Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹2.8 lakh–₹4.2 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹1.7 lakh–₹3.1 lakh an acre a year
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain is enough in a normal year. Keep one irrigation ready for a dry year.
Needs about 1,090 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,120 mm it can use in a normal year, and 980 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 / 27 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 32 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 32 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 32 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 31 °C / 23 °C
- Nov 30 °C / 19 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 15 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 15 °C
- Feb 31 °C / 18 °C
- Mar 35 °C / 22 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 37 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- May 38 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 35 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 7 out of 10 (okay).
- Soil here is often more acidic than it likes.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of boron, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 45 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.
Mandi price through the year (March–May 2026, September 2026): about ₹7,750 a quintal across mandis in your state.
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 ₹2.3 lakh a year after typical costs.
- ₹2,900 2021
- ₹3,000 2022
- ₹2,950 2023
- ₹2,730 2024
- ₹3,400 2025
Prices are usually best in September.
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.
-
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.