Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Sold at 5 mandis in your district.
₹54,000–₹81,000
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹13,000–₹40,000 an acre a year
- Suits: Rain is enough
- Suits: Ideal temperatures
- Needs care: Soil 6/10
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 1,100 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 1,010 mm it can use in a normal year, and 880 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 38 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 34 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 33 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 33 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 32 °C / 20 °C
- Nov 28 °C / 13 °C
- Dec 22 °C / 10 °C
- Jan 21 °C / 9 °C (outside its best range)
- Feb 25 °C / 11 °C
- Mar 31 °C / 16 °C
- Apr 37 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
- May 39 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 38 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 6 out of 10 (okay).
- The pH here suits it.
- Salt in the soil here can harm it.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, 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 17 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 (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹3,988 a quintal at mandis in your district.
This week: about ₹3,600 a quintal, the middle of 3 mandis in your state (latest 11 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹20,000 a year after typical costs.
- ₹2,850 2022
- ₹3,250 2023
- ₹3,450 2024
- ₹3,450 2025
Prices are usually best in April.
Typical costs are about ₹41,000 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.
-
Short of organic carbon Your soil is likely short of organic carbon.
Add 4 tonnes of compost or farmyard manure per acre before sowing, and plough crop leftovers back in instead of burning them.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.