Cultivation
 Enough cultivation should be provided throughout the years to
 reduce the competition from weeds, whose growth will be
 enhanced by irrigation. Pre-emergent herbicides have been used
 with some success.

 Male:Female Ratios
 Jojoba is a wind-pollinated plant. Only the females produce
 the seed; the males provide the pollen. Thus both male and
 female plants are necessary in the plantation. Since light breezes
 carry the pollen several feet, male plants should be present every
 few feet on the row ranging from 1 male to 7 females to a 1:5
 ratio. The optimum number of male plants per acre and their
 planting pattern may have to be determined on the basis of
 prevailing wind direction, velocity and frequency.


 Seed Production
 Since jojoba is still a wild species, the response of individual
plants to cultivated conditions will vary greatly, and it can be ex-
pected that seed productivity will vary greatly between female
shrubs. The first year of blooming should occur during the plant's
second or third winter. The first seed set will amount to only a
handful with seed production increasing each year until plant
maturity at 10 to 12 years of age.


Harvesting
 At present, most native stands are hand-harvested. Mechanical
harvesting on some plantations is being attempted using
modifications of existing fruit and nut picking equipment such as
plastic nets, sweepers, vacuums, or shakers. Continuing work is
being done with improvements on such equipment.
 Exaggerated claims about the ease of growing jojoba commer-
cially could not be further from the truth. Jojoba will grow with
very little care and sparse water, but the key word is commercial.
There are many factors involved in developing a plantation that
has consistent commercial yield, which is vital to any cash crop.


Site selection is the key to maximum commercial yield. Early
Caribbean commercial producers will benefit most from current
high prices. A price drop will improve prospects for those with
the foresight to plan for it. With careful planning and ongoing
Management of a jojoba investment, your plantation just might
turn you into a unique sort of oil tycoon who capitalizes on a
renewable resource instead of drilling holes in the ground or
destroying majestic sea creatures.

Status ofJojoba Growing in the U.S. Virgin Islands
 The original intention of attempting to grow jojoba on St.
Croix was to have the oil source near existing commercial markets
on the U.S. East Coast, thereby reducing transportation costs of
either seeds or oil. Through the assistance of Dr. Darshan Padda
of the C.V.I. and the Extension Service, two experimental plots
were made available for the planting of seeds, each on successive
years. Each plot was approximately one-half acre in size. The
1981 plantings were started in seed pots while the 1982 plantings
were directly seeded into the ground. In both cases, minimum at-
tention was given to the seedlings after they germinated, i.e., on-
ly rainfall watering, no fertilizer and minimum cultivation. This
was really a difficult test but we wanted them handled under
almost adverse situations. The three year old shrubs, now over a
meter tall, have blossomed and need only to be culled and sorted
by sex to increase production and to allow additional experimen-
tation to occur.
 Another one-half acre planting was made by direct seeding
through the helpful assistance of the Department of Agriculture
in St. Croix. I was advised of total failure of this attempt due to
the cows in an adjacent pasture succeeding in breaking down a
fence and eating the seedlings.


Acknowledgements
 The encouragement and assistance of the University of Arizona, Office
of Arid Lands Studies in Tucson, Arizona, is greatly appreciated. Much
helpful information was provided by them, as regards current projects
and past histories.


VOL. XX-PROCEEDINGS of the CARIBBEAN FOOD CROPS SOCIETY