Cabbage

A winter crop. Sow in Sep–Nov, harvest in Dec–Feb.

Check it on your land
Season
Rabi
JJASONDJFMAM

Sowing Growing Harvest

52% of its area. Also grown in kharif.
Ready in
100 days
about 3½ months
Grows best at
15–24 °C
0 °C survives 7–32 °C 40 °C

When to sow and harvest

Rabi 52% of its area
Kharif 48% of its area
Today: rabi sowing time
J J A S O N D J F M A M
Sow Growing Harvest
The year starts in June, with the monsoon. Your district can shift a few weeks.

Sowing Growing Harvest

Will it grow on your land?

Idukki Kerala
Water
Season

Good fit in Idukki

Cabbage

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in October, harvest around January

Still sowing time: sow by the end of November.

No figures for your district: its government crop records list no area or yield for this crop. Priced from mandis across India.

₹87,000–₹1.3 lakh

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹27,000–₹71,000 an acre a season

  • Suits: Rain is enough
  • Suits: Ideal temperatures
  • Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain is enough, even in a dry year.

Needs about 320 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain in its months gives about 260 mm it can use in a normal year (160 mm in a dry one), and the soil holds about 180 mm from the monsoon at sowing.

Temperature

Grows best at 15–24 °C on average, and survives 7–32 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

  • Oct 26 °C / 19 °C
  • Nov 26 °C / 18 °C
  • Dec 26 °C / 17 °C
  • Jan 26 °C / 17 °C

Soil

Soil for Cabbage: 7 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: organic carbon and pH.

  • Many fields here are short of nitrogen, which it needs a lot.
  • Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
  • Most fields here are short of sulphur.

Likes pH 6.0–7.5. We have no pH figures for this place.

How the soil score works

Money

Yield: about 97 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

Mandi price at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹1,125 a quintal across India's mandis.

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹1,190 2021
  2. ₹1,530 2022
  3. ₹1,000 2023
  4. ₹1,670 2024
  5. ₹1,350 2025

Prices are usually best in September.

Typical costs are about ₹60,000 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 nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.

    Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.

    About 99% of local fields of this crop get it.

  • Short of sulphur Your soil is likely short of sulphur.

    Use single super phosphate instead of DAP, or add about 100 kg of gypsum per acre before sowing.

    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 99%
  • Muriate of Potash (MOP) 68%
  • NPK Mixture 10%

Fertiliser for one acre here

Urea
85 kg
DAP
53 kg
MOP
40 kg

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra.

See every crop that suits Idukki

What it needs

Temperature

15–24 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 7–32 °C.

Water

The check above works out its water need on your land.

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5 to 8.3.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • N Needs plenty of nitrogen, potassium and boron
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra

For most fields

Urea nitrogen
85 kg about 2 bags of 45 kg
DAP phosphate
53 kg about 1 bag of 50 kg
MOP potash
40 kg about ¾ of a 50 kg bag

Borax: 4 kg for one acre

Give the DAP and MOP at sowing, and the urea in two or three doses. If your soil card says a nutrient is low, add about a quarter more of it.

Watch out for

Draft: check with your Krishi Vigyan Kendra
  • Diamondback moth
    Pest

    Look for

    Small holes in the leaves; tiny green caterpillars wriggle when touched.

    What to do first

    Grow mustard rows as a trap crop and use pheromone traps; spray Bt. Follow the label or your KVK for the dose.

  • Black rot
    Disease

    Look for

    V-shaped yellow patches from the leaf edges with black veins.

    What to do first

    Treat seed in hot water and rotate crops.

  • Aphids
    Pest

    Look for

    Clusters of small grey insects on the leaves.

    What to do first

    Spray only if clusters are thick; ask your KVK.

What an acre earns

At India's average yield and a recent price, named below. Your land, water and mandi will differ.

Left an acre, a season

₹54,100

Yield India's average
96.9 quintals an acre
× Price harvest price last season (Dec 2025–Feb 2026)
₹1,150 a quintal
= Income
₹1,11,400
− Costs about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys
−₹57,300
= Left
₹54,100

A good year or field earns about a fifth more, a poor one a fifth less: ₹89,200 to ₹1,33,700 income an acre. Costs stay the same either way.

Work it out for your land

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
September, ₹2,000 a quintal
Lowest
March, ₹1,000 a quintal
₹1,000
₹2,000
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Idukki Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Area grown in India
11.0 lakh acres
2025-26
Average yield
96.9 quintals an acre (23.9 tonnes a hectare)
2025-26
Most area
West Bengal
19% of India's

States that grow it

Each state's share of India's production, in its latest year with figures (2025-26). Tap a state to open it.

Source: Horticulture area & production statistics (Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare).

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

No recent district figures for this crop.