Cardamom

Water

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

Needs about 1,260 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 650 mm it can use in a normal year, and 580 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 29 °C / 19 °C
• Jul 26 °C / 19 °C
• Aug 25 °C / 19 °C
• Sep 25 °C / 17 °C (outside its best range)
• Oct 23 °C / 13 °C (outside its best range)
• Nov 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 16 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 13 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 21 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
• Apr 27 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
• May 29 °C / 18 °C
• Jun 29 °C / 19 °C

Nights in December can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.

Soil

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

Not in the score: nitrogen.

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

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, 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.