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?

Chennai Tamil Nadu
Water
Season

We can't judge it in Chennai yet: no rain and temperature records.

Cabbage

JJASONDJFMAM

Sow in September, harvest around December

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 your state.

₹2.3 lakh–₹3.5 lakh

per acre a season, before costs

After typical costs: ₹1.6 lakh–₹2.8 lakh an acre a season

  • Not known: No rain data
  • Needs care: Warm in September
  • Not known: No soil data
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months.

Temperature

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

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

  • Sep 35 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
  • Oct 33 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
  • Nov 30 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
  • Dec 29 °C / 22 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

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

Money

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

Mandi price at last season's harvest (December 2025–January 2026): about ₹3,000 a quintal across mandis in your state.

Prices are usually best in June.

Typical costs are about ₹71,000 an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.

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 Chennai

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 Chennai 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.