How To Grow Coffee Plant

 

The botanical name of Coffee plant is Coffea Arabica and the plant has glossy green leaves and compact growth habit that makes it a surprisingly good potted indoor plant, even before it reaches maturity and flowers. In the plant ideal growing conditions, after 3 to 5 years, small fragrant white flowers in the spring are followed by half-inch fruits called cherries that gradually darken from green to blackish pods. Each cherry contains about 2 coffee beans. 

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that a coffee plant that is grown as a houseplant will produce enough beans to brew homegrown coffee, it takes two thousand coffee cherries, or four thousand beans, to make a pound of roasted coffee. In their native habitat, the coffee plants grow into medium-sized trees, adding inches in just a few months and reaching about 2 feet within their first year. Indoors, the Coffee plants are pruned to a more manageable size. Actually all the parts of the coffee plant except the beans are toxic to people and pets when they are eaten.

Coffee Plant Info

The common name: The common names are Coffee plant, Arabian coffee.

The botanical name: The botanical name is   Coffea arabica

The family: Coffee plants belong to Rubiaceae family.

The plant type: The Coffee plant is a perennial plant.

The mature size: The mature size is about six to fifteen feet tall, six to fifteen feet wide.

The sun exposure: Coffee plants prefer partial sun.

The soil type: Coffee plant does well in moist soil.

The soil pH: Acidic

The blooming time: The blooming time is spring.

The flower color: The flower color is white.

USDA Hardiness Zones: Nine to eleven.

The native area: Coffee plants are native to  Africa.

Toxicity: Coffee plants are toxic to people and pets. 

Types of Coffee plant

There are different varieties of Coffee bean. The following are the different varieties of Coffee bean;

-         The Coffea arabica 'Nana' variety: The Coffea arabica 'Nana' variety is a dwarf variety that only grows about twelve inches tall, making the plant ideal to grow indoors.

-         The Coffea canephora variety: The Coffea canephora is commonly known as robusta coffee, this particular variety comes from sub-Saharan Africa. Its plants are robust; however, the coffee beans tend to have a stronger, harsher taste than the arabica beans.

-         The Coffea liberica variety: The Coffea liberica variety is native to central and western Africa, the Coffea liberica variety was first discovered in Liberia. The plants produces large fruits with higher caffeine content than the arabica beans, but lower than the robusta beans.

-         The Coffea charrieriana variety: The Coffea charrieriana actually produces a caffeine-free variety of coffee beans.

-         The Coffea magnistipula variety: The Coffea magnistipula variety is native to the lower Guinean forests of tropical West Africa, this particular variety actually grows in a shrub-like shape. 

Coffee Plant Care

Whether you grow the coffee plants in your back garden or you grow them indoors, the best environment is the one that actually mimics the plant’s natural conditions on a tropical, mid-elevation mountainside. The following are the main care requirements for growing a coffee plant as a houseplant:

- Make sure you use rich, peat-based, slightly acidic potting soil that is amended with organic matter.

- Place the Coffee plant in a location near a window but not in direct sunlight, and also away from drafts.

- Maintain a room temperature between sixty-five degree Fahrenheit and eighty degree Fahrenheit.

- Water the Coffee plant as often as needed to keep the soil evenly moist.

- In spring and summer you can fertilize the plant with a diluted liquid fertilizer.

- Prune the Coffee plant in the spring in other to encourage dense, bushy growth.

Light requirement

The Coffee plants actually prefer indirect light, since the plants are understory plants (existing under the forest canopy). The Coffee plants that are actually exposed to too much direct sunlight will develop leaf browning.

Soil requirement

Make sure you plant the Coffee plants in rich, peat-based potting soil with excellent drainage. Coffee plants actually prefer acidic soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. If your Coffee plant is not thriving, you can add organic matter to lower the soil pH.

Water requirement

Coffee plants do best if the plants are watered deeply to moisten the soil throughout, and then watered the plant again when the soil has dried out about halfway (or once a week, when grown in the correct lighting). The soil must stay evenly moist but not waterlogged. Don’t ever allow the soil to dry out completely.

Temperature and humidity requirement

The optimal average temperature range for coffee plants is a daytime temperature between seventy degree Fahrenheit to eighty degree Fahrenheit and a nighttime temperature between sixty-five degree Fahrenheit to seventy degree Fahrenheit. A higher temperature can actually accelerate the growth but are not ideal for growing the plants for their beans. The fruits need to ripen at a slow, steady pace.

The Coffee plants thrive in highly humid conditions, though a humidity level of fifty percent or higher relative humidity should suffice. If the air is too dry, the leaf edges might start to brown. You can place a humidifier near the Coffee plant for consistently high humidity.

Fertilizer requirement

In the spring and summer, during the plant growing season, you can feed the Coffee plant with a liquid fertilizer, diluted to half strength, every couple of weeks. In the winter cut the fertilizer back to once a month.

Pruning Coffee plants

The Coffee plants that are grown as houseplants must be pruned every spring to maintain their shape. You can use sterilized, sharp pruning shears to remove any old, dead, and bare branches as well as the leaves that are growing directly from the lower part of the trunk.

To actually encourage dense, bushy growth, cut the plant stems at a forty-five degree angle, about ¼ inch above the leaf joint (where the leaf attaches to the plant stem).

How to propagate Coffee plants

One of the fastest methods to propagate a coffee plant is from stem cuttings. The best time to take a cutting is in the early summer.

- You can use sterile pruners to cut an eight to ten inch stem. Remove all but a pair of upper leaves.

- Then dip the cut end in a rooting hormone.

- Fill a four inch pot with damp potting mix. Then insert the cutting deeply into the soil.

- You need to cover the cutting with a clear plastic dome or plastic bag. Then place it in a warm location but out of direct sunlight. Make sure you keep it evenly moist.

- When you can gently tug on the Coffee plant and feel resistance, you will know that the roots have formed. Then remove the cover and then place it in a location with partial sun.

- As the Coffee plant grows in size, you can easily repot it into a larger pot.

Growing Coffee plant from seed

Although you can't germinate the coffee beans you buy in a store, but you can sprout the ones that grow on your coffee plant, provided it is not a cultivar (its seeds won’t produce a plant that is true to the parent).

Called "cherries," the fruit must be picked when they are a bright crimson color. The Coffee seeds are also available from seed companies.

- The “cherries” are actually ready when you can rub away their flesh. Wash off any residue to release the seeds inside.

- Dry the Coffee seeds thoroughly by letting them cure on a plate lined with paper towel for a few weeks.

- Soak the beans in water for about twenty-four hours. Toss any that float.

- Fill four inch pots with damp, but well-draining potting mix.

- Plant the Coffee seeds ¼ inch deep.

- Make sure you keep the pot in a warm location but away from direct sunlight. Also keep the soil even moist. It takes about 6 to 8 weeks for the Coffee seeds to germinate.

- As they are growing you can transplant the seedlings into larger pots with a well-draining, slightly acidic potting mix and then keep them well-watered.

Potting and Repotting Coffee Plant

The Coffee plants do poorly when root-bound, so repot your Coffee plant whenever the roots of the plant start to outgrow the pot, gradually stepping up the pot size. Make sure you use a pot with large drainage holes and fresh potting soil each time. Actually the best time for repotting the plant is in the late winter before the new growth starts. 

Pest and disease control

The Coffee plants that are grown indoors sometimes suffer from infestations of aphids, mealybugs, and mites. The signs of infestation include tiny webs, clumps of white powdery residue, or visible insects on the Coffee plant. Make sure you treat the infestations as soon as possible with organic pesticides such as insecticidal soap or neem oil to prevent them from spreading to the rest of the plants.

Common problems with Coffee Plant

Brown spots on the leaves: Some fungal diseases like leaf spot can give your coffee plant brown spots on its leaves. To remedy this, you can remove the affected leaves and stems and then trim away the inner branches so that there will be a better air circulation for your Coffee plant. Browning Leaves: The leaves that actually turn brown and fall off usually do so from leaf scorch. Fixing it is just a matter of giving the coffee plant more indirect light. 

The browning of leaves can also be caused by too much water or root rot, which is often the result of the roots sitting in waterlogged soil.