Cashew planting technique

Cashew nuts are also known as trees, chicken cashew nuts, and meshou nuts. Evergreen trees with erect trunks, up to 10 m high. Cashew nut is a kind of kidney-shaped nut, which belongs to the family Laceraceae. Cashew nuts are rich in nutritional value, can be fried, can also be used as medicine, for the world famous one of the four dried fruits. It is native to northeastern Brazil and less than 10 degrees south latitude. It was introduced into Asia and Africa in the 16th century and has now spread to countries in East Africa and South Asia. The countries with large cashew planting areas in the world are India, Brazil, Vietnam, Mozambique and Tanzania. In China, cashew nuts are mainly distributed in Hainan and Yunnan, and also introduced in Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian and Taiwan.

Growth habits of cashew nuts

Cashew has strong adaptability and is a temperature-loving and strong positive tree species. Resistant to drought and barren, with a certain ability to resist wind. It is suitable to grow below 400 meters above sea level. The demand for soil is not high, except for poor development on heavy clay and limestone, it can grow in red soil, sandy soil or stony mountain areas where the content of soil organic matter is less than 1%.

Cashew nuts are not cold-resistant and require a high temperature during the growing period. The monthly average temperature of 23-30 ℃ blossoms and bear fruit normally, the growth of 20 ℃ is slow, which is lower than 17 ℃, it is vulnerable to cold injury, and if it is below 15 ℃, it will be seriously damaged to death. The annual sunshine is more than 2000 hours, and the annual precipitation is 1000-1600 mm. It is not suitable to plant in areas where the groundwater level is too high or where there is stagnant water in the rainy season. Avoid overcast and rain during flowering.

The peak growth period usually occurs at the beginning of the rainy season. The main root of 4-5-year-old tree is 5 meters deep, the lateral root is well developed, and the lateral root of 6-year-old tree is about 7 meters long. It blossoms in 2 years after planting, bears fruit in 3 years, enters the full fruit stage after 8 years, and the full fruit period is 15-25 years.

Propagation techniques of cashew nuts

Because of the instability of the yield shape of cashew seedlings, asexual propagation is often used. cashew asexual propagation techniques include striping, cuttings, Hypocotyl grafting, mosaic grafting, leaning grafting, bud grafting, split grafting, cutting, cork grafting, tissue culture and so on.

1. Sowing and reproduction

Soaking seeds with 30mg / 100g indolebutyric acid ITT for 24 hours can increase the seedling rate by 61.11%; soaking seeds with warm water at room temperature 55 ℃ for 24 hours can increase the seedling rate by 50%. In addition, soaking seeds with 60mg / 100g ITT for 24 hours and ADNK for 24 hours could also promote the germination of cashew seeds. Soaking seeds with 90 mg / 100g naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) for 24 hours has the best effect on promoting the height growth of seedlings.

2. Striping propagation

Cashew aerial strip breeding should be carried out in February-April or October-November every year, and the survival rate is the highest, more than 93%. The age of the mother plant of the striping should be less than 10 years old, it can take root 35 days after the pressing, and it can be separated from the mother tree in 45 days. If the mother plant is more than 20 years old, it is difficult to take root after pressing. The best materials for pressing are peat, moss and shavings. Before striping propagation, the mother tree was treated with 0.00025 g / ml vinyl or 0.001 g / ml dwarfin, and then its aerial striping was treated with 0.003-0.005 g / ml ITT and 0.0002 g / ml p-carboxyphenyl methyl, which could promote the rooting of branches and increase the number and length of roots.

3. Tissue culture

Cotyledon explants cultured on the medium supplemented with 0.5mg / L IAA and 0.5mg / L kinetin could directly form organs and formed complete plants after about 5 weeks without further culture and rooting.

Cultivation techniques of Cashew Nut

1. Shaping and pruning

Shaping and pruning can adjust the crown structure and improve the ventilation and light transmission of the tree, so as to increase the fruit setting rate and increase the yield. The principle of young cashew tree pruning is that it should be light rather than heavy, sooner rather than later, using the method of pruning in stages and batches for many times, the effect of pyramid pruning is good.

2. Fertilization management

Although the cashew tree is resistant to barren and drought, the cultivation practice has proved that the cashew tree which likes to grow in the natural state has almost no yield. The yield of mature fruit trees will be doubled after re-fertilization. From the type of fertilization, the yield-increasing effect of mixed application of N, P and K was the best, followed by single application of P, followed by mixed application of N and P. Higher levels of N could prolong the florescence, while higher levels of P and K could shorten the florescence. The annual application of N600g, P200g and K200g per tree can significantly increase the single nut tree, the total yield and kernel yield.

Disease and pest control of cashew

Cashew nuts are endangered by more than 60 kinds of diseases and insect pests at different stages of their growth. Among them, cashew diseases are mainly inflorescence blight, sudden fall disease, gum disease, branch rot leaf rot, leaf rot, yellow leaf spot, leaflet disease and so on; insect pests mainly include cashew bug bug, cashew moth, cashew iron borer, beetle and so on.

Cashew iron borer is a cashew tree stem pest, and its control is best carried out during the spawning period from July to August. The exposed roots of cashew trees can be treated with 0.15% carbaryl or 0.05% monocrotophos.

Beetle larvae are mainly harmful to cashew roots. The best chemical control method is to apply 1 kg stone sulfur mixture per hectare, and the insect population is reduced by 74.4% after 15 days.