Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across India.
₹82,000–₹1.2 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹27,000–₹68,000 an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 6 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,080 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 780 mm it can use in a normal year, and 610 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 / 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 / 11 °C
- Mar 31 °C / 16 °C
- Apr 36 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
- May 36 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 35 °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.
On rain alone it gets about 72% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 72% of this yield.
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 147 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹68,000 a year after typical costs.
- ₹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
-
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.
-
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
-
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.