Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,710 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 480 mm it can use in a normal year, and 280 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 22–35 °C on average, and survives 10–40 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 30 °C / 22 °C
- Jul 28 °C / 21 °C
- Aug 28 °C / 21 °C
- Sep 28 °C / 21 °C
- Oct 29 °C / 21 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 29 °C / 17 °C
- Jan 30 °C / 17 °C
- Feb 33 °C / 19 °C
- Mar 35 °C / 21 °C
- Apr 36 °C / 23 °C
- May 34 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 30 °C / 22 °C
Soil
Soil for Black Pepper: 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of iron.
Likes pH 6.0–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.0 quintals an acre here in this season (district figures).
A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 3 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.
Rain gives it too little of the water it needs, so there's no income figure on rain alone: grow it only with irrigation.
Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025, February–March 2026): about ₹58,193 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹40,000 a quintal, the middle of 17 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
Prices are usually best in August.
Typical costs are about ₹65,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.
How to make it work
-
Short of iron Your soil is likely short of iron.
Spray ferrous sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, when young leaves turn yellow.
Few local farmers add it to this crop, so it's an easy place to get ahead.
What local farmers put on it (share of fields):
- Urea 100%
- Ammonium Phosphate Sulphate 67%
- Urea Ammonium Phosphate 67%
- Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) 33%