What are the key points to note in areca nut cultivation? Essential key points to master

Areca nut is a very common food in our daily lives and a pastime that many young people now use to kill time when bored, gradually trending toward replacing cigarettes. Areca nut cultivation is actually not easy, and various problems often arise. Today QinNong Net brings you some issues to note when cultivating areca nut, hoping to help everyone.

1. Growing conditions

Areca nut generally comes from tropical rainforest climate regions, such as Southeast Asia, while in China areca nut is mostly produced in Hainan, which is mainly related to the climate and environment. The temperature suitable for areca nut growth is best kept high throughout all four seasons, ideally regulated at around 15 to 35 degrees, while high humidity must also be maintained. Planting is generally done on plots with a certain slope, and sufficient base fertilizer needs to be applied to ensure the most basic growth needs of the areca nut trees.

2. Planting methods

There are quite a few things to note in the planting method. First, the seeds need to be pre-germinated before sowing. There are two methods of pre-germination: one is soaking the seeds, and the other is heaping. First, soaking the seeds means placing the seeds in water to soak for about ten days, then soaking them in a medicinal solution, and finally placing them under conditions that meet germination requirements for pre-germination. Heaping means putting the seeds into a soil pile, then watering them thoroughly, and covering with straw and plastic film to promote germination. Once most of them have grown white sprouts, they can be raised as seedlings. When raising seedlings, it is best to use nutrient solution, as the seedling emergence rate will be much higher than the ordinary direct seedling method. Nutrient solution seedling raising means placing the seeds that have already sprouted white shoots on a seedling bed, then delivering the nutrient solution to the seedling bed. In the early stage there will be more nutrient solution, then it gradually decreases, allowing them to adapt to the environment in which they will later grow.

3. Planting density

Planting density is also a condition that requires great attention in areca nut cultivation. Although areca nut does not grow particularly tall, it is still a tree and also needs a large amount of light. If planted too densely, the areca nuts it can produce will be fewer, so the best planting density is a spacing of 2 to 3 m between each plant and 3 m to 3.5 m between each row.

4. Fertilization techniques

The growth of areca nut requires a large amount of nutrients, so fertilization needs to be carried out multiple times, and each fertilization must be sufficient, mainly nitrogen fertilizer, followed by phosphorus fertilizer and potassium fertilizer during the flowering and fruiting period. Each time you fertilize, you need to first carry out intertillage and weeding to remove weeds in the field and reduce unnecessary nutrient consumption. Before the areca nut has grown into a large tree, some farmyard manure also needs to be applied each year to maintain nutrient balance. Finally, during the flowering and fruiting period, it consumes a relatively large amount of nutrients, and this is also the time in its entire growth period when it consumes the most nutrients, so the nutrients need to be replenished sufficiently, generally reaching 70 percent of the growth period. Finally, when it enters the dormant period, maintenance is also needed.

5. Pest and disease control

Common diseases of areca nut include root rot and leaf rot. Although both diseases cause areca nut to rot to varying degrees, the treatment methods are completely different. The control method for root rot is to spread some lime on the roots or use chlorothalonil for disinfection, while leaf rot requires irrigation with 500 times dilution of copper hydroxide (basic copper sulfate) suspension concentrate. Finally, we also need to pay special attention to the areca nut black whitefly, which causes particularly serious damage to areca nut, so we often need to spray imidacloprid solution for prevention.