Cashew
Botanical Name - Anacardium occidentale L.
Family - Anacardiaceae

Soil –

• Red sandy loam, lateritic soils and coastal sands with slightly acidic pH are best for cashew. 

Climate –

• The distribution of cashew is restricted to altitudes upto 700 m above mean sea level where the temperature does not fall below 20°C for prolonged period.
• Areas where the temperatures range from 20 to 30°C with an annual precipitation of 1000 – 2000 mm are ideal for cashew growing.

June – December.

The cashew seeds should be soaked in water for 12-24 hours before sowing and the floats are removed those which sink to the bottom should be used for planting.

• Mainly propagated by soft wood grafting, air layering and epicotyl grafting

• Spacing of 5 x 4 m accommodating 500 plants per hectare is recommended.
• Prune the interlocking branches during July-August to maintain the frame.

• Fertilizer application may be done during October – November in the East Coast areas.
• Wherever possible the fertilizer can be applied in two equal split doses during June-July and October-November periods under east coast, with a fertilizer schedule of 1000:125:250 g NPK per tree.

• Normally grown as a rainfed crop.
• Irrigation once in a week from flowering to fruit maturity stage is good to increase the yield.

Plough the interspaces after the receipt of rain and raise either groundnut or pulses or minor millets till the trees reach bearing age.

• Develop the trunk to a height of 1 m by removing low lying branches.
• The dried twigs and branches should be removed every year

• In older cashew plantations, removal of dried or dead wood, criss- cross branches, water shoots etc. should be done at least once in 2-3 years.
• Re-development of canopy is possible by heading back of existing senile trees which have exhausted canopies and erratic growth resulting in reduced yield.
• Heading back if done at 1.0-1.5 m height of the trees new flushes will emerge from dormant buds on remaining trunk and develops into a vigorous new canopy.
• By and large old cashew plantations are of seedling origin and have become senile.
• Such trees can be rejuvenated by grafting with scion sticks of improved and high yielding varieties on new shoots arising on beheaded stumps.
• May-June is the right time for beheading and July-August is for grafting.
• However, preventative measures need to be taken to monitor each plant for the attack of cashew stem and root borer on the top worked trees.

1.Stem borer

1. Collection and destruction of affected shoots
2. Swabbing the bark of exposed roots and shoots with Carbaryl 50 WP 2 g/lit.  or swabbing with a suspension of Carbaryl 50 WP (4 g/lit) can be done up to one meter length in the exposed trunk region after shaving the bark 
3.Remove grubs from early stage infested trees and drench the damage portion with Chlorpyriphos 0.2% @ 10 ml/lit or Neem Oil 5%.

2.Tea mosquito bug

Management-

• Spray application of phosalone 35 EC@ 2.0 ml, followed by carbaryl 50WP @ 2g/l at vegetative flush stage, panicle initiation stage and nut formation stage respectively are recommended for the management of tea mosquito bug.

• Spray schedule involving three rounds of spray viz., first spraying with Profenophos (0.05%) at flushing stage, second spraying with Chlorpyriphos (0.05%) at flowering and third spraying with Carbaryl (0.1%) at fruit set stage is most effective.

3.Shoot caterpillars

Management-

Shoot caterpillar can be controlled by spraying Profemophos 50 EC @ 2 ml/lit.

4.Root borer

Management-

• Root borer can be controlled by pouring tree in the bore holes (Insecticide 5 ml + 5 ml water).

5.Leaf miner

Management-
1. Collect and destroy the damaged plant parts
2. Spray NSKE 5% two rounds, first at new flush formation, second at flower formation

Cashew Processing

• Processing of cashew is defined as the recovery of edible meat portion- the kernel from raw nuts, by manual or mechanical means.
• In India, the processing is by manual means. It consists of; 1. Roasting 2. Shelling 3. Peeling 4.Sweating 5. Grading 6.Packing

1.Die back or Pink disease

Management-

• Prune the affected shoots just below the affected portion and apply Bordeaux paste.
• Spray 1 % Bordeaux mixture or any copper fungicide like Blitox or Fytolan 0.25 % twice i.e. in May – June and again in October as a prophylactic measure.

2.Anthracnose

Management-
1. Remove the affected portions of plant/branches
2. Spray 1 % of Bordeaux mixture + Ferrous sulphate at the time of flush initiation

• The plant starts yielding from 3rd year onwards.
• The peak picking months are March to May.
• Good nuts are grey green, smooth and well filled.
• After picking, the nuts are separated from the apple and dried in the sun for two to three days to bring down the moisture content to 10 to 12 %.
• Properly dried nuts are packed in alkathene bags.
• This will keep for 6 months.

3 – 4 kg / tree / year.

Growing Districts                                 Cuddalore, Ariyalur, Pudukottai, Tirunelveli, Villupuram, Theni
Major markets in Tamil Nadu           Jayankondam, Vridhachalam, Panruti
Grade specification                              White/ Pieces, splits, butts, 320,240,180