The Cashew Nut tree (Anacardium occidentale) is a tropical evergreen tree that produces the cashew seed and the cashew apple. The tree can grow as high as 14 m but the grafted cashew growing up to 6 m. The fruit is an oval or pear-shaped structure, a hypocarpium, that develops from the pedicel and the receptacle of the cashew flower called as cashew apple(Cashew apple is high in Vitamin C, refreshing, very juicy, but a bit acidic) The true fruit of the cashew is a kidney shaped drupe that grows at the end of the cashew apple. The drupe develops first on the tree, and then the pedicel expands to become the cashew apple. The true fruit contains a single seed, which is often considered a nut in the culinary sense. Cashew is a tropical plant thrives even at high temperature. Young plants are sensitive to frost.
MAXIMUM HEIGHT - Upto 6-8 meter, some time more or less depends on climatic conditions of particular area.
BLOOMING TIME - Flowering start from October/November.
FRUITING TIME- Bearing commences after the 3rd year of planting and It takes 2-4 months to develop fruits.
Growing Tips of Cashewnut Plants
- Planting of grafted plants is usually carried out during the monsoon season.
- Fruiting is only encouraged from the third year, prior to this de-blossoming has to be carried out.
- Application of any organic manure/compost once in every 2 month is generally recommended for cashew.
- Until tree canopies shade out the weeds, weeding is essential around the tree trunks up to a radius of about 2 m.
- Training of young trees during the first three years is essential to develop uniform canopies.
- Cashew tree loves to grow in hot and humid climate and during the initial days it is very susceptible to frost.
- If pruning is done then a standard practice is to smear all cut surfaces with Bordeaux mixture paste (10 %) to prevent fungal infections and die-back.