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 790 mm of water here in its growing months. Rain gives about 610 mm it can use in a normal year, and 470 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 28 °C / 16 °C
• Jul 25 °C / 18 °C
• Aug 24 °C / 17 °C
• Sep 24 °C / 16 °C
• Oct 22 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
• Nov 18 °C / 7 °C (outside its best range)
• Dec 14 °C / 4 °C (outside its best range)
• Jan 11 °C / 2 °C (outside its best range)
• Feb 14 °C / 5 °C (outside its best range)
• Mar 19 °C / 8 °C (outside its best range)
• Apr 24 °C / 12 °C (outside its best range)
• May 27 °C / 15 °C
• Jun 28 °C / 16 °C

Nights in November 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).

• Soil here is often more alkaline than it likes.
• Most fields here are short of nitrogen.

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 77% of the water it needs, so the money here is worked at 77% of this yield.

Mandi price through the year (April–November 2026): about ₹5,350 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 ₹1.1 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.