Organic Farming Of Cardamom: Keep these things in mind in the cultivation of cardamom, your safe will smell with the garden

India is not only called the queen of spices. The smell of the country's spices has spread to foreign countries, including cardamom, let's know what are the important things to keep in mind for the cultivation of cardamom.

cardamom cultivation

India is famous in the world as the land of spices. This fame is not found yet, but is centuries old. India was considered the golden bird because the soil here spewed various types of wealth, including spices, the aroma of which brought mills to distant countries to India.  

Many countries of the world came to India in search of spices, which included many countries of Europe, Portugal, Greek and Africa. Some of these countries took their possession in India. Cardamom is also one of the same spices category , which is native to the evergreen rain forests of the Western Ghats in South India. It is cultivated in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Cardamom is used for food, confectionery, beverages and wine. Along with this, medicinal properties are also present in it. So let's know, after all, what things need to be given special attention for the cultivation of cardamom.

Keep these things in mind for cardamom cultivation

India is a country with a varied climatic zone, so cardamom should be grown in regions with an annual rainfall of 1500–4000 mm, with a temperature of 10-35 °C and an altitude of 600–1200 m above mean sea level. Is. That is, the one with good rain is favorable for farming.

Deep black loamy soil with high humus content found in forest area is best suited for cultivation. It also grows on laterite soils, loamy soils and black soils with good drainage. Sandy soil is not suitable for cardamom cultivation.

Cardamom is grown in the surrounded leaves of shady trees. Adequate mulch should be used during November-December to reduce the effect of drought, which lasts for about 4-5 months during summer.

How to Cultivate Cardamom

Cardamom seeds should be planted 30-45 cm apart. The beds are prepared by digging the ground till the depth of.

In April-May, pits of size 45x45x30 cm are dug and filled with a mixture of top soil and compost or well decomposed field manure.

Planting is done during the rainy season starting from June. Seeds should be planted till the collar area for better growth. Cloudy days with light drizzle are considered very favorable for planting.

Organic manure like compost or cow dung should be sprayed at the rate of 5 kg per bale.

To overcome drought conditions in summer, irrigation is necessary to ensure maximum production of the crop as it helps in initiating panicle, flower and fruit set. They can be irrigated at an interval of 10-15 days till the onset of monsoon.

Excess shade can also be quite harmful to cardamom plants and shade has to be regulated, to provide 50-60 per cent sunlight. To provide adequate light during monsoon, shade regulation can be done before the onset of monsoon.

First round of weeding should be done in May-June, second in August-September and third in December-January. For example, weedicides should be sprayed around the base of the plants leaving 60 cm between rows.

Remove debris, infected and dead plants etc. in the first months of monsoon, spray Bordeaux mixture during May and repeat again in August.

After the monsoon is over, a thin layer of fresh fertile soil , rich in organic matter, soil can be added at the base of the clump, covering the collar area and scraped between rows or soil from staggered trenches/check pits can collect.

How is Elaiji Harvested?

Cardamom plants usually start bearing fruit two years after planting. The peak harvesting period is during October-November in most areas. Harvesting is done at an interval of 15-25 days. Ripe cardamom is harvested to obtain maximum green color during ripening.

After harvesting, cardamom is dried either in a fuel kiln or in an electric dryer or in the sun. It has been found that soaking freshly cut green cardamom in 2% washing soda solution for 10 minutes before drying helps in retaining the green color during drying.

When drier is used, it should be dried at 45-50 °C for 14-18 hours, while kiln requires drying at 50-60 °C overnight. The cardamom kept for drying is spread thinly and stirred frequently to ensure uniform drying. Dried cardamom is rubbed with hands or coir mats or wire mesh. They are then sorted by size and colour, and stored in black polythene lined sacks to retain the green color during storage.