How to grow Arecanut plantation

ବିଶେଷଜ୍ଞ ପ୍ରବନ୍ଧଗୁଡିକ ।

ଫାର୍ମରାଇଜ୍ ଦଳ, Sep 16, 2021

Many farmers in Karnataka and Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and other states are planning to plant Arecanut plantations due to good profits and returns. Are you interested in growing the Arecanut crop? Please find important suggestions below.

Soil & Climate condition required

Areca nut grows well in less fluctuating temperatures within the range of 15°C and 35°C and is adversely affected by temperatures below 10°C and above 40°C. Areca nut is very sensitive to high temperature and water stagnation.

Varieties for cultivation

There are few recognized promising local verities that adapt well to the local environmental conditions and are generally tall growing in nature and takes about 6 years forbearing. They are Thirthahalli Local, South Kenra Local, Shriwardhan and Hirehalli.There are few Improved verities that are developed by various universities and these improved verities come for bearing early and produce homogeneous sized nuts and have better yielding capacity.

How to grow Arecanut plantation

Varieties suitable for

Raising of Seedlings

Areca nut can be propagated only from seeds and below are the steps to be followed

Selection of mother palm

Early bearing, regular bearing, growing more number of leaves, shorter internodes and high fruit set are the ideal characters of mother palm and it should be free from pest and diseases and should be of middle age.

Selection of seed nut

Soil & Climate condition required

Nursery management

Selected whole nut should be sown immediately after harvesting into the nursery bed with 10 cm spacing between nuts and should be watered daily. Nuts should be vertically sown with Calyx-end (stalk-end) facing upwards and a thin layer of sand is covered over it and the nursery bed should be mulched with paddy straw or areca leaf. After 3 months seedling should be transplanted into a secondary nursery bed with 30 X 30 cm spacing or can be directly transplanted in to 150-gauge Polythene bags of size 25 X 15 cm filled with a mixture of Topsoil: FYM: Sand in the ratio of 7:3:2. Seedlings should be always kept in shade and irrigated regularly.

Selection of seedlings

Seedlings raised in polybags, establishes well in the main field, 12 to 16 months old seedling with 5 or more leaves with “less height” and “more collar girth” should be selected for planting.

Varieties for cultivation

Season of Planting

Planting is generally done during May – June, as the onset of monsoon rain. And in areas with very severe monsoon rains like in western coastal areas and in areas with poor water drainage, planting should be done in September - October month and seedling should be regularly irrigated until the rain starts.

Shading

Areca nut seedlings are highly susceptible to sun scorching, so areca leaf sheath or leaf should be used with the help of wooden pegs to support to block the direct sunlight which comes during the afternoon to evening time (12 pm to 4 pm) from the south and south-west direction. Only the sunlight falling area should be covered and remain side should be kept open for airflow. Shade can also be provided by growing banana crops between the rows of areca nut seedlings.

Varieties suitable for

Coastal Climate : Mangala, Sumangala, Sreemangala, Sarwamangala, Vittal Areca Hybrid1 & 2 West Bengal: Mohit Nagar Assam and North east : Kahikuchi (VTL-64) Andaman & Nicobar : Calicut-17

Inter-Cultural Operations

After monsoon rains are over in the month of October – November, weeding should be done and light digging / ploughing is done to break the hard soil crust, once in 2 years based on the soil pH Lime or Gypsum is added during this light ploughing to maintain the soil at neutral pH.

Irrigation

The sprinkler irrigation system is good if intercrop is grown along with areca nut and if there is an adequate source of water. Drip irrigation should be used if water shortage is faced especially during the summer season, drip uses 1/10th of water used in sprinklers. With the drip system installed, recommended NPK and micronutrient fertilizers can be given along with water by splitting the recommended dosage into 10 parts and should be applied once in 20 days from November to May to get better results.

Raising of Seedlings

Areca nut can be propagated only from seeds and below are the steps to be followed

During the initial 5 years after planting, intercropping of Banana is done as it also provides good shade for seedings, other than this intercropping of vegetables, flower crops, medicinal plants & Legumes can be done during the initial 5 years. Growing Intercrop controls weeds and can be used as green manure and mulching. Legumes also help in soil nitrogen fixation. 5 years after planting areca nut trees, crops like Black pepper, Betel vine and Vanilla can be grown as a mixed crops with the support of the areca nut tree by planting at the base of the tree. Based on climatic conditions crops like Banana, Lemon, Orange, Cocoa, Cardamom, Coffee can be grown by planting one plant in the space between 4 areca nut trees. On the borders of the orchard, timber trees, perineal fruit trees, spice trees and coconut can be grown.

Harvesting

The first inflorescence which comes before 3 years after planting should be removed, to let plant have good vegetative growth. Harvesting can be done with long poles in the initial years, but to harvest from fully grown trees skilled climbers are needed who can harvest from 100 trees per day. Areca nut trees give economical yield from 7th year and up to 40th year in well maintained orchards, after 40 years the yield decrease and not economical considering the maintenance cost. When the tree becomes old a new seedling should be planted next to the old tree and once the new plant starts yielding the old uneconomical tree should be cut down.

Processing & Yield

Selection of mother palm

Diseases caused in betel nut, and their prevention, we will publish in the next section. stay with us

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