Cardamom

Water

Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.

Needs about 1,920 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 470 mm it can use in a normal year, and 400 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

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

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

• Jun 37 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
• Jul 31 °C / 23 °C
• Aug 30 °C / 22 °C
• Sep 30 °C / 22 °C
• Oct 32 °C / 20 °C
• Nov 30 °C / 16 °C
• Dec 30 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 29 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 33 °C / 17 °C
• Mar 37 °C / 21 °C
• Apr 40 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
• May 42 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
• Jun 37 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Days in April get hotter than it likes. Young plants need shade and water then.

Soil

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

• Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
• Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
• Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
• 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.

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 through the year (December 2025–May 2026, August–September 2026): about ₹2,25,000 a quintal across mandis in your state.

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

Prices are usually best in September.

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.