Nutmeg
Botanical Name – Myristica frangrans Houtt
Myristicaceae
Varieties
Vishwashree, Konkan Sugandha, Konkan Swad, Konkan Shrimanti and Keralashree
Soil and Climate
Soil –
Friable, well drained clay to red soils are suitable.
Climate –
It can be grown up to an elevation of 1000m with 150-250cm of rainfall under humid tropical climate.
Propagation
Seeds /grafts/ budded plants
Seed Propagation
Seeds are collected from regular bearing and high yielding trees (more than 10,000
fruits per tree per year) and having 30 g weight/fruit, 1 g wet mace /fruit and 10 g wet weight
of nuts / fruit. Seeds are harvested during June – July. Sown immediately after extraction in
beds at a spacing of 30 cm and 2.5 – 5.0 cm deep. Germination commences from 40 days,
extends up to 90 days after sowing and transplanted to poly bags (35 x 15 cm). One year old
seedlings are transplanted to bigger poly bags (35 x 20 cm). Seedlings are transplanted to
main field after 18-24 months.
Vegetative Propagation
Epicotyl grafting or Grafting (Approach method) or budding (Patch method) is recommended to perpetuate high yielding nutmeg types. Best season is from October to January.Use only orthotropic shoots as scion materials.
Precuring of scion
The scions with 2 to 3 leaves, collected from the high yielding tree can be used for grafting purpose
Straight growing shoots (orthotropic or chupon) should be always used as scion to get normal shaped nutmeg trees.
Plagiotrophs are used to get bushy type plant
Season and Planting
Plant 12 – 18 months old seedlings/ grafts/ budded plants in pits of 60x 60x 60cm
size. Take pits at a spacing of 8 m x 8 m. Fill with equal parts of forest soil and cattle
manure. Season of planting is June – December.
Manuring
Apply FYM 15 kg, 20:20:60 g of NPK per tree during first year and FYM 50 kg,
300:300:960 g of NPK for adult trees (15 years onwards) in two splits June – July,
September – October. Apply 50 g in each of Azospirillum and Phosphobacteria one month
after manuring.
Irrigation
Irrigation is given once in 5 – 7 days during summer months.
After cultivation
Keep the area around the plant weed free. It requires medium shade especially
during the initial stages of growth. Fast growing shade trees like Erythrina indica, Erythrina
lithosperma,Gliricidia maculata or banana are planted in between them a few months prior to
planting and can be thinned out later. It can be grown as mixed crop with arecanut and
coconut. In Arecanut plantations, Nutmeg can be planted after every third row of Arecanut.
Plant Protection
Black scale and shield scale: Spray quinalphos 25 EC @ 1.25 ml/lit. in nursery
Loranthus
It is a serious plant parasite affecting the growth of the nutmeg plant
Mechanically remove the plant parasite
Remove severely affected branches and twigs of nutmeg trees
Protect the cut ends with Bordeaux paste
Harvest
The seedling trees start bearing from seven to eight years, while grafts start bearing
in four to five years.They attain full bearing stage 15 to 20 years and may yield up to 60
years after planting. The mature fruits are harvested when they start splitting. The aril
commonly known ‘mace‘ and ‘seed‘ are separated and dried.
Yield
Fruits: 1000 – 2000 Nos. /tree
Dried nuts: 5 – 7 kg/tree
Dried mace: 0.5 – 0.7 kg/tree.
