Cardamom

Water

Rain falls about 11 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 1,570 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,050 mm it can use in a normal year, and 940 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 31 °C / 24 °C
• Jul 30 °C / 24 °C
• Aug 30 °C / 24 °C
• Sep 31 °C / 24 °C
• Oct 31 °C / 24 °C
• Nov 31 °C / 24 °C
• Dec 32 °C / 23 °C
• Jan 32 °C / 23 °C
• Feb 33 °C / 24 °C
• Mar 34 °C / 26 °C
• Apr 34 °C / 26 °C
• May 33 °C / 26 °C
• Jun 31 °C / 24 °C

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 potassium, which it needs a lot.
• Many fields here are short of sulphur, which it needs a lot.

Likes pH 5.5–6.0.

Money

Yield: about 1.8 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district).

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 ₹2,52,750 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 August.

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.