Small Cardamom

Taxonomy
• Botanical name: Elettaria cardamomum
• Family: Zingiberaceae
• Chromosome no. 2n= 48
• Origin: Western Ghats of India
• Other vernacular names: Choti Elaichi
• It is also known as Queen of Spices.

Uses
• It is used as a spice in culinary preparations and confectionery and also finds use as
medicine.
• The oil contained in the seeds and pods are used in perfumes and as a stimulant.
• Used as masticatory and flavourant
• Value added products:
• Essential oil and oleoresin
• White or bleached cardamom
• Coated cardamom

Area, Production, Productivity of Small Cardamom

• Guatemala, India, Srilanka, Tanzania, El Salvador, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Papua New
Guinea are the major cardamom growing countries.
• India ranks 2nd in small cardamom production after Guatemala
• Area: 85.91 thousand ha
• Production: 34.80 thousand MT
• Productivity: 0.41 t/ha
• Major states producing Small cardamom: Kerala, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Nagaland, WB, Karnataka, Manipur

Major Indian states producing S. cardamom (2022-23)

Area (000 ha) Production (000 MT) Productivity (MT/ha)

Kerala 40.35 22.17 0.55
Sikkim 22.17 5.63 0.25
Arunachal Pradesh 7.74 2.52 0.33
Tamil Nadu 5.22 0.48 0.09
Nagaland 3.99 2.26 0.57

Export Potential
• World’s third-most-expensive spice after vanilla and saffron
• India consumes almost 90% of the domestic production of cardamom.
• About 5-8% of its total production, is exported, mostly the premium grade.
• India also exports value added products of cardamom like cardamom oil, and oleoresins to
the European countries.
• Saudi Arabia, Japan, Malaysia, UK, Kuwait are the major countries that import cardamom
and value added products of cardamom from India. Saudi Arabia (42%) followed by Japan
( 39%) are the largest markets for Indian cardamom.
 • The export of small cardamom showed an upward trend during the first half of 2020-21, with
a volume of 1900 MT valued at Rs 56.52 crores, registering an increase of 483 per cent in
value terms and 369 per cent in quantitative terms.

Botany (S. cardamom)

• It is a Pseophyte, Herbaceous perennial (2-5 m ht.) having under-ground rhizomes
(subterranean).
• The areal pseudostem is made of leaf sheaths called tillers.
• Inflorescence is a long panicle with racemose clusters arising from the under-ground stem,
but comes up above the soil.
• Flowers are bisexual, fragrant and cross pollinated (due to stigma protrusion above stamens).
• Fruit is trilocular capsule.
• Seeds are 15-20 per capsule with a hard seed coat.
• Flower initiation: March-April.
• Takes nearly 30 days to full bloom.
• And 5-6 months from full bloom to maturity.
• Principle pollinating agent: Honey bee (Apis cerena and Apis dorsata)
• Flower remains open for 15-18 hrs maximum pollen receptivity during morning.
• Stigma receptivity and pollen viability are maximum during morning hours.
• Four to five bee hives per hectare should be maintained.
• Use of pesticides or any other chemicals should be properly handled in order to not to
damage the bee.

Type
Based on size of fruit, two varieties are broadly recognized:
• E. c. var major: consists of wild indigenous types
• E. c. var minior: consists of cultivated type vz. Mysore, Malabar and Vazhukka (Vazhukka type
is a natural cross between Mysore and Malabar)
Particulars Mysore Type Malabar Type Vazhukka Type

Plant Stature Robust (3-4 m height) Medium Size (upto 2.7 m) Robust
Panicle Erect Prostrate Semi-erect
Capsule Bold, elongated Round to oblong Round to oblong
Adaptability Higher Altitudes (900- Lower Altitudes (600-900 m Wide Range (900-
1200 m above MSL) above MSL) 1200 m above MSL)
Places grown Kerala (Idukki district) Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Kerala
Karnataka

Variety

1. Mysore Type: ICRI-2

2. Malabar type: Coorg cardamom Malabar Selection 1, ICRI-1, ICRI-3, Mudigree-1, PV-1, SKP-1,
Appangala, Kodagu Cardamom-Suvasini, IISR Vijetha (Resistant to Katte disese), IISR-Avinash
(Resistant to Rhizome rot), TDK-4, TDK-11
3. Vazhukka Type: PV-2, Njallani Green Gold, MCC-12, MCC-16, MCC-40

Climate
 • Natural habitat of cardamom is evergreen forests of Western Ghats
• It grows well in the area where the annual rainfall ranges from 1500 to 4000 mm, with a
temperature range of 10 to 35 oC and an altitude of 600 to 1200 m above MSL.
• Rain fall distribution should be good and summer showers during February- April are
essential for panicle initiation.

Soil
• It require well drained, fertile soil which is rich in organic -matter and nitrogen and low to
medium in available phosphorus and potassium.
• Generally grown in forest loamy soils.
• Soils of Western Ghat are usually acidic in nature with a pH of 5.0 to 6.5.

Propagation
• Propagated mainly through suckers and seeds.
• Suckers consisting of at least one old and a young aerial shoot.
• Rapid clonal multiplication technique by N.R.C.S., Cardamom Research Centre, Appangala
• Tissue culture

Rapid clonal multiplication technique

• Advantages:
• Quick
• Reliable
• Economic for large scale propagating material production

• Site Selection
• Should have gentle slope and near to water source

• Method:
• Trench of 45 cm width, 45 cm depth and of any convenient length is made across the
slope or along the contour at 1.8 m apart.
• The top 20 cm depth soil is excavated separately and heaped on the upper side of
the trench.
• The lower 25 cm depth soil is excavated and heaped on lower side of the trench all
along the line.
• The top soil is mixed with equal portions of humus rich jungle soil, sand and cattle
manure by leaving a depression of 5 cm at the top to facilitate mulching for retention
of soil mixture.
• Suckers, each consisting of one grownup tiller and a growing young shoot, are placed
at a spacing of 0.6 m in the trench during March-October.
• Regular cultural operations are to be followed including a high fertilizer dose of
100:50:200 kg/ha NPK in 6 split doses at 60 days interval along with neem cake @
250 g/plant.
• Irrigation should be provided at least twice a week.
• Overhead pandal at a height of 3.6 m covered with coir mat or leafy twigs of any
shade tree may be provided during the non-rainy season.
• Within a period of 12 months, a plant would produce at least 32-42 suckers which
may yield at least 16-21 planting units. i.e., about 1.5 lakhs planting units per ha. of
clonal nursery within 12 months of planting.

Raising of Seedlings
• Seedlings are normally raised in primary and secondary nurseries.
• The nursery site should be selected on gentle slopy lands, having an easy access to a water
source.

• Primary nursery
• Raised beds are prepared after digging the lands to a depth of 30-45 cm.
• The beds of 1 m width and convenient length raised to a height of 30 cm are
prepared.
• A fine layer of humus rich forest soil is spread over the beds.
• Seeds are to be collected from well ripe capsules.
• Immediately after harvesting, the husk is removed and seeds are washed repeatedly
in water for removing the mucilaginous coating.
• After draining the water, the seeds are to be mixed with wood ash and dried in shade
for a day.
• In order to ensure uniform and early germination, seeds should be sown
immediately after extraction
• If sowing is delayed , pre-sowing treatment of seeds with 25 % Nitric acid for 10
minutes is advisable to get a quick and higher germination.
• One kg of seed capsules may produce 5000 seedlings.
• Sowing may be taken up during November-January and is done in rows.
• Deep sowing of seeds has to be avoided for better and quick germination.
• Seed beds are to be dusted with BHC 10%.
• Beds are mulched to a thickness of 2 cm with paddy straw or any locally available
material and are watered regularly.
• The germination commences in about 30 days and may continue for a month or two.
• After germination the mulch is to be removed.
• An overhead pandal with a height of 2 m is quite desirable.
• Materials like coir mat, plaited coconut leaves or tree twigs which do not shed their
leaves easily maybe used but the coir mat is preferred as it allows uniform filtered
sunlight.
• Excess seedlings are to be thinned out after 75-80 days of sowing.
• The thinned out seedlings maybe used for gap filling within the nursery bed or for
raising secondary nursery.
• When the seedlings attain 5-6 leaf stage, light earthing up is done to encourage
better tillering and proper growth of seedlings.

• Secondary Nursery
• The seedlings are transplanted to the secondary nursery bed when they attain 4-6
leaf stage.
• The beds are prepared in the same manner as that of a primary nursery.
• Seedlings are transplanted in March- May at a spacing of 20x20 cm and mulched
immediately.
• Beds are to be covered with an over head pandal and should be watered regularly.
• Recently, instead of secondary nursery beds, the seedlings are also raised in polybags
containing rich forest soil.
• Manuring @ 90g N, 60 g P2O5 and 120 g K2O per bed of 5m x 1 m size, in three
equal split doses at an interval of 45 days is recommended to produce healthier
seedlings.
 • The first dose of fertilizers may be applied 30 days after transplanting in the
secondary nursery.

• 10-18 months old seedlings are used for planting in the main field (10 month in Karnataka
and 18 month old in Kerala and TN).

Land Preparation
• All under growth should be cleared and excess shade tree or branches should be thinned out
to have an even overhead canopy.
• Pits of 45x45x20 cm size are dug in April-May and filled with a mixture of top soil and
compost or well decomposed farm yard manure.
• Spacing:
• Mysore and Vazhukka: 2m x 2 m to 2mx 3 m
• Malabar: 1.5 mx 1.5 m to 2m x2 m
• In slopy land, contour terraces may be made and pits may be taken along the contour and a
close planting (2m x 1m) is advisable along the contour.
• Staggered trenches may be taken across the slopes to conserve run off rain water. The soil
collected in trenches may be utilized for earthing up during the post monsoon period.

Planting
• Planting is carried out during the rainy season commencing from June.
• Under eastern ghat hills, July planting is adopted.
• Seedlings are to be planted upto the collar region for better growth.
• Cloudy days with light drizzle are ideal for planting.
• In some parts of South India, redgum (Eucalyptus) is planted in flat valley bottoms at a
regular spacing.
• Recently, mixed cropping of cardamom in arecanut, rubber and coffee plantation is gaining
an impetus especially with small growers which assures greater significance in the light of
frequent dry spells and fluctuating price structure.

Manuring
• Organic manure like compost or cattle manure is applied @ 5kg per clump along with neem
oil cake @ 1kg per clump.
• Recommended dose of NPK:
• Under irrigated condition:75 kg N, 75 kg P2O5 and 150 kg K2O per ha
• Under rainfed condition: 30:60: 30 Kg/ha NPK
• Foliar application of urea @ 3%, SSP @1% and MOP @ 2% is also beneficial to improve yield.
• In places where zinc deficiency is noticed , spraying of zin @ 500 ppm twice in a year during
April-May and September-October is recommended.
• Fertilizer is applied in two split doses. 1st during May (will help in the production of suckers
and development of capsules) and 2nd application during late September (help initiation of
panicle and sucker)
• Only half dose of fertilizer is to be applied during the 1st yr andfull dose is given from 2nd year.
• Being a surface feeder, deep placement of fertilizer is not advocated. Application of fertilizer
is done at a radius of 30 cm and covered with a thin layer of soil.

Mulching
• It is an important cultural practice in cardamom.
• Fallen leaves of the shade trees are utilized for mulching.
 • Sufficient mulch should be applied during November- December to reduce the ill effects of
draught which prevails for nearly 4-5 months during summer.
• Exposing the panicle over the mulch is beneficial for pollination by bees.

Weeding
• Depending upon intensity of weeds, 2-3 weeding is necessary in a year.
• The first weeding is carried out in May-June, the second in August –September and the third
in December-January.
• In slopy land, slashing of weed is done, otherwise it encourages more soil erosion.
• Weedicides like paraquat @ 625 ml in 500 l of water may be sprayed in the interspaces
between rows leaving 60 cm around the plant base.

Trashing
• It consists of removing old and drying shoots of the plant once in a year with the onset of
monsoon under rainfed conditions and 2-3 times in high density plantations provided with
irrigation facilities.

Shade regulation
• Cardamom being pseophyte, is very sensitive to moisture stress.
• Shade helps to regulate soil moisture as well as temperature and provides congenial micro-
climate for cardamom.
• Excess shade is also detrimental
• Shade has to be regulated so as to provide 50-60 % filtered sunlight.
• Cardamom plants can tolerate less shade in areas where well distributed and adequate
rainfall is received.
• In order to provide adequate light during monsoon, shade regulation may be taken up before
the onset of monsoon. A two tier canopy with a height of not more than 3 m between the
lower and higher canopy may be maintained.
• Areas exposed to western side should have adequate shade.
• South-Western slopes should be provided with more shade than North- Eastern slopes.
• An ideal shade tree should have a wider canopy, minimum side branching and it should not
shed leaves during flowering phase of cardamom so as to not affect pollination.
• Common shade trees in cardamom estate are:
• Palangi (Artocarpus fraxinifolius)
• Red Ceder (Cedrella toona)
• Karimaram ( Diospyros ebenum)
• Elangi (Mimusops elangi)

Earthing up
• After the monsoon is over, a thin layer of fresh fertile soil,rich in organic matter may be
earthed up at the base of the clump, covering upto the collar region by scraping between the
rows or collecting soil from staggered trenches/ check pits. This encourages new growth

Irrigation
• In order to overcome the dry spell during summer, it is necessary to irrigate the crop to get
maximum production as it helps in initiation of panicles, flowering and fruit set.
• Depending on the moisture holding capacity of soil and topography of the estates, they may
be irrigated at an interval of 10-15 days till the onset of monsoon.
• Sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation at the rate of 4 l per clump per day during dry months
increases the yield.
Other Inter cultural operation
• Spray of insecticides: recommended guidelines for cardamom
• Formulations of emulsions and granules are preferred
• Application done in the evening time during flowering period
• Bee hives should be closed for 24 hr after application in the evening.

Cropping
• Cardamom plants normally starts bearing two years after planting i.e., 4th or 5th yr after
sowing.
• Flowering- premonsoon period. Inflorescence comes up from base of stem of
previous year’s growth. Initially during January and peak flowering period is from
May-June which continues for about 3-4 months
• Nearly 75 inflorescence per plant is produced
• Fruiting period is nearly 3-4 months.
• Ripening is irregular therefore several picking is required
• Due to rapid multiplication of tillers, the clump gets displaced from their original position
and this displacement continues every season. In due course, the whole plantation gets
obliterated. At this time, renewal of planting is necessary.

Harvesting
• Good yield is expected from 5th year
• In most of the areas the peak period of harvesting is during October-November.
• Harvesting period is 5-6 months.
• Picking is carried out at an interval of 15-25 days.
• Ripe capsules are harvested by carefully searching each panicle in order to get maximum
green colour during curing.
• Considerable skill and experience is required for efficient picking.
• At the time of harvest, capsules are at different stages of maturity and distinguished as
• bud stage
• tender stage (used for making pickles)
• Dark seed stage (right stage for curing).
• Fully ripe stage (for seed purpose)-
• Fruit not suitable for drying
• Over ripe- (split during drying)
• Under ripe- (fruit shrink during drying)
• Fruits should be harvested with peduncles
• They should not be stripped
• After harvest, capsules are dried either in the sun or artificial heat.

Yield
• 1st year of bearing- 25-50 kg/ha
• 2nd year of bearing- 50-75 kg/ha
• 3rd year of bearing- 100 kg/ha
• The yield may go upto 250 -400 kg/ha good bearing age but yield below 100-150 kg/ha is
considered as poor yield at this age.
• Large well grown clumps can yield around 1-1.5 kg of dry cardamom /ha.
• After 15 year, the yield of cardamom starts decreasing. And replanting is necessary after 20
yrs.

Curing
 • Freshly harvested capsule contains 80-85 per cent moisture.
• Curing is done to lower the moisture content to 10-12 per cent which is safe for storage.
• The weight ratio from fresh to cured capsule is 4:1 to 5:1
• It can be done by natural sun drying and artificial heating:

• Natural Sun drying

• Commonly practiced in Kerala, Madurai and Anamalai region
• Takes about 3-4 days
• Capsules get dried and bleached
• Should be immediately stored otherwise they reabsorb moisture.
• Perfect drying is not possible as a result in due course it has high risk of disease and
pest infestation.
• Drying is irregular thus results in poor coloured capsules which fetches low price in
the market.

• Artificial curing:
• Curing at too high temperature causes charring of capsules and loss of volatile oil,
while too less temperature leads to mould growth.
• The ideal curing temperature must be 45-55°C for 14-18 hrs.

• Methos of artificial curing

• Mud-platform curing/ traditional Bhatti
• Modified bhatti (Flue pipe curing house)
• Natural convection dryer
• Gasifier curing system
• Mechanical-trolley system
• Portable curing chamber
• Solar drier
• Rocket stove dryer

• It has been found that soaking the freshly harvested green cardamom capsules in 2%
washing soda solution for 10 minutes prior to drying helps to retain the green colour during
drying.

Traditional curing (Bhatti)

• This curing system is constructed using mud and bricks.
• Raw cardamom capsules are spread over the drying platforms.
• Hot smokes from firewood are passed through the capsules.
• The process takes 35-40 hrs for complete drying.
• The bhatti operates with very poor operating thermal efficiency of the order of 5-15 per
cent, resulting in wastage of huge quantities of fuel wood.
• The specific fuel consumption is in the range of 1-2.5 kg fuel wood per kg fresh cardamom.
• The drying is nonuniform and produced poor quality, charred and smoky capsules.
• Constant attention is needed during drying for managing fire, maintaining low flame
preventing fire hazards, and turning over the beds of capsules.
• There is also loss in the volatile oil content of the capsules by this method.

Modified bhatti (Flue pipe curing house)

• This system is developed by Indian Cardamom Research Institute, Gangtok.
 • This is an indirect system of drying and smoke does not come in contact with the produce at
any stage.
• Flue pipe is connected to a fire place with an exit provided outside the building.
• The capsules are spread over the floor/shelves.
• When the firewood is burnt, hot air passes through flue pipes and capsules gets dried by the
heat generated.
• Proper ventilation is provided to control temperature inside the room.
• Since smoke does not come in contact with capsules, its original maroon colour is retained
fetching better price in the market.
• The capacity of this system varies from 200 to 400 kg of fresh capsules.
• Drying time is reported as 17-24 hours, volatile oil content of 2-2.4 per cent.
• High installment cost

Natural convection dryer

• The dryer designed by Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI) is similar to Flue
pipe curing system.
• better than the conventional flue curing kilns.
• It can dry 300 kg large cardamom capsules at a time
• For drying to a level of 10 per cent moisture the time required is 24 hrs.

Gasifier curing system

• This system is developed by Tata Energy Research Institute (TERI).
• The solid fuel i.e., firewood through biomass gasification and thermo chemical reaction is
converted into gaseous fuel by partial combustion.
• A mixture of producer gas consisting of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, carbon
dioxide and nitrogen is obtained, which is combustible and is used to burn.
• Through updraft type of biomass gasifier, air enters the gasifier from bottom and producer
gas is taken out from top for curing cardamom.
• This type of curing system has better conversion efficiency (above 70%), better control on
burning (handling gaseous fuel), production of clean flue gases (as gas is burnt), fuelwood
saving of up to 65 per cent.
• The quality of dried capsules is better in color and volatile oil content than traditional system.
• This system is not being utilized by the farmers due to high installment cost and chipping of
fuelwoods.

Mechanical-trolley system
• The Indian Council of Agricultural Research has developed this
• It is an indirect heating curing system of 600 kg capacity, which operates by diesel or
electricity.
• Apart from being very efficient it also produced quality capsules.
• It takes 12 hrs for complete curing.
• This curing system consists of a blower, a heating unit, and a multi tray curing chamber
similar to a mechanical cabinet tray dryer.
• Because of high cost of installation and difficulty in transporting in hilly terrains it is not
popular among farmers.

Portable curing chamber

• This is a prototype of ‘Copra dryer’ developed at ICAR - Central Plantation Crops Research
Institute (CPCRI), Kasaragod, Kerala.
• Unit is made of a furnace curing chamber and an air heating system.
 • All the four sides of the air-heating chamber are enclosed by asbestos sheets leaving the top
for drying.
• Freshly harvested capsules are placed in wire mess platform of 3-5 mm to a thickness of
about 15-20 cm.
• Air around the furnace gets heated by burning firewood inside the furnace cylinder.
• The heated air moves upwards passing through the capsules and drying it.
• Temperature inside heating chamber can be adjusted by regulating chimney valves and
adjusting rate of burning firewood.
• 50 kg of raw capsules will get cured in 20 hours.

Solar drier
• This system was designed at College of Agricultural Engineering and Post Harvest Technology,
Central Agricultural University, Ranipool, Sikkim.
• On an average 55.7 per cent of higher temperature was obtained in the solar dryer over the
ambient temperature.
• It takes 24 hours (3 sunny days) for curing of capsules than open sun drying which takes 48
hours to obtain the same level of moisture contents resulting in a net saving of about 50 per
cent of drying time for the solar dryer in comparison to the open sun drying.

Rocket stove dryer

• Nepal has developed a curing system called rocket stove dryer.
• This is an indirect heating system producing quality capsules.

Calyx cutting
• Calyx or tail is either removed by rubbing against wire mesh just after curing or removed
manually with scissors.
• So far no devise is developed for this purpose.
• Capsules with the tail removed are graded as kainchicut and those with the tail intact as non-
kainchi-cut.
• This operation is labor-intensive because extra labor is hired with extra cost.
• The use of cardamom polisher for cutting tails is being evaluated by College of Agricultural
Engineering and Post Harvest Technology in Ranipool, Sikkim, and the Indian Cardamom
Research Institute (Spices Board) in Tadong, Sikkim.

Packaging and storage

• Polythene-lines jute bag (40-100 kg capacity) is used for packaging for dried large cardamom.
• Other packaging materials: polypropylene (PP) and ethylene terepthalate/ polyethyiene
(PET/PE)
• In order to avoid moisture absorption by dry capsules, they are cooled after curing and
placed in bag which are sealed and stored in wooden platforms.
• Dried capsule with optimum moisture content of 10-11 per cent capsule is ideal for storage.
• Moisture content of capsule more than 13-15 per cent can lead to insect infestation.
• Use of fumigants like methyl bromide 0.016 kg m-3), phosphine (0.0015 kg m-3) and ethyl
formate (0.30 kg m-3) to control insect infestation during storage without affecting quality.

Recommendations relating to storage and transport conditions

• The packages of large cardamom, as capsules or seeds, should be stored in covered
premises, well protected from the sun, rain and excessive heat.
• The store should be dry, free from objectionable odours and proofed against the entry of
insects and vermin.
 • The ventilation should be controlled as so to ensure good ventilation during dry weather and
to be fully closed during wet weather.
• Suitable arrangements should be made to allow fumigation of the store.
• The packages should be handled and transported in such a way that they are protected from
rain, from the sun or other sources of excessive heat, from objectionable odours and from
any other contamination.

Grading and quality standards for dried capsules

• There are four commercial grades of dried capsules viz.,
• Badadana (big capsule),
• Chotadana (small capsule),
• Kainchi-cut (capsule tail removed)
• Non-kainchi-cut (capsule tail intact)
• Manually operated sieves for grading are reported, but so far no mechanical grading
machines have been developed.
• For this purpose laborers are hired by local dealers and wholesalers.

Value added products

• Essential oil and oleoresin

• White or bleached cardamom

• Cardamom capsules having non-uniform colour fetch poor value in the market hence
these are bleached to attain uniform colour.
• It is done either by burning of sulphur powder in closed chamber containing
cardamom or by wet sulphitation process .i.e., by steeping cardamom in dilute
solution of water soluble salts of sulphur dioxide, such as potassium meta-
bisulphate or potassium bisulphate.
• In india it is done in Heveri, Saklespur and Mudigere in Karnataka state.
• Bleaching causes loss in flavour hence not so popular in India.
• It is mainly produced for export purpose to the European countries.

Important disease

1. Katte disease:
• Viral
• Transmitted by aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa f sp cardamomi)
2. Azhukal capsule rot:
• Caused by Phytophthora sp.
 Large Cardamom
Bt name: Amomum subulatum
Family: Zingiberaceae
Chromosome no.:
Origin: Eastern Himalaya
Other name: Badi elaichi in Hindi
Area: 45396 ha, Production: 9074 tonnes
States growing L. Cardamom: Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim, West Bengal

Botany
• Perennial crop
• Fruits are 2.5 cm long, ovoid and triangular in shape, becomes brown or pink when ripe
• Contains 4-5 seeds
• Propagated from seeds or cut bits of rhizomes
• Starts bearing in 3-5 years after planting
Economic age of plantation: 12-15 yrs
Avg. Yield: 300-1000 kg/ha from 4th year

Cultivars
There are mainly five popular cultivars of large cardamom, viz., Ramsey, Sawney, Golsey, Varlangey
and Seremna. Bebo, Boklok Tali, Jaker and Belak are the other cultivars found in Arunachal Pradesh.

All other cultivation practices are same as small cardamom

Important disease:
1. Chirkey
• Transmitted by aphids (Brachycaudus helichrisi, Rhopalosiphum maidis)
2. Forkey
• Transmitted by aphids (Micromyzus kalimpongensis)