How are things growing at El Fénix?
Things have been growing thick and fast at El Fénix.
The farm has undergone a steady renovation, and is now a veritable agroforestry project. Coffee grows under thickets of shade trees, and thrive without the use of pesticides and fungicides. Since the project began in 2016, the land has been planted with a selection of coffee varietals in varying plot sizes. The biggest change recently has been to the Tabi lot, planted in 2018. Environmental factors have caused a far higher frequency of leaf rush on these trees than we had seen before. In response, the team have decided to undertake a full traditional pruning of the Tabi plot. This will hopefully rejuvenate the trees, and avoid a full defoliation, which would kill the crop.
Shade trees are now well established across the farm, and have created a full canopy atop the Pink Bourbon and Tabis. This sort of shade cover is quite uncommon here in Colombia, but it is an environment which coffee trees adore. We are also renovating a large patch of the land with Pink Bourbon seeds cultivated on the farm. The oldest Gesha plot which we planted many years ago has the widest varience in phenotypical traits. It will be replaced with the Pink Bourbon, and the goal is to plant 3,000 Pink Bourbons where 1,000 Geshas once stood.
From the Gesha phenotypes, we will identify certain traits, and plant a new patch elsewhere. You may remember that we took the same approach with the Stripy Orange Wush Wush. This was a chance characteristic which appeared in spite of the hail, which destroyed our first Wush Wush plot.
Looking towards October's upcoming harvest, the pruned Pink Bourbons are looking very promising. The cherries are already very well developed and we can't wait to harvest. The Sidra trees are set for their small first harvest as well in October, which were planted last September.
Though weather is more changeable than we would expect, things are going well at the farm. Stayed tuned for another update soon, and follow the farm's own Instagram page here.