Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Sold at 7 mandis in your district.
₹2.4 lakh–₹3.6 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹1.3 lakh–₹2.5 lakh an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 2 irrigations short
- Needs care: Frost risk in December
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 2 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 810 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 720 mm it can use in a normal year, and 600 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 30 °C / 20 °C
- Jul 27 °C / 20 °C
- Aug 26 °C / 19 °C
- Sep 26 °C / 18 °C
- Oct 24 °C / 14 °C
- Nov 20 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- Dec 16 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
- Jan 13 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 16 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 21 °C / 10 °C
- Apr 26 °C / 15 °C
- May 30 °C / 18 °C
- Jun 30 °C / 20 °C
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Nights in December can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 8 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: sulphur and boron.
- The pH here suits it.
- Most fields here are short of nitrogen.
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 89% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 89% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹7,250 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 ₹2.8 lakh a year after typical costs.
- ₹4,380 2021
- ₹6,000 2022
- ₹4,750 2023
- ₹9,500 2024
- ₹6,000 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.
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.