Elettaria cardamomum

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moister tropics, it is usually cultivated at an elevation of 600 - 1,500 metres^[1]. A uniformly distributed rainfall of 2,500 - 3,800mm per year is considered optimal, though the plant can tolerate from 1,500 - 5,800 mm^[1]. Months with less than 125 mm rainfall have to be regarded as drought months^[1]. Optimum annual mean temperatures are considered to be around 22°c^[1]. The diurnal temperature may vary between 10 - 35°c^[1]. In the lowlands, where the annual mean temperatures are above 24°c, cardamom only propagates vegetatively; the plants do not grow where annual mean temperatures are below 17°c^[1]. Grows best in a rich, moist, well-drained soil in partial shade^[2]. Cardamom does not tolerate prolonged exposure to direct sunlight; about 50% is thought to be optimal^[1]. Evergreen montane forest land supplies the most favourable environment for cardamom, with soils varying from deep forest loam to white quartz gravel with only a shallow zone of humus accumulation^[1]. Plants are intolerant of drought, failing to produce seed if short of water when forming the inflorescence or flowering, and often dying if there are 2 drought years in a row^[1]. Cardamom comes into bearing about 3 years after planting out, which may be 4 - 5 years after sowing^[1]. Plants can produce economic quantities of fruit for 10 - 15 years^[1]. Flowers are self-sterile, therefore it is necessary to plant a mixture of clones^[1]. Flowering may occur throughout the year. The flowers open from the base of the panicle upwards over a long period, sometimes even more than one year^[1]. Flower buds require about 30 days from initiation to full bloom, capsule development takes a further 110 days^[1]. After the panicles have flowered, fruited and died, the vegetative shoots bearing them also die off^[1].