Cardamom

Water

Rain falls about 8 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 1,380 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 990 mm it can use in a normal year, and 910 mm in a dry year.

Heavy rain here can waterlog it. Grow it on raised beds or land that drains well.

Temperature

Grows best at 22–30 °C on average, and survives 10–35 °C.

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

• Jun 29 °C / 23 °C
• Jul 29 °C / 24 °C
• Aug 30 °C / 24 °C
• Sep 30 °C / 23 °C
• Oct 29 °C / 21 °C
• Nov 26 °C / 16 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 23 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 22 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 25 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 29 °C / 17 °C
• Apr 30 °C / 20 °C
• May 30 °C / 22 °C
• Jun 29 °C / 23 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Soil

Soil for Cardamom: 8 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: sulphur.

• Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
• Most fields here are short of phosphorus.
• Most fields here are short of zinc.

Likes pH 5.5–6.0.

Money

Yield: about 1.6 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 3 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.

On rain alone it gets about 72% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 72% of this yield.

Mandi price through the year (December 2025–May 2026, July–October 2026): about ₹2,56,375 a quintal across India's mandis.

Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.

Prices are usually best in October.

Typical costs are about ₹1.7 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.