Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across your state.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Doesn't suit: Too dry without irrigation
- Needs care: Warm in June
- Needs care: Soil 7/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Too dry to grow on rain alone. It would need irrigation.
Needs about 1,250 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 380 mm it can use in a normal year, and 260 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 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 35 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Aug 35 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- Sep 35 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Oct 33 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Nov 31 °C / 23 °C
- Dec 31 °C / 21 °C
- Jan 32 °C / 21 °C
- Feb 35 °C / 22 °C (outside its best range)
- Mar 37 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 38 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- May 37 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 36 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 7 out of 10 (okay).
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of zinc, which it needs a lot.
- Many fields here are short of iron, 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 60 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.
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 ₹8,375 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹14,000 a quintal, the middle of 8 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov).
Prices are usually best in October.
Typical costs are about ₹1.5 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.
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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.
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Short of zinc Your soil is likely short of zinc.
Mix 10 kg of zinc sulphate per acre into the soil before sowing. One dose lasts two or three seasons.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.
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Short of iron Your soil is likely short of iron.
Spray ferrous sulphate, 5 g per litre of water, when young leaves turn yellow.
Ask your Krishi Vigyan Kendra what to add for this crop.