Cardamom

Water

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

Needs about 1,950 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 220 mm it can use in a normal year, and 140 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 41 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)
• Jul 37 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
• Aug 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
• Sep 36 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
• Oct 36 °C / 19 °C
• Nov 30 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 25 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 22 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 28 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 33 °C / 15 °C
• Apr 39 °C / 21 °C
• May 42 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
• Jun 41 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)

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

Days in June get hotter than it likes. Young plants need shade and water then.

Soil

Soil for Cardamom: 6 out of 10 (okay).

Not in the score: nitrogen, sulphur and boron.

• Soil here is often too alkaline for it.
• Most fields here are short of phosphorus.
• Most fields here are short of organic carbon.
• Most fields here are short of zinc.

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.