Sweet Orange (Mosambi)

Water

Rain falls about 4 irrigations (5 cm each) short in a normal year, so it's risky without water.

Needs about 930 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 770 mm it can use in a normal year, and 630 mm in a dry year.

Temperature

Grows best at 20–30 °C on average, and survives 13–38 °C.

Here, in its growing months (day / night):

• Jun 35 °C / 24 °C
• Jul 30 °C / 23 °C
• Aug 29 °C / 23 °C
• Sep 29 °C / 21 °C
• Oct 27 °C / 17 °C
• Nov 23 °C / 11 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 16 °C / 6 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 20 °C / 10 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 25 °C / 14 °C (outside its best range)
• Apr 31 °C / 18 °C
• May 35 °C / 23 °C
• Jun 35 °C / 24 °C

Months in orange are outside its best range.

Nights in January can bring frost. When frost is forecast, water the field lightly in the evening.

Soil

Soil for Sweet Orange (Mosambi): 8 out of 10 (good).

Not in the score: nitrogen, organic carbon, sulphur and boron.

• Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.

Likes pH 5.0–6.0.

Money

Yield: about 67 quintals an acre, the typical figure across India (no figures for your state).

A new planting gives its first real harvest after about 4 years. The money here is for plants already bearing.

On rain alone it gets about 84% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 84% of this yield.

Mandi price through the year (January 2026, April–November 2026): about ₹5,500 a quintal at mandis in your district.

This week: about ₹4,600 a quintal, the middle of 17 mandis in your state (latest 13 Nov). At that price an acre would leave about ₹1.3 lakh a year after typical costs.

Prices are usually best in June.

Typical costs are about ₹1.3 lakh an acre: about half of what a usual harvest earns (2023–2025), as in farm cost surveys. They are spent whatever the harvest.