Lemon
Holds the land all year
Counted with lime in government figures. Priced from mandis across your state.
₹1.3 lakh–₹1.9 lakh
per acre a year, before costs
once bearing, from about year 3
After typical costs: ₹58,000–₹1.2 lakh an acre a year
- Needs care: Risky: 6 irrigations short
- Needs care: Very hot in May
- Suits: Soil 8/10
Why, and how to make it work Hide details
Water
Rain falls about 6 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.
Needs about 1,170 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 870 mm it can use in a normal year, and 720 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 37 °C / 26 °C (outside its best range)
- Jul 30 °C / 24 °C
- Aug 30 °C / 24 °C
- Sep 31 °C / 24 °C
- Oct 31 °C / 21 °C
- Nov 29 °C / 16 °C
- Dec 28 °C / 12 °C
- Jan 28 °C / 13 °C
- Feb 32 °C / 15 °C
- Mar 36 °C / 20 °C
- Apr 39 °C / 24 °C (outside its best range)
- May 42 °C / 28 °C (outside its best range)
- Jun 37 °C / 26 °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: 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 iron, 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 29 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 74% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 74% of this yield.
Mandi price through the year (December 2025–November 2026): about ₹7,400 a quintal across mandis in your state.
This week: about ₹8,400 a quintal, the middle of 4 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.1 lakh a year after typical costs.
- ₹3,000 2021
- ₹4,380 2022
- ₹3,950 2023
- ₹5,600 2024
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 ₹72,000 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.