Selection of site
Select partially shaded sites having adequate protection from high winds. Avoid exposed and shady locations. It can be successfully grown as inter-crop in coconut and arecanut plantations. In higher elevations, it can be mix-cropped with black pepper or coffee. Clove prefers partial shade and comes up well at higher elevations, having well distributed rainfall. Under Indian conditions, it is best suited for mixed cropping in older coconut or arecanut plantations or in coffee estates. In order to give a cool humid microclimate, intercropping with banana is ideal. In majority of cases, clove trees are planted in garden lands together with various other crop plants such as coconut, banana, jack, mango and miscellaneous crop plants.
Planting
The area selected for raising clove plantations is cleared of wild growth before monsoon and select 18 month old seedlings for planting. Prepare pits of size 60 x 60 x 60 cm at a spacing of 6 x 6 m about a month in advance of planting. Allow to weather. Fill up the pits with mixture of burnt earth, compost and topsoil. Plant the seedlings during the rainy season, May-June, and in low lying areas, towards the end of the monsoon, August-September. Provide shade and irrigation during breaks in the monsoon and summer. Banana or glyricidia may be planted to provide shade.
Cloves are generally grown as a mixed crop with coffee, coconut, arecanut, etc.
Weeding
Conduct weeding and inter cultivation whenever necessary. Cut and remove dead and diseased branches of full-grown trees to prevent over crowding. Spray 1% Bordeaux mixture to control dieback.
Irrigation
Irrigation is necessary in the initial stages. In places where pronounced drought is normally experienced, pot watering is recommended to save the plants in the initial two or three years. Although the trees can survive without irrigation, it is advantageous to irrigate the grown up trees for proper growth and yield.
Inter cropping
Clove is generally grown as a mixed crop with coffee, coconut, arecanut etc.
Nutrient management
Apply cattle manure or compost at the rate of 15 kg / tree / annum during May-June. The recommended fertilizer dose is N:P2O5:K2O @ 20:18:50 g/plant during the first year and N:P2O5:K2O @ 40:36:100 g/plant during the second year. Increase gradually the N:P2O5:K2O dose to 300:250:750 g/plant/year for a well grown tree of 15 years or more. Apply organic manures in May-June with the commencement of southwest monsoon. Apply fertilizers in two equal split doses in May-June along with the organic manures and in September-October in shallow trenches dug around the plant about 1 to 1.25 m away from the base.