Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Sold at 2 mandis in your district.
₹2.9 lakh–₹4.4 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹1.8 lakh–₹3.3 lakh an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Needs care: Frost risk in January
- Suits: Soil 10/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 930 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 770 mm it can use in a normal year, and 630 mm in a dry year.
Temperature
Grows best at 15–28 °C on average, and survives 12–36 °C.
Here, in its growing months (day / night):
- Jun 35 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 30 °C / 23 °C
- Aug 29 °C / 23 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 21 °C
- Oct 27 °C / 17 °C
- Nov 23 °C / 11 °C
- Dec 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 16 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 20 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 25 °C / 14 °C
- Apr 31 °C / 18 °C
- May 35 °C / 23 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 35 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in January can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 10 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: nitrogen, organic carbon, sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
Likes pH 6.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 46 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state). Government figures count it with lime.
A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 3 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.
On rain alone it gets about 84% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 84% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹9,500 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹9,500 a quintal, the middle of 15 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹2.6 lakh a year after typical costs.
- ₹5,130 2021
- ₹6,880 2022
- ₹5,000 2023
- ₹9,500 2024
- ₹6,250 2025
Prices swing a lot from year to year, so income can be well above or below this range.
Prices are usually best in April.
Typical costs are about ₹1.1 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.