Grows best at
15–28 °C
0 °C survives 12–36 °C 40 °C

Will it grow on your land?

Shimla Himachal Pradesh
Water
Season

Won't work: too cold in January

Lemon

Holds the land all year

Counted with lime in government figures. Sold at 3 mandis in your district.

Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on

  • Needs care: Risky: 5 irrigations short
  • Doesn't suit: Too cold in january
  • Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work

Water

Rain falls about 5 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 760 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 520 mm it can use in a normal year, and 420 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 27 °C / 17 °C
  • Jul 24 °C / 17 °C
  • Aug 24 °C / 17 °C
  • Sep 23 °C / 15 °C
  • Oct 21 °C / 11 °C
  • Nov 17 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
  • Dec 14 °C / 3 °C (outside its best range)
  • Jan 11 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
  • Feb 13 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
  • Mar 18 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
  • Apr 23 °C / 12 °C
  • May 26 °C / 15 °C
  • Jun 27 °C / 17 °C

Nights in November can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.

Soil

Soil for Lemon: 9 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 works

Money

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.

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 ₹8,500 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).

Average mandi price each year (₹ a quintal):
  1. ₹4,400 2021
  2. ₹6,500 2022
  3. ₹4,550 2023
  4. ₹9,000 2024
  5. ₹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 March.

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

  • 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.

See every crop that suits Shimla

What it needs

Temperature

15–28 °C
0 °C40 °C

Survives 12–36 °C. Frost hurts it.

Water

The check above works out its water need on your land.

Soil pH

4 acidic7 neutral9 alkaline

Likes neutral soil. Grows from pH 5.5 to 8.

Soil

  • No salty soil
  • Needs rich soil
  • K Needs plenty of potassium, zinc, iron and boron
How the soil score works

Source: FAO ECOCROP crop requirements (via OpenCLIM/ecocrop); FAO-56 crop coefficients (Allen et al. 1998); IMD gridded daily rainfall (0.25°); IMD gridded daily max/min temperature (1°); TerraClimate 1991–2020 temperature normals (about 4 km), where each district's villages are.

Fertiliser for one acre

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra for the dose.

Watch out for

Not covered yet. Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to watch for.

Mandi price, month by month

Best month
April, ₹9,500 a quintal
Lowest
January, ₹3,500 a quintal
₹3,500
₹9,500
J F M A M J J A S O N D

Rupees a quintal, typical across India's mandis: each month's latest price (Dec 2025–Nov 2026).

Latest prices near Shimla Today's price across India

Source: Agmarknet daily prices and arrivals (India Data Portal).

Where it grows in India

Government figures count lemon with lime, so lemon has no figures of its own. See where lime grows.

Where it grows most

The districts with the most area in recent years. The map colours every district growing it on at least 100 ha by yield; the numbers mark these districts.

No recent district figures for this crop.