Cardamom

Water

Rain falls about 10 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 1,470 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,020 mm it can use in a normal year, and 950 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 / 25 °C
• Jul 31 °C / 26 °C
• Aug 32 °C / 26 °C
• Sep 32 °C / 26 °C
• Oct 31 °C / 23 °C
• Nov 29 °C / 18 °C
• Dec 26 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 24 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 28 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 31 °C / 19 °C
• Apr 32 °C / 22 °C
• May 32 °C / 24 °C
• Jun 31 °C / 25 °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.
• Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
• Most fields here are short of boron.

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.