{ "id": "pruning-and-renovation", "url": "https://coffearium.org/entries/pruning-and-renovation/", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "title": "Pruning, stumping and renovation", "summary": "Why coffee plants are cut back, how producers in Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and Laos shape and renew them, and what pruning, stumping and renewal cycles do to the next harvests.", "domain": "farm-management", "kind": "Practice", "stage": "farm", "topics": [ "science" ], "topicSections": {}, "lang": "en", "status": "verified", "reviewer": "Coffearium verification pass", "lastVerified": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "updated": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "added": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "brief": [ "Pruning renews the young wood that bears the next crop; unrenewed plantations lose yield year after year, according to Colombia’s coffee research centre, Cenicafé.1", "In Colombia, stumping (zoca) cuts the stem 30 cm above the soil; production stays low for about 18 months.1,2", "Cenicafé renews a farm in cycles of 5–8 years, for example 20% of the area each year in a five-year cycle.1", "In a Colombian trial, skeleton pruning out-yielded stumping over two harvests, but stumping gives cycles of four to five harvests.2", "In a 2015–2018 Brazilian trial, programmed cycle pruning averaged 37.33 bags per hectare against 25.53 for the traditional low cut (recepa).4" ], "quickFacts": [ { "label": "Stumping height", "value": "30 cm (Colombia); 30–45 cm (Ethiopia trial); 40–60 cm (Brazil); 50 cm (Laos)" }, { "label": "Low crop after stumping", "value": "About 18 months (Colombia); one to two years (Laos)" }, { "label": "Renewal cycle", "value": "5–8 years (Colombia); 3–6 years by plot or row (Costa Rica)" }, { "label": "Topping height", "value": "1.6 m (Laos); 1.80 m (Colombia); 1.60–2.60 m (Brazil)" }, { "label": "Stems per hectare", "value": "Up to 10,000 (Colombia, stumped arabica); 9,000–14,000 (Brazil, conilon)" } ], "aka": [ "Coffee pruning", "Stumping", "Renovation of coffee plantations", "Zoca" ], "linkTerms": [ "pruning", "pruned", "stumping", "stumped", "zoca", "skeleton pruning", "esqueletamiento", "esqueletamento", "recepa", "decote", "descope", "topping", "capping", "programmed cycle pruning", "renewal cycle", "renovation" ], "related": [ "branching-and-fruiting-wood", "overbearing-and-dieback", "planting-density-and-layout", "coffee-yields", "nutrition-and-fertilisation", "coffee-berry-borer", "shade-and-agroforestry", "coffea-arabica", "coffea-canephora", "harvest-calendars" ], "contested": [ "How long the crop is lost after stumping: Cenicafé reports low production for the first 18 months after zoca in Colombia1; a 2005 FAO manual for Laos states that after full stumping the crop is lost for one and most often two years.7 The two describe different regions, varieties and cutting heights.", "Stem density for the highest yield: a 2015–2018 Brazilian trial on arabica estimated about 12,531 stems per hectare under programmed cycle pruning4; Cenicafé gives 10,000 stems per hectare as the maximum for four-harvest cycles of stumped arabica in Colombia.3 Spacing, variety and pruning system differ between the two." ], "corrections": [ { "date": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "The FAO manual for Laos lists five aims of pruning, not four; the missing aim (balance between leaf area and crop) was added.", "reason": "Verification against the source." }, { "date": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Brazilian arabica trial: the claim that every programmed cycle pruning treatment out-yielded recepa was reworded to the mean yields, the control described as one predominant stem per plant, and 12,531 stems/ha marked as a regression estimate.", "reason": "The paper tested the pooled treatments against the control by one contrast and estimated the optimum from a regression." }, { "date": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Incaper's 20% yield and 32% labour figures are now attributed as Incaper's statements without published trial data; the ten-harvest period applies to labour only.", "reason": "The booklet gives no basis for either figure and states the period only for labour." }, { "date": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z", "change": "Conilon pruning dates corrected (0–90 days after harvest for early clones, shorter ranges for later ones); Ethiopian yield differences between pruning types noted as not reported significant.", "reason": "Verification against the sources." } ], "sources": [ { "id": "s1", "title": "Renovación y administración de los cafetales para estabilizar la producción de la finca", "authors": "Arcila Pulgarín, J.", "year": 2007, "publisher": "In: Arcila Pulgarín, J. et al. (eds), Sistemas de producción de café en Colombia, Cenicafé, ch. 7", "url": "https://www.cenicafe.org/es/documents/LibroSistemasProduccionCapitulo7.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Cenicafé (Colombia’s national coffee research centre) is A for its own research publications.", "quote": "La producción de lotes renovados por siembra y zoqueados es igual.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s2", "title": "Sistemas de renovación de cafetales para recuperar y estabilizar la producción", "authors": "Rendón Sáenz, J. R.", "year": 2016, "publisher": "Cenicafé, Avance Técnico 463", "url": "https://biblioteca.cenicafe.org/bitstream/10778/701/1/avt0463.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Cenicafé (Colombia’s national coffee research centre) is A for its own research publications.", "quote": "El corte del tallo se hace a 30 cm sobre el suelo.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s3", "title": "Determine la densidad de tallos en zocas de café", "authors": "Rendón Sáenz, J. R.", "year": 2017, "publisher": "Cenicafé, Avance Técnico 484", "url": "https://biblioteca.cenicafe.org/bitstream/10778/4210/1/AVT0484.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Cenicafé (Colombia’s national coffee research centre) is A for its own research publications.", "quote": "el máximo número de tallos por hectárea para ciclos de producción de cuatro cosechas es 10.000", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s4", "title": "Cycle pruning programmed on the grain yield of arabica coffee", "authors": "Baitelle, D. C.; Verdin Filho, A. C.; Freitas, S. de J.; Miranda, G. B.; Vieira, H. D.; Vieira, K. M.", "year": 2019, "publisher": "Ciência e Agrotecnologia 43, e014419", "url": "https://www.scielo.br/pdf/cagro/v43/1981-1829-cagro-43-e014419.pdf", "doi": "10.1590/1413-7054201943014419", "tier": "A", "quote": "The traditional pruning systems employed in Arabica coffee are esqueletamento, recepa and decote.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s5", "title": "Poda Programada de Ciclo para o Café Conilon – PPC: Técnica para Produção e Revigoramento de Lavouras", "authors": "Verdin Filho, A. C.; Volpi, P. S.; Fonseca, A. F. A. da; Ferrão, M. A. G.; Ferrão, R. G.; Comério, M.; Senra, J. F.; Posse, S. C. P.; Machado, J. S. S.; Batista, T. S.", "year": 2022, "publisher": "Incaper, Documentos 291 (ISSN 1519-2059), Vitória, Espírito Santo", "url": "https://www.infoteca.cnptia.embrapa.br/infoteca/bitstream/doc/1145513/1/Doc291-PPC-Conilon-Incaper.pdf", "tier": "A", "tierNote": "Numbered technical series with ISSN of Incaper, the state agricultural research institute of Espírito Santo; A for its own official recommendations (stem numbers, steps). Its yield and labour gains are stated without trial data and are given only as Incaper’s statements.", "quote": "A eliminação das hastes verticais inicia-se somente a partir da terceira ou quarta colheita,", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s6", "title": "The effects of pruning at different times on the growth, photosynthesis and yield of conilon coffee (Coffea canephora) clones with varying patterns of fruit maturation in southeastern Brazil", "authors": "Morais, L. E.; Cavatte, P. C.; Medina, E. F.; Silva, P. E. M.; Martins, S. C. V.; Volpi, P. S.; Andrade Júnior, S.; Machado Filho, J. A.; Ronchi, C. P.; DaMatta, F. M.", "year": 2012, "publisher": "Experimental Agriculture 48(2), 210–221", "url": "https://biblioteca.incaper.es.gov.br/digital/bitstream/item/512/1/coffee2012ExpAgric-1-JOSE-ALTINO.pdf", "doi": "10.1017/S0014479711001141", "tier": "A", "quote": "The yield data, expressed in kilograms of processed coffee per hectare, refer to the average of three harvests.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s7", "title": "Arabica coffee manual for Lao-PDR", "authors": "Winston, E.; Op de Laak, J.; Marsh, T.; Lempke, H.; Chapman, K.", "year": 2005, "publisher": "FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok (ch. 5, Pruning and tree management)", "url": "https://www.fao.org/3/ae939e/ae939e07.htm", "tier": "A", "quote": "Arabica coffee should be grown as a single stem system.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s8", "title": "Pruning and fertilising effects on yield and yield components of arabica coffee in its centre of origin in southwest Ethiopia", "authors": "Taha Mohammed; Mohammed Worku", "year": 2025, "publisher": "The Journal of Agricultural Science 163(5), 493–502", "url": "https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-agricultural-science/article/pruning-and-fertilizing-effects-on-yield-and-yield-components-of-arabica-coffee-in-its-centre-of-origin-in-southwest-ethiopia/ADF6DF38A87F460AD1AC449A86725B76", "doi": "10.1017/S002185962510021X", "tier": "A", "quote": "Stumping and heavy pruning showed a much higher number of primary branches and fruiting nodes per tree than did light pruning.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s9", "title": "Manejo sostenible de la broca del café (Hypothenemus hampei) mediante poda sistemática del cafeto en Costa Rica", "authors": "Rojas, M.", "year": 2012, "publisher": "Agronomía Costarricense 36(2), 71–79", "url": "https://www.scielo.sa.cr/pdf/ac/v36n2/a05v36n2.pdf", "tier": "A", "quote": "It was concluded that pruning per plot, as well as per row, makes it possible to concentrate the coffee berry borer in small areas of the coffee plantation, which contributes to pest control management.", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" }, { "id": "s10", "title": "Ecophysiology of coffee growth and production", "authors": "DaMatta, F. M.; Ronchi, C. P.; Maestri, M.; Barros, R. S.", "year": 2007, "publisher": "Brazilian Journal of Plant Physiology 19(4), 485–510", "url": "https://scielo.br/j/bjpp/a/xSBXnvrDDczyDbBtzspGs3v", "doi": "10.1590/S1677-04202007000400014", "tier": "A", "quote": "biennial production is reduced or buffered in conilon due to the periodical pruning", "quotes": [], "accessed": "2026-10-23T00:00:00.000Z" } ], "markdown": "## Why coffee is pruned\n\nA coffee plant bears its crop on wood grown the year before.1 So the main fruiting zone moves up the stem and out along the branches every year.1 The plant biology is explained in Branching and fruiting wood.\n\nAs the plant ages, the fruit ends up at the tips, where pickers reach it with difficulty.1 Plants also compete for space, light and resources.1 Without renewal, production declines year after year, according to Cenicafé, Colombia’s national coffee research centre.1 High and low crops also alternate more strongly in older plantations.1\n\nA 2005 manual from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for Laos lists five aims of pruning.7 Pruning supplies healthy wood for the next season’s crop and keeps a balance between leaf area and crop. It helps to prevent overbearing and die-back, reduces biennial bearing and keeps a good tree shape.7 Overbearing and die-back are covered in their own entry.\n\n## One stem or several\n\nPlants are trained with one stem or with several.7,1 The FAO manual for Laos states that arabica should be grown as a single stem.7 The stem is capped, or topped, at about 1.6 m above the soil, just above a side branch.7 Topping stops the plant growing taller.1\n\nOther systems keep several upright stems on one root. In Colombia, the number of stems kept after stumping depends on planting density.1 At 2,500 plants per hectare up to three stems may stay, at 5,000 two, and at 10,000 one.1 Conilon, the type of *C. canephora* grown in Brazil, is grown with several stems per plant.6 How spacing and stem number are planned is covered in Planting density and layout.\n\n## Cutting back: from skeleton pruning to stumping\n\nPruning systems differ in how much wood they remove.1,4 A Brazilian study names three traditional systems for arabica.4 Esqueletamento trims the side branches about 40 cm from the stem. Recepa cuts all stems about 40–60 cm above the soil. Decote cuts the top of the stem at 1.60–2.60 m.4\n\nCenicafé describes similar cuts in Colombia. In skeleton pruning (esqueletamiento), the stem is topped at 1.80 m. The branches are cut back to 20–40 cm, and suckers on the stem are removed.2 The shortened branches then grow new secondary branches.2\n\n
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  1. Topping cut: across the stem, at 1.80 m in Colombia; 1.60–2.60 m in Brazil.2,4
    2. \n
  2. Branch cut: each side branch is cut back to 20–40 cm from the stem.2
    3. \n
  3. Sucker removed: upright shoots on the stem are cut off.2
    4. \n
  4. Bare inner wood: nodes that have already fruited.1
    5. \n
  5. Fruit near the branch ends: in old plants the crop sits at the tips.1
    6. \n
  6. Lost lower branches: crowding kills side branches low on the plant.4
    7. \n
  7. Topped stem: the plant no longer grows taller.1,2
    8. \n
  8. Branch stubs: what remains of each side branch.2
    9. \n
  9. New secondary shoots: grow from the stubs and carry later crops.2
    10. \n
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Skeleton pruning with topping on an old arabica plant, before (A) and after, with first regrowth (B). Point at a part, its number or its name to highlight it. Schematic, not to scale.
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\n\nStumping is the most drastic renewal.1 In Colombia the zoca removes the whole plant above a stump 30 cm high.1,2 A stump this high can produce 15–20 new shoots, from which the strongest are kept.1 In a variant, the zoca pulmón, the stem is cut at 60 cm and the lower branches stay on.1\n\nStumping costs at least one crop.1,7 In Colombia, stumped plants produce little for the first 18 months.1 The FAO manual for Laos describes full stumping at knee height, 500 mm above the soil. It states that the crop is then lost for one and most often two years.7 Brazilian researchers call the missing crop after heavy pruning the “zero harvest”.4\n\n## Renewal in cycles\n\nRenewing in parts avoids losing the whole crop at once.1 Cenicafé divides the plantation into parts and renews one part each year.1 Its cycles last 5–8 years.1 In a five-year cycle, 20% of the plantation is renewed each year; in a four-year cycle, 25%.1\n\nCosta Rican farms use the same idea by plot or by row. The farm is divided into equal parts according to the length of the cycle: 3, 4, 5 or 6 years.9 In a four-year row cycle, each plot is split into groups of four rows. The rows are cut low in the order 1, 3, 2, 4.9\n\n
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A published row scheme from Costa Rica. In each group of four rows, one row is cut low each year in the order 1, 3, 2, 4. Each row is renewed every four years.9
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\n\n## Renovate or replant\n\nAn old plantation can be renewed by stumping or replaced by new plants. In Colombia, plots renewed by stumping and plots replanted produce the same, according to Cenicafé.1 Stumping costs about half as much as replanting, in an analysis cited by Cenicafé.1\n\nThe best time to renew depends on planting density.1 In Colombian data for Caturra in full sun, the best age was five years at 10,000 plants per hectare.1 It was six years at 5,000 and seven years at 2,500 plants per hectare.1 The rule behind it is to renew before the plant passes the age of its highest average yield.1\n\n\n\n## How the plant responds to a cut\n\nPruning works through the plant’s fixed architecture (see Branching and fruiting wood).1 The first bud at each stem node forms its pair of primary branches only once. New upright wood therefore comes from stem buds, and buds on branches give only horizontal growth.1 A stumped plant rebuilds from new shoots on the stump.1 Its cycle of forming branches and nodes is the same as that of a newly planted coffee plant, so the first harvest comes at about 18 months.1\n\nLight inside the canopy affects where the plant fruits.10 A 2007 review states that falling radiant flux density inside denser canopies shifts the fruiting zone upwards.10 In conilon, biennial production is reduced or buffered by periodic pruning, the same review notes.10 Shade also decreases profuse floral initiation, overbearing and biennial production.10\n\n## Colombian renewal systems compared\n\nCenicafé describes a range of cuts.1,2\n\n- **Zoca (low pruning):** stem cut at 30 cm; the most drastic renewal.1\n- **Zoca pulmón:** stem cut at 60 cm, lower branches left whole or partly pruned.1\n- **High pruning:** the plant cut at 0.8–2.0 m, depending on its condition.1\n- **Calavera:** primary branches removed wholly or in part, to about 10 cm; the stem left free or topped above 1.80 m.1,2\n- **Esqueletamiento:** stem topped at 1.80 m, branches cut back to 20–40 cm, stem suckers removed.2\n- **Descope:** topping only, to stop vertical growth, mainly in tall varieties.1\n\nThe cuts trade early yield against cycle length.2 In a Cenicafé trial with the variety Castillo at two stations, spaced 1 × 2 m with two stems per site, pulmón and skeleton pruning out-yielded zoca over two harvests.2 The difference was significant at both stations.2 An earlier exploratory comparison with the variety Colombia at seven stations put zoca lowest at four of them.2\n\n
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Accumulated yield of the first two harvests after three renewal methods, variety Castillo, at two Cenicafé stations in Colombia, kg dry parchment coffee per hectare. Within each station, zoca differed significantly from the other two.2
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\n\nCycle length changes the comparison.2 Pulmón, calavera and skeleton pruning allow at most two harvests per cycle; zoca allows four to five.2 Calavera and pulmón exhaust the plants faster than zoca, and Cenicafé therefore prefers zoca for stable long-term production.2\n\nStem density after stumping was tested in a separate Cenicafé trial. Leaving many shoots at stumping and thinning them later did not raise productivity in any treatment.3 For four-harvest cycles, the maximum is 10,000 stems per hectare.3 Shoots are pre-selected three months after stumping and finally selected a month later.1\n\n## Programmed cycle pruning in Brazil\n\nHeavy use of esqueletamento, recepa and decote lowers yield in the following year, up to a “zero harvest”. It also reduces the root system and can kill plants.4 An economic study cited in the same paper found an internal rate of return of only 3.61% for coffee managed with recepa.4\n\nProgrammed cycle pruning renews the plant in parts.5 For conilon, Incaper, the state research institute of Espírito Santo, recommends 9,000–14,000 stems per hectare.5 After each harvest, side branches that have reached about 70% of their potential production are removed.5 Removal of upright stems starts only at the third or fourth harvest. Then 50–75% of the least productive stems go, and the rest follow a year later.5\n\nIncaper gives a worked example. A field of 3,000 plants per hectare with four stems each has 12,000 stems. Of these, 9,000 are removed right after the fourth harvest and the remaining 3,000 after the fifth.5 The plants are renewed keeping on average three new shoots about 90 days old.5 Incaper states that the method raises average yield by more than 20% and cuts labour by 32% on average over ten harvests; the booklet does not give the trial data behind these figures.5\n\nThe method has also been tested on arabica.4 In a trial at 634 m in Espírito Santo, Brazil, 12-year-old Catuaí Vermelho IAC 81 was spaced 2.5 × 1.0 m and grown without irrigation.4 Programmed cycle pruning at 4,000–16,000 stems per hectare was compared with traditional recepa, in which one stem predominates per plant.4 Over the 2015–2018 harvests it averaged 37.33 bags per hectare against 25.53 for recepa (bag weight not stated). The authors’ regression put the highest yield at an estimated 12,531 stems per hectare.4\n\nIn one conilon study, the pruning date made no difference to yield.6 At Marilândia, Espírito Santo, clones were pruned 0–90 days after harvest: up to 90 days for early-ripening clones, up to 60 or 30 days for later ones. Yield was not significantly affected by the pruning date in any clone.6 Mean yields over three harvests ranged from 2,082 to 3,984 kg processed coffee per hectare between clones.6\n\n## Stumping elsewhere\n\n**Ethiopia.** A trial in Kaffa Zone, south-west Ethiopia, at about 1,774 m, renewed a 16-year-old plantation of variety 74112 at 3,200 trees per hectare.8 Stumping cut the stems at 30–45 cm and kept two or three new stems. Heavy pruning cut old stems at 100–120 cm.8 Stumping and heavy pruning gave more primary branches and fruiting nodes per tree than light pruning.8 Mean green coffee yields over 2019–2021 were 1.17 t/ha after heavy pruning, 1.07 after stumping and 1.04 after light pruning; the paper does not report these differences as significant.8\n\n**Laos.** The 2005 FAO manual recommends rejuvenation, normally at six to seven years.7 It prefers side pruning to full stumping. All branches on the eastern side are removed after harvest, and a new sucker 300–450 mm above the soil is trained. Two years later the old stem is cut above the new one, at a 45° angle.7 Only half the crop is lost over the two-year period, against one to two full crops after stumping.7\n\n## Pests, timing and hygiene\n\nRenewal cycles change where pests concentrate.9 In Costa Rica, coffee berry borer attack was 48% lower on one-year-old branches than on two-year-old ones, in plots pruned every three years.9 In a three-year row system, spraying only one row group, 33% of the area, saved 30% of application time, 40% of insecticide and 36.5% of spray water.9 The pest itself is described in Coffee berry borer.\n\nCenicafé times stumping for the end of the main harvest, preferably in the dry season.1 All fruit should be picked before stumping, to control the berry borer.1 According to Cenicafé, the direction in which the stump is cut at an angle does not matter.1\n\n## Reference values\n\n| Parameter | Value | Conditions | Source |\n|---|---|---|---|\n| Stumping height | 30 cm | Zoca, arabica, Colombia | Cenicafé1,2 |\n| Stumping height | 60 cm, lower branches kept | Zoca pulmón, Colombia | Cenicafé1 |\n| Stumping height | 40–60 cm | Recepa, arabica, Brazil | Baitelle et al.4 |\n| Stumping height | 30–45 cm, 2–3 new stems | Arabica 74112, Ethiopia | Taha & Worku8 |\n| Stumping height | 500 mm | Full stumping, arabica, Laos | Winston et al.7 |\n| Shoots on a 30 cm stump | 15–20 | Colombia | Cenicafé1 |\n| Stems kept per site | 3 / 2 / 1 at 2,500 / 5,000 / 10,000 plants/ha | Zoca, Colombia | Cenicafé1 |\n| Maximum stems per hectare | 10,000 | Four-harvest cycles after zoca, Colombia | Rendón Sáenz3 |\n| Topping height | ≈1.6 m | Single stem, Laos | Winston et al.7 |\n| Topping height | 1.80 m | Esqueletamiento, Colombia | Rendón Sáenz2 |\n| Topping height | 1.60–2.60 m | Decote, Brazil | Baitelle et al.4 |\n| Branch stub length | 20–40 cm | Esqueletamiento, Colombia | Rendón Sáenz2 |\n| Branch stub length | ≈40 cm | Esqueletamento, Brazil | Baitelle et al.4 |\n| Low production after stumping | first 18 months | Zoca, Colombia | Cenicafé1 |\n| Crop lost after stumping | 1, most often 2 years | Full stumping, Laos | Winston et al.7 |\n| Harvests per cycle | 4–5 (zoca); ≤2 (calavera, pulmón, esqueletamiento) | Colombia | Rendón Sáenz2 |\n| Renewal cycle | 5–8 years; 20% of area per year in a 5-year cycle | Colombia | Cenicafé1 |\n| Renewal cycle | 3, 4, 5 or 6 years, by plot or row | Costa Rica | Rojas9 |\n| Renewal age at highest mean yield | 5 / 6 / 7 years at 10,000 / 5,000 / 2,500 plants/ha | Caturra, full sun, Colombia (cited analysis) | Cenicafé1 |\n| Rejuvenation interval | 6–7 years | Arabica, Laos | Winston et al.7 |\n| Stems per hectare | 9,000–14,000 | Programmed cycle pruning, conilon, Brazil | Incaper5 |\n| Side branches removed | at ≈70% of potential production | Programmed cycle pruning, Brazil | Incaper5; Baitelle et al.4 |\n| Stem density at highest yield | ≈12,531 stems/ha | Programmed cycle pruning, arabica, Brazil | Baitelle et al.4 |\n| Yield, programmed cycle pruning vs recepa | 37.33 vs 25.53 bags/ha (mean 2015–2018; bag weight not stated) | Catuaí Vermelho IAC 81, 634 m, Brazil | Baitelle et al.4 |\n| Yield, two harvests after renewal | 4,897.5–7,785.0 kg dry parchment/ha | Castillo, two stations, Colombia | Rendón Sáenz2 |\n| Yield, mean 2019–2021 | 1.04–1.17 t green coffee/ha | Three pruning types, Ethiopia | Taha & Worku8 |\n| Cost of zoca vs replanting | ≈50% lower | Colombia (cited analysis) | Cenicafé1 |\n\n## Open questions\n\n- **Long-term yield of programmed cycle pruning on arabica.** The Brazilian arabica trial covered four harvests at one site.4 No study consulted for this entry followed it over several full cycles or at other altitudes.\n- **Costs in money.** No study consulted for this entry gives the cost of pruning, stumping or replanting per hectare in a currency; the sources give only relative figures.\n- **Bent-stem training.** Training upright stems by bending them (agobio) is used in multi-stem systems, but no source consulted for this entry describes it, so it is left out.\n\n## Key studies\n\n
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Rendón Sáenz, 2016 – Renewal systems in Colombia. Compared zoca, pulmón, calavera and skeleton pruning at Cenicafé stations. Pulmón and skeleton pruning gave more coffee over the first two harvests, but zoca gave cycles of four to five harvests and exhausted the plants less.

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Cenicafé, Avance Técnico 463 · PDF

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Baitelle et al., 2019 – Programmed cycle pruning on arabica. Tested stem densities of 4,000–16,000 per hectare with annual or biennial removal of exhausted branches on Catuaí in Espírito Santo, Brazil. On average the programmed treatments out-yielded traditional recepa over four harvests, with the highest yield estimated at about 12,531 stems per hectare.

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Ciência e Agrotecnologia 43, e014419 · doi:10.1590/1413-7054201943014419

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Taha & Worku, 2025 – Pruning and fertiliser in south-west Ethiopia. Renewed an old plantation by stumping, heavy or light pruning, combined with four fertiliser rates. Stumping and heavy pruning gave more branches and fruiting nodes than light pruning, and the lowest fertiliser rate gave the best agronomic efficiency.

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The Journal of Agricultural Science 163(5), 493–502 · doi:10.1017/S002185962510021X

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Rojas, 2012 – Pruning cycles and the berry borer. Surveyed 29 Costa Rican plantations under plot and row pruning cycles and ran a field trial. Borer attack was lower on younger branches, so spraying only the older rows saved insecticide, water and time without more damage.

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Agronomía Costarricense 36(2), 71–79 · PDF

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Morais et al., 2012 – When to prune conilon. Pruned conilon clones 0–90 days after harvest in Espírito Santo, Brazil, and followed growth, photosynthesis and yield. The pruning date did not change yield in any clone.

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Experimental Agriculture 48(2), 210–221 · doi:10.1017/S0014479711001141

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