Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,580 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 920 mm it can use in a normal year, and 850 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 30 °C / 24 °C
- Jul 29 °C / 23 °C
- Aug 29 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 30 °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 / 25 °C
- Apr 34 °C / 26 °C
- May 33 °C / 26 °C
- Jun 30 °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.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 5.5–6.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 1.8 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 ₹2,52,750 a quintal across mandis in your state.
- ₹1,05,000 2021
- ₹90,000 2022
- ₹1,50,000 2023
- ₹2,00,000 2024
- ₹2,32,500 2025
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.
How to make it work
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Short of boron Your soil is likely short of boron.
Mix 4 kg of borax per acre into the soil before sowing.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.