Can the coca plant grow in any climate?
Answers
No, coca plant does not grow in any climate __
While soil characteristics of cocoa growing countries vary immensely. Cocoa plantations are usually established on land where the drainage moderates the wet and dry climate seasons. And the composition of the soil has to be neutral, neither acid nor alkaline.
The ideal climate is a combination of humidity and heat, with the trees not directly exposed to the sun. So cocoa is grown in tropical climates. And cocoa trees are planted under cover of the tall trees of tropical forests, where there is around 50% shade.
Erythroxylum coca grows on the moist and warm sloops of the Eastern Andean mountains on an altitude from 1000 to 2.500 meters.The temperature in extremes can vary between 0-45 Celsius,Mostly it is between 15-30 Celsius which is an optimum.Temperatures under 0 celsius is a killer for cocaplants, but older plants can withstand a few degrees of frost for a few hours.Plants on higher altitudes often contain more alkaloids than on lower altitudes.This is in no relation to lower air pressure, as is often assumed, but to a better climate.
The coca shrubs require a very moist, equitorial climate, so the planst prefer to grow in specific tropical humid climates, such as those found on the wet side of mountains and clearings in forests at the elevation ranging from 1,500 to 7,100 feet.
Hope this helps you..