Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. 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
- 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 1,100 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 600 mm it can use in a normal year, and 520 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 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 33 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 32 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 15 °C
- Dec 24 °C / 10 °C
- Jan 22 °C / 9 °C
- Feb 26 °C / 12 °C
- Mar 32 °C / 16 °C
- Apr 37 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
- May 38 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 8 out of 10 (good).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
Likes pH 6.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 23 quintals an acre, the typical figure in your state (its government crop records list none for your district). 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.
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–November 2026): about ₹6,250 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹7,500 a quintal, the middle of 145 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹3,030 2021
- ₹4,050 2022
- ₹3,710 2023
- ₹6,000 2024
- ₹4,410 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 ₹55,000 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 nitrogen Your soil is likely short of nitrogen.
Add about a quarter more urea than the usual dose, in two or three splits. A pulse crop in rotation also adds nitrogen.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.