ESTABLISHMENT OF

CACAO NURSERY
Site preparation and size
Land newly ploughed and leveled
 Install shade cloth, side to
Mark out positions and side and roof. Use
install nursery poles moveable wire frame or
similar structure.
Timber post and wire frame nursery
Using concrete posts and Using galvanized pipes as
wire as framework framework
Access pathway through
Simple construction, well
center of nursery with
designed for easy access
access between nursery
and operations.
beds.
ESTABLISHMENT
OF BUDWOOD
GARDEN
1. Budwood /scion grove selection
1.  Deep well-drained, porous, loamy, fertile and well aerated soil.
2. Water table must drop to not less than three feet below the surface of
the ground soon after a heavy rainfall.
3. Soils should be high in organic matter which are necessary to promote
satisfactory growth.
4.  Away from any shade trees.
5. Should be fenced with hog and barbed wires to protect from astray
and domestic animals.
6. Should be established near the nursery.
2. Varieties to be used

S5

K2
K1
3. Computation for Number of Seedlings
Propagated Over Time
 

1. Distance of planting is 3x3 m planted in quincunx

method.
2. Approximately a 144 square meter area (one block)
can be planted to 41 plants. Distance between
blocks is 2 meters.
3. A hectare of land can accommodate 49 blocks
multiplied by 41 plants per block equals 2,009
plants per hectare (round off to 2,000 plants per
hectare).
4. Six months after planting, each plant can produce
approximately three fan branches with five buds/scion
per branch to be used for community nodal grafting
method. 3 fan branch x 5 buds/scion per branch x 2000
plants/hectare equals 30,000 available scion/hectare in
six months.
5. After one year, 7 fan branches will be developed
containing 7-8 buds/scion per branch or approximately
50 buds/scion per plant multiplied to 2,000 plants per
hectare equals 100,000 available scions per hectare.
6. Two years after 20-30 fan branches (average 25) will be
developed per plant containing 7-8 bud scion per branch
multiplied to 2,000 plants per hectare equals 350,000
available per hectare per year up to 10 or 15 years.
4. Maintenance of Budwood/Scion Grove

• Budwood Garden/Scion Grove can be utilized for

longer period of time (10-15 years) when it is
properly maintained.
• Periodic pruning is needed to remove unwanted
branches especially those that are weak and small
which are not good materials for propagation.
• Removal of fruits that develop from the main stem
and branches is also necessary for proper growth
and development of the plant.
 Propagation of
Planting Materials
A. Propagation Using Hybrid Seeds
1. Seed selection in hybrid seeds
Hybrid seeds obtained by the cross of BR25 x K1, BR 25 x
K2, and BR 25 x S5  should only be obtained from USM
Seed Garden, or USM-recognized/accredited source of
hybrid seeds..
Collect seeds only from ripe and healthy pods and
preferably collected from the seed garden.
Select seeds that are uniform in size. Discard seeds that are
swollen and of different shape.
Select big seeds since the possibility is high that they would
produce vigorous and fast growing seedling.
Cacao hybrids: BR 25 x K2 and BR 25 x S5.
2. Seed germination

The usual practice is to plant the prepared seeds

directly into the prepared polybags in the nursery.
However, use of germination beds has been
advocated in order to obtain more uniform
seedlings and to avoid any waste of nursery bags if
the seed fail to germinate. There may be some
advantages in following this practice, but where
germination reaches 95% within seven days, the
gain would be marginal and costs would be higher.
The main steps in seed preparation are:
Select pods that are ripe
and healthy.

Examples of pods not suitable

to collect seeds from. (Left to
right: green pods, dead pods,
black pods, deformed pods.
Open the pods using a
wooden mallet. Do not
use a knife as you may
cut the seed.
Remove the seed from
pods and separate seeds
Defective seeds inside a diseased
from placenta and pulp. pod.
Discard any flat seed,
damaged seed or very
small seed.

A range of seeds suitable for

planting.
Remove the seed in saw dust or coconut fiber to remove the pulp
from outside of the seeds.
Wash the seeds in water and drain.

Properly cleaned beans-ready for pre-germination.

3. Sowing the pre-germinated seeds
a. Collect those seeds that show sign of
germination two days after. 
Example of seeds not suitable for planting. The radicle
is too long, it may cause twisted roots or snap off. If
planted into the bag.
b. Sow the pre-
germinated seeds not
more than 1 cm deep in
the prepared polybags.
It is important to plant
the germinated seeds
soon when the germs
are 1 cm long.  If
planting is delayed, the
root or shoot may easily
be damaged.
 
 
Healthy and properly prepared
Good, uniform germination and
seedling, emerging from potting mix,
seedling emergence, resulting from
about 10-14 days after seed sowing into
proper seed preparation and planting
the bag.
practice.
 Vegetative
Propagation
Patch budding
 Seedlings are ready for patch budding when these have
attained pencil size or have attained a girth of 6 to 7 mm.
Bud only seedlings that are in flush. The bark should snap-
off easily.
 
 Before budding, tag each row indicating the clone to be
budded. Use five clones per block to minimize pollen
scarcity and clonal incompatibility.
 
 Cut across polypropylene or polyethylene bags into strips
as wrapping materials. A bag measuring 12 x 16 inches
usually generates 12 to 14 pieces of tapes.
 
 Select green or greenish brown
budwood that is actively growing to
ensure the separation of the bark.
Budwood with a week-old flush is
most suitable for this purpose .
Select branches which are disease-
free, then, cut the leaves 2 to 3 mm
to protect the bud-eye from
damage during wrapping.
 Prepare patch window, 2 to 3 cm
long. Do not open the patch
window as it may dry up be
contaminated with fungal diseases.
Prepare the bud-eye at least 1 mm
smaller than the patch window.

 
 Insert the bud-eye to the patch
window as quickly as possible to
minimize drying and disease
contamination.

 Then wrap the bud-eye with

budding tape thoroughly and gently.
See to it that cuts below and above
the bud-eye are sealed to minimize
drying and water entry. In budding,
it is important that fingernails of the
propagator are clean to minimize
contamination. Likewise, the knife
used for budding should be sharp
and clean.
 
 At 15 days after budding, open and check the bud-eye to
determine if the union is successful. If the bud-eye is green or
brownish, then the union is successful, otherwise it is black. If
budding is successful then nick or chip the seedlings 2 to 3 cm the
bud-eye. This hastens the emergence of the bud.
 
 Cut the rootstocks above the point of budding when all the
flushes have hardened.
 
 Cutting would induce growth of chupons which may compete
with the growing bud-eye. These should be removed as they
emerge.
 
 Likewise, the developing stem from the budeye usually develop
side shoots. Remove the shoots which emerge below or at 90 cm
from the ground level to form a clean stem for the budded trees.
 
Community Nodal Grafting
 Gather the seedstocks/seedlings that produced three pairs of
leaves.
 Get scions of recommened cacao varieties from accredited
budwood gardens.
 Make a cut at the middle of the stem 2 cm above the node of
the stock (seedling) leaving 1 pair of leaves.
 Make a wedge cut on the tip of the scion and insert it on the
stock. Be sure that the cambium of the scion and stock has
good contact.
 Tighten the connection of scion and stock using 0.003
polyethylene strips or paper clip or any material that will
hold the scion and stock while callus formation shall be
obtained.
 Place a stick on the middle of the transparent polyethylene
bag and tie with a plastic twine up to the beam of the nursery.

 At the time the scion had produced new shoots, gradually

open the polyethylene sheet.
 Arrange the seedlings in the nursery.
 Follow the recommended practices on the care of seedlings
in the nursery until they are ready for planting.
Side grafting using
tube or tents
Conventional Cleft Grafting Method
Examples of grafted plants to be rejected

Poor graft

Dead graft
“Slipped” graft
 Growth
deformity
of graft

Grafting Disease/
Rejection

Grafting a
dormant bud

Insected damaged graft

1. Common seedling pest problems

Canegrub damage Root chafers

Termite damage
Sap sucker damage Leaf eater damage
2. Common seedling disease problems

Seed rot

Seedling rots

Seedling blight disease Seedling blight disease

 Post grafting disease
symptoms.

Black pod disease of

pods, due to
Phytophthora fungus.

Post-grafting disease. VSD symptoms