Land Cultivating:

Land is prepared during dry season by removing forest tree stumps and roots to minimize fungal disease.

Trees are killed one year in advance by ring barking but some can be
left to provide shade at a spacing of 15 X 15(m). Perennial weeds such as couch grass should be removed. Land should be ploughed to turn and rejuvenate soil.

Suitable soil conservation measures are carried out such as contouring terraces, bands, and grass strips, mounding and cutting off drains if the land is sloppy. This is done to avoid soil and nutrient loss. Small-scale growers can interplant coffee in established banana or other crops.

Planting Kawa Java (long term goal):

Most Arabica varieties are planted at a spacing of 2.74 x 2.74 (m) apart.

This allows for loosening of the soils to allow for better water and root penetration.

When digging the holes, this keeps the fertile topsoil separate from the
subsoil and loosens the soil at the base of the holes to create a penetrable
base. The refill for the holes topsoil has to be prepared about a month before planting. Where we mix the soil with a 20-litre basin of well decomposed manure per planting hole. Farmers may add Single Super Phosphate (SSP) fertilizer but not nitrogen fertilizer. The soil has to be heaped over the hole above the general ground level to allow settling that may follow rain. Arabica is planted two to four weeks after the onset of rains when the soils have become reasonably moist.

Our farmers raise their own planting materials using seeds or cuttings from a source recommended by UCDA.

When planting, open up the center of filled holes sufficiently to take the entire root system of the planting materials.

Place the plants in the opening with their collars at level with the surrounding soil or slightly higher to allow for some sinking.

If soil surrounding the root system has caked, carefully loosen it by breaking it up to ease water and allow root development. we regularly inspect the planted field to identify dead plants that require replacing. We dip cut end of the cuttings into semi-hard wood rooting hormone before planting into pots. We plant the cutting into the pots leaving the upper node at least two centimeters above the media. We slightly compress the media around the cutting. Water media in the pots again and cover them tightly with polythene sheets. We use polythene sheets of gauge 800 to a 1000, for covering the cuttings. We build cages over the pots and cover tightly with polythene for two to three months to allow formation and root development.

We occasionally open the cages to water pots and replace the polythene soon after watering. We leave the plants in poly pots under cages for at least three months. We keep our harvested coffee into containers such as baskets.