CULTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CASUARINA

Species : Casuraina equisetifolia

Family : Casuarinaceae
Local Name ; Telugu – Saragudu, Kannada – Sarve, Tamil – Savukku,
Marathi – Saru, Oriya: Jhabuke.
Trade Name : Beef wood

Origin: Casuarina is an exotic to mainland India. It was introduced in Karwar

District in1668. It occurs naturally in the Andaman’s, Bangladesh and Burma
coast. Natural regeneration of the species is rarely seen and it has to be raised
by planting only.

Description
Casuarina is a large fast growing
evergreen tree with graceful
appearance, resembles a feathery
conifer. Bole is long and cylindrical.
In rare cases and in the interiors, there
are instances of developing thick
branches. In it is natural state it is
gregarious, forming pure crops with
little or no under growth except grass
and sporadic shrubs.

The tree attains height up to 40 m with diameter of 60 cm (180 cm girth)

often, buttressed at the base. It is short lived; its natural span of life seldom
exceeds 50 years. In less favorable localities, it turns misshapen and hollow
beyond 25 years of age. The tree flowers generally twice a year during February
– April and September – October. Fruits (Cones) appear in June and December.
Variations in flowering and fruiting may occur with localities.
Environmental Requirements
Temperature: Along the coastal regions, where Casuarina thrives, the
temperature is extreme sometimes extending to 470C. Under inland conditions it
tolerated extreme temperatures, but its growth is poor.

Rainfall: It grows well in both Southwest and North East monsoons. In

peninsular India, the rainfall is in between 900 to 3800 mm. Growth is poor in
low rainfall areas.

Soil: Casuarina grows best in loose, fine coastal sands. It can grow well under
inland conditions of well drained sandy soils. It tolerates lateritic and red soils
and also saline, alkaline and acidic conditions. The trees have nitrogen fixing
root nodules and hence dependability on nitrogen supplement is less.

Silvicultural Requirement
Casuarina is a fast growing, light demanding species. It is very sensitive
to excess soil moisture, fire and frost. It does not tolerate water logging for long.
It does not tolerate drought up to sapling stage, later with deep rooting, it can
withstand drought. It tolerates low temperature and shade. As a general rule it
does not coppice but can with stand pollarding. Rare instances of natural
regeneration and root suckers are noticed. It improves soil fertility by virtue of its
vigorous root nodulation with nitrifying bacteria.
Flowering and fruiting

The species has two flowering

seasons. Male flowers by second year
and females a little later. Pollination
occurs through wind. Fruits are
globose, woody cones and ripe cones
are grey or brownish red in colour,
containing a number of winged
achenes, each enclosing a solitary
seed.
The achene is light brown with membranous wing, seeds are minute. Fruits ripen
by June and December. The light brown winged seeds are 70 to 90 per cone.

Seed Morphology and collection

It is pronouncedly dioecious, that is male and female populations occur at
56% and 42% approximately and 2 to 3% bisexual plants. Well grown trees of 5
to 6 years age are selected for collection of ripe cones, before they dehisce, in
June or December, by lopping the branches or beating the trees and collecting
the cones from ground, swept clean before hand. Cones are spread out on clean
floor, in the Sun to dry for 3 to 4 days when the winged seeds are shed, which
are then separated. The cleaned seeds are dried for another 2 to 3 days.
To protect the seeds from ants and other insects, it is mixed with ash and
stored in earthen pots, mouth sealed with cloth. It can be stored for a few
months. It should preferably be sown immediately after collection. About 15Kg of
cones will yield 1/2 Kg of clean seed. A kilogram of seed has 7.5 to 10 lakhs in
number. Purity 80 to 90%, moisture 7.3% and germination of 50 to 60% in 7 to
10 days.

Artificial regeneration
a) Seed Propagation: Direct sowing is not successful, as the seeds are very
minute and liable to be damaged by rains, drought and insects. The only
reliable method of propagating Casuarina is by planting 3 to 4 months old
nursery seedlings.
b) Clonal Propagation
It can also be propagated
vegetatively from lateral or side
shoots by using IBA based powder
formulated rooting hormones at the
concentration ranging from 3000 –
6000 ppm. The treated cuttings
should be cultured under green
house conditions with intermittent misting coupled with the humidity of 70-80%.
Air layers and rooting of sprigs in mist chambers is also found very successful for
mass multiplication of elite clones. Superior trees are normally propagated
through this method of propagation and are called clones.
Nursery Technique
Location: The nursery should be located as close to the planting site as
possible. The area should be plain, with sandy or sandy clay soils, with reliable
water source.
Land preparation: The area should be cleared off all the debris and
miscellaneous growth if any. A light ploughing should be carried out before
alignment.
Alignment of beds
The beds should be aligned in North
South direction. Beds of 10 x 1 m with
about 50 cm. Space between them,
should be left out and for every 50 beds
a path of about 2 m should be provided.
For primary and secondary beds, the
same system be followed.

Soil preparation: The aligned beds are dug up to depth of 30cm. The cavity so
formed is filled with sand, soil and organic matter in order to enrich the soil.
Bed formation
In deep sandy soils, the dug up earth is
mixed with Farm Yard Manure at 1:1 ratio
and the cavity is filled and made compact,
the beds are formed either to ground level
or sunken to 5 cm depth. In sandy clay
soils, the beds are formed with the dug up
soil mixed with sand, FYM in equal
proportions filling the cavity.
 The bed is formed above the ground level raised to a height of 20 to 25
cm. Parathion dust at ¼ kg. per bed or any ant repellent is well mixed in the soil
while forming the beds. This is to prevent ants carrying away the seed.

Sowing of seed
Each bed of ten square meters is sown with 400 to 500 g of clean seed.
The seed should be mixed with fine sand and broadcasted on the beds. They
should be covered lightly with hay and watered twice a day. Watering should not
lead to water logging; otherwise damping off will result. In case damping off is
noticed, a light spray of blitox dissolved in water should be done.
In about ten days, the germination is almost complete. Light watering
twice a day be continued there after for a month or till the seedlings are of 10cm.
Height, when they are ready for planting in bags or on the secondary beds. In
case of casualties due to termite attack, parathion dust or Chlorpyriphos should
be applied.

Planting stock
Three to four months old nursery raised seedlings have to be planted.
The Planting stocks are of the following types:
1. Containerized plant
The seedlings from the primary
beds are pricked out and planted
in polythene bags of 10x20 cm
filled with soil mixture and watered
regularly. These seedlings have
good success and establish
quickly and grow well, even when
there is a break in rain but the
operations involved are costly.

The shade is provided for the period of one week to ten days, to avoid
casualties. The shade is removed when the seedlings are established. Shifting
of bags is done when roots start protruding. Seedlings of 45 to 50 cm height are
ready for planting.

2. Treated naked seedlings: Seedlings raised in secondary beds are taken out
and the thin roots are cut cleanly. The roots are then treated by immersion in a
sticky mud puddle. These are very cheaper in cost and gives better
establishment if planted during rainy season. This method is a very common
practice in coastal sandy soils.

Planting
Normally farmers adopt 0.8 to 1 m
spacing which results in thin boles.
Hence a spacing of 4 x 4 to 6 x 6 feet
is ideal which allows intercropping in
the first year and also it gives good
growing space for the trees to put on
excellent girth at an early state.
For planting of bag plants in sandy
soils, the soil is scooped to the depth
and width of the bag, planted
preferably with onset of rains.

If watering is done along with the planting, establishment will be faster. In

hard clayey soils, a small pit of 30 cm is dug out and bags planted is done after
removing the ploythene cover carefully, without disturbing the soil in the bag.
Planting of naked seedlings or treated naked seedlings can be done in holes
made with a crowbar, to depths of the root length. The seedling is placed with
roots straight in the hole before planting the thin part of the root should be cut
cleanly with a knife.
After care of plantation
Irrigation
Casuarina is an irrigated crop and the irrigation is required for once in
every 10-15 days. It is also advisable to adopt drip irrigation in order to effectively
manage the available water and to increase the yield.
Fertilization
The trees have nitrogen fixing root nodules (an actinomycetes called
Frankia) and hence, dependability on nitrogen supplement is less. However, 40 -
50 kg per ha of nitrogen can be applied in four equal splits. The Super Phosphate
@ 150 kg per ha and Muriate of Potash @ 100 kg per ha can be applied in four
to five equal splits.
Pruning
Branches are pruned flush to the stem of up to 1/3rd of the stem height
to augment height increment and to obtain clean bole during early stage (6-12
months).
Major Pest
A bark feeding caterpillar is a major problem which results in heavy
damage of trees due to the cylindrical tunnels created within the wood. Control of
the pest is difficult, however application of one or two ml of kerosene in to the
tunnel is found effective. Monocrotophos @ 5 ml per tree as bark padding
method would be also be an effective chemical control.

Important pests and their control measures

S.No Common pest Control Measure
1. Bag worm Topical application endosulfan or chlorlpyriphos
2ml per litre.
2. Bark feeding caterpillar Remove the feeding galleries and apply
insecticide soaked cotton (15ml of dichlorvos) in
the bore holes.
3. Stem borer Inserting wire to remove feeding larvae and
applying insecticide soaked cotton
(15ml of dichlorvos).
4. Mealy bug Topical application of methyl dematon or
dimethoate (2ml per litre)
5. Termite Application for chlorlpyriphos 2 ml per litre
 Termites also cause serious damage in young plantation by destroying the
root system leading to the death of young trees. This can be arrested by soil
drenching with chlorpyriphos at 0.2 per cent.

Major disease
The casuarina plantation are found vulnerable to various diseases viz.,
stem canker and die back, pink disease, root infection and die back and wilt. The
stem canker and die back can be controlled by the application of Bavistan at 0.01
per cent active ingredients.
Wilt disease caused by Trichosporium is a serious disease and could be
managed with proper soil and water management. Severely damaged trees have
to be uprooted immediately to avoid further spreading.

S.No Common disease Control Measure

1. Damping off Providing proper drainage
Seed treatment with captan or thiram @ 4g/kg.
Soil drenching with carbendazim (Bavistin) @ 0.1 %

2. Stem canker Spray with mancozeb @ 0.25 %

3. Die back Removal of infected plant parts and spray

with mancozeb @ 0.25 % or copper oxy chloride @
0.25 %.

4. Pink disease Removal of severely affected plant parts or scrap the

infected portions and apply with Bordeaux Paste.

5. Wilt disease Remove the infected trees immediately.

Digging the trenches around the infected tree.
Scrap the infected portion and spray with copper oxy
chloride @ 0.25 %.

Yield
Every part of the tree is useful, including needles as fuel. The best yield of
about 125 to 150 tons per hectare is possible within three years at an
espacement of 4 X 4 feet or 5 X 5 feet. It is also possible to increase the yield
through quality planting material coupled with irrigation and fertilization.
Intercropping
Agricultural crops can be raised in the first year with Casuarina especially ground
nut and melons in sandy soils, sesame in red soils and pulses in heavy soils.

Utility
Pulp wood: Casuarina is a good pulpwood species. Farmers are cultivating
mostly this species for pulpwood. Yield and strength properties of Casuarina
pulp are reported satisfactory for wrapping paper and duplex paper. It makes
good pulp by use of neutral sulfite semi chemical process. The material with
bark is used for pulping.
Fuel wood: Casuarina is considered to be the best firewood in the world, burns
even when green. Its calorific value is 4950 Cal/Kg and hence, it can be a
source of bioenergy.
Timber: The sapwood is pale brown, heartwood dark reddish brown. Timber is
strong and heavy (average 850 kg/m3). It is liable to crack and split, not easy to
saw and season. It is used as poles, scaffolding, transmission lines and rafters.
Medicinal: Bark of Casuarina is a tonic and astringent useful in dysentery and
diarrhea. Decoction of leaves and twigs is used in colic and powdered seed in
made into a paste and applied as balm for headaches. Bark contains 6-18%
tannin, which is also used for dyeing wool and silk fabrics and for toughening
fishermen nets. It also yields a resin. Needles of Casuarina have been used for
preparing activated carbon by the zinc chloride method.
Avenue: Casuarina forms a good avenue tree and most suitable for landscaping
sea beaches. It forms a good hedge plant and can be shaped to desired form.
Windbreak: Casuarina with deep taproot can withstand cyclonic storms than any
other species and is very useful as a windbreak and for sand dune stabilization.
Soil Improvement
Casuarina develops nitrogen fixing nodules of Frankia species on the
roots. They fix considerable quantities of nitrogen in the soil and help to improve
the soil nutrient status.
Contract farming
The institute has tie up programme
with the following two industries and
encourages contract farming
through technological support.

For contract farming, the following addressee can be contacted;

1) The Head (Environment), Sheshasayee Paper Board, Erode. Mobile:
9443340236.
2) The Manager (Plantations), Tamil Nadu Newsprints and Papers Ltd,
Mobile: 9442591411.

For further information; please contact

The Dean,
Forest College and Research Institute,
Tamil Nadu Agricultural university,
Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu – 641 301.
Ph: 04254 – 22010, 222398, 227418.
Mobile: 09443505844.
Email: [email protected]
Website: tnau.ac.in