Effect of Planting Distances on Shaded Coffee Yield in Puerto Rico

Abstract

An experiment was performed at the Coffee Substation Farm, Adjuntas, P.R., in an Alonso clay. The population per unit area varied from a maximum of 2,419 trees per acre a minimum of 302. Results after 7 years proved that the best planting distance was 3 x 6 feet. This treatment was followed in value by 3 x 3 x 9 feet (double hedge), and 3 x 9 and 6 x 6 feet. The reduction in yield of trees at farther planting distances cannot be attributed exclusively to a decrease in plant population, since treatments with the same number of trees per acre differed in their yields. Correlation studies during the seventh crop did not show any effect of planting distance on the efficiency of picking.