Cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume.)
Lauraceae

Varieties
YCD 1, PPI – 1, Nithyasree, Navasree, Konkan Tej, Sugandhini

YCD 1

Soil and climate
Sandy or lateritic soils with high humus are suitable. This crop can be grown up to an altitude of 800 - 1000 m from Mean Sea Level receiving an annual rainfall of 150 to 250 cm.

Season
June – December is found to be optimum

Propagation: Seeds / Semi hardwood cuttings
Nursery: Seeds collected from selected mother trees are sown immediately in nursery beds in rows of 12 cm apart. July – August is the best season for sowing. From beds, seedlings are transplanted to polythene bags when they attain a height of 15 cm.

Planting
Take pits of 60 cm3 at 2 m x 2 m spacing. Fill the pits with top soil and FYM 10 kg. One year old seedlings or rooted cuttings are transplanted under partial shade.

Irrigation
Protective watering during summer is beneficial.

Manuring

Aftercultivation
Immediately after transplanting, the plants are provided with temporary shade by erecting a small pandal. Weeds are removed as and when necessary.  Young trees are cut close to the ground to produce side shoots. This process is called "Coppicing". By stooling around the stumps, more side shoots are encouraged from the base of the trees.

Plant protection
Pests
Shoot borer

Shoot borer can be controlled by smearing the stem and branches with Carbaryl 50 WP @ 2 g/lit of water once in a month.

Coffee red borer
Coffee red borer can be controlled by trunk injection of hole with a waiting period of 20 days to be allowed between application and harvest of the bark.

Leaf eating caterpillar, red ants and termites
Dust Methyl parathion 1.3%.

Diseases
Leaf spot
Leaf spot can be controlled by spraying 1 % Bordeaux mixture or 0.25 % copper oxy chloride.

Harvest
The harvesting starts from 4th or 5th year after planting. The shoots are cut for the extraction of bark once in May and again in November. As soon as rain ceases, cutting of shoots for peeling of bark is commenced. After cutting, young shoots spring up from the stump which will be ready for removal in subsequent season within 18 months. The bark is peeled from the selected shoots of 18 to 24 months old, which are usually one metre long and 1 to 2 cm thick.  Shoots ready for peeling are removed from the stumps and terminal ends of shoots are also removed. Peeling is done by knives after scraping off the outer bark. From leaves, Cinnamon oil can be extracted by steam distillation. Harvested produce is called as 'Quills'.

Cinnamon Bark	Cinnamon Quills

Yield
100 g of dried bark/bush
35 kg of leaf oil/ha/year