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 Hide details
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 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.
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).
- ₹4,400 2021
- ₹6,500 2022
- ₹4,550 2023
- ₹9,000 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 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
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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.