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About this seed
Also known as: Cashew nut and Kaju.
Sowing: float test, soak, stalk end up
Cashew nuts go into a bag one at a time. Before sowing, drop the nuts in water and keep only those that sink, soak them for 18 to 24 hours, then sow 2–3 cm deep with the stalk end pointing up. In the nursery guidance of Kerala Agricultural University, soaked nuts germinate in seven to ten days.
Use a polythene bag about 20 cm by 15 cm filled with garden soil, and leave a gap of 1–1.5 cm below the rim. Kerala's nursery season for seedlings is May, after nuts are collected in March and April.
Use the seed while it is fresh
Cashew nuts do not keep indefinitely. In ICRAF's species profile, open storage at room temperature gave 100% germination after 4 months, 50% after 10 months and none after 13–14 months. If you are not sowing straight away, sow the nuts within a few months of receiving them.
Climate and soil
Frost harms cashew. The tree needs high temperatures, and the distribution of rainfall matters more than the total: it fruits well when rain is not heavy during flowering. In drier areas (800–1000 mm of rain a year), ICRAF notes that a deep, well-drained soil without hard layers is essential.
Seedlings form a prominent taproot, so give the bag depth. Trees reach about 12 m, up to 15 m on deep inland loams and rarely above 6 m on coastal sand or gravel. Flowering normally starts in the third to fifth year.
What the packet is
The packet holds 5 nuts of Anacardium occidentale L., an accepted species in the family Anacardiaceae. Cashew, Kajoo and Caju Nut are the commercial names of this lot. No cultivar, orchard origin or yield is promised.