Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹1.9 lakh–₹2.8 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹65,000–₹1.6 lakh an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 4 irrigations short
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,180 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,000 mm it can use in a normal year, and 660 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 33 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 29 °C / 23 °C
- Aug 29 °C / 23 °C
- Sep 29 °C / 22 °C
- Oct 32 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 16 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 13 °C
- Jan 29 °C / 12 °C
- Feb 33 °C / 14 °C
- Mar 36 °C / 18 °C
- Apr 38 °C / 22 °C (outside its best range)
- May 38 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 33 °C / 24 °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 51 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 85% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 85% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹5,450 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹6,500 a quintal, the middle of 17 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.6 lakh a year after typical costs.
- ₹3,120 2021
- ₹3,310 2022
- ₹3,860 2023
- ₹5,630 2024
- ₹3,000 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 ₹1.2 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.