Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,750 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 420 mm it can use in a normal year, and 370 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 31 °C / 22 °C
- Jul 30 °C / 21 °C
- Aug 30 °C / 21 °C
- Sep 30 °C / 21 °C
- Oct 29 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 27 °C / 18 °C
- Dec 27 °C / 16 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 28 °C / 16 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 31 °C / 17 °C
- Mar 34 °C / 19 °C
- Apr 35 °C / 22 °C
- May 34 °C / 23 °C
- Jun 31 °C / 22 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Cardamom: 7 out of 10 (okay).
- Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 5.5–6.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 0.7 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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, July–October 2026): about ₹2,56,375 a quintal across India's mandis.
- ₹2,27,500 2021
- ₹83,750 2022
- ₹1,31,560 2023
- ₹1,93,750 2024
- ₹2,11,880 2025
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.
How to make it work
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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.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.