Chillies (Dry)
Sow in August, harvest around January
This season's sowing time (July–August) is over.
Grown on 17 acres here. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Doesn't suit: Too cold in december
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 360 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 120 mm it can use in a normal year, and 90 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 17–30 °C on average, and survives 8–35 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Aug 29 °C / 18 °C
- Sep 27 °C / 14 °C
- Oct 23 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 17 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 11 °C / -1 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 8 °C / -2 °C (outside its best range)
Nights in November can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Chillies (Dry): 9 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of boron.
Likes pH 6.0–7.5.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 2.9 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (your district's own figure looked wrong).
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 at last season's harvest (January–February 2026): about ₹14,188 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹17,550 a quintal, the middle of 39 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹10,650 2021
- ₹14,980 2022
- ₹16,750 2023
- ₹12,910 2024
- ₹12,120 2025
Prices are usually best in November.
Typical costs are about ₹1.2 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2024–2026), 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.