Cultural operations

• A regular schedule of cultural practices consisting of weeding, mulching, trashing, shade regulation, fertilizer application, irrigation, etc. will have to be undertaken.
• Sufficient mulch should be applied at the base of the plant during December to reduce the ill effects of drought during summer months and to conserve soil moisture.
• Sickle weeding is essential which has to be carried out frequently depending upon the intensity of weeds.
• Forking is necessary in hard soils, which is to be carried out in October- November.
• Trashing (removal of old and dried shoots, leaves and dried panicles) should be taken up once in a year during June-July, with the commencement of monsoon.
• This will help to prevent the spread of diseases and expose the panicles to easy visit by honeybees.
• Soil conservation measures, maintenance of drainage channels and such other operations may be taken up promptly.

Shade

• Since inadequate as well as excessive levels of shade are harmful to the crop, regulation of shade is inevitable.
• There should be sufficient shade to protect cardamom plant during the hot season.
• By regulating the shade before the monsoon, more light becomes available to the plant during the rainy season.
• Red cedar or chandana-vempu (Toona ciliata) is an ideal shade tree.
• It sheds the leaves during rainy season and thus provides natural shade regulation.
• Some of the other ideal shade trees are kurangatti (Acrocarpus fraxinifolius), vellakil (Dysoxylum malabaricum) and thelli (Canarium strictum).

Bee-keeping for better pollination

• The main pollination agent in cardamom is honeybee (Apis cerana indica).
• Maintaining four bee colonies per hectare during the flowering season is recommended for increasing fruit set and production of capsules.