I don't know how successful you will be to get your tree to fruit.
Cocoa plants are trees that grow to 20 meters & have a wide root system. You can certainly keep your tree potted and small but whether it will fruit is another question.

Ive attached a link about the plant and it's ideal environment. It will give you an idea of the conditions in which it will thrive. Its a plant that grows near the equator so that means really warm and really humid condition. It thrives in jungly conditions (lots of rotten leaves and reach earth) and loves rains. By humid, I mean as wet was a steamy bathroom. I've seen cocoa plantations in the Domiincan Republic and also in SE Asia, so I have experienced that kind of humidity.

Here is a link that might be useful: description of the plant

That's a good link, but it is aimed at commercial production. It does however give a good indication of what ideal conditons are. Cocoa does grow outside the range recommended in that link, good example being Hawaii which is only just within the tropics and well outside the recommended range. Their saving grace is the island climate and high humidity. But that's still is a far cry from zone 7. I have 2 trees (small) which have taught me a lot about their intolerances. Direct sun and high wind with low humidity shows very quickly on them. And they need to be kept pretty constantly moist. Cold shouldn't be an issue if your keeping yours indoors, but low indoor humidity could be a problem. They are a nice looking plant and the young new leaves look great.

Yeah, I keep a mister bottle by the plant and give it a good misting every day while keeping the soil moist.

It grew very well during the summer this year, just going to see if it survives the indoor winter to keep it up.

Hi
There used to be a couple not far from me raised by the agricultural ex. agent.. It was around 8/10 feet and produced 3 pods as I recall it took 11 years to get to that stage .lol. You may be able to do it but wouldn't count on cornering the market lol. Good luck with it !! gary

Here is a video from Logees Greenhouse that tells about growing the cacao inside the greenhouse.

Here is a link that might be useful: cacao tree

This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Thu, Dec 4, 14 at 12:11