Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across India.
Only with irrigation: rain gives too little of its water to count on
- Needs care: Risky: 8 irrigations short
- Needs care: Very hot in May
- Suits: Soil 9/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 8 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,240 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 840 mm it can use in a normal year, and 630 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 / 27 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 31 °C / 25 °C
- Aug 31 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 32 °C / 24 °C
- Oct 32 °C / 22 °C
- Nov 31 °C / 17 °C
- Dec 30 °C / 14 °C
- Jan 30 °C / 14 °C
- Feb 34 °C / 17 °C
- Mar 37 °C / 21 °C (outside its best range)
- Apr 40 °C / 25 °C (outside its best range)
- May 43 °C / 29 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 38 °C / 27 °C (outside its best range)
Months in orange are outside its best range.
Days in May get hotter than it likes. Young plants need shade and water then.
Soil
Soil for Lemon: 9 out of 10 (good).
Not in the score: zinc, iron, copper and manganese.
- The pH here suits it.
- Many fields here are short of potassium, which it needs a lot.
Likes pH 6.5–7.0.
How the soil score worksMoney
Yield: about 63 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 ₹6,250 a quintal across India's mandis.
This week: about ₹7,500 a quintal, the middle of 147 mandis across India (latest 13 Nov).
- ₹3,030 2021
- ₹4,050 2022
- ₹3,710 2023
- ₹6,000 2024
- ₹4,410 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 ₹1.5 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.