shade shed is not convenient, and the seedlings receive uneven light, but the material is easy to solve. These two kinds of shade sheds can be erected according to local conditions. If you use plastic bags to raise seedlings, it is best to use a large shade shed, which can make full use of the land.