Growing guava
Psidium guajava · also called amroodGuava is a hardy tropical and sub-tropical fruit tree raised from layers or budded plants. It bears a rainy-season and a winter crop in north India, and suits the plains and foothills below about 1,000 m, not the cold high hills.
Deccan plateau: interior Maharashtra, Telangana, north Karnataka
At a glance
Guava in the Deccan plateau
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
- Transplant
- Harvest
- Today
- Not suited here
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See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deccan plateau | June to August | July to AugustNovember to DecemberMarch to April | ||
| Temperate Himalaya | Not suited here | |||
| Cold desert | Not suited here | |||
| Sub-tropical foothills | February to MarchJuly to August | August to SeptemberJanuary to February | ||
| North-west plains | February to MarchAugust to September | Late July to SeptemberNovember to February | ||
| Gangetic plains | July to AugustFebruary to March | Late July to SeptemberNovember to February | ||
| North-east hills and valleys | June to August | Late July to SeptemberNovember to January | ||
| Arid west | July to August | August to SeptemberNovember to February | ||
| Central plateau | July to August | August to SeptemberNovember to early February | ||
| South interior | June to December | February to JulySeptember to January | ||
| West coast | June to July | August to OctoberJanuary to March | ||
| East coast | June to December | February to JulySeptember to January | ||
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Before sowing
Farmyard manure
5 to 8 kg per plant · Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone · Year 1
Farmyard manure
10 kg per plant · Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone · Year 2
Farmyard manure
15 to 25 kg per plant · Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone · Year 3
Farmyard manure
25 to 30 kg per plant · Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone · Year 4
Farmyard manure9
40 to 50 kg per plant · Spread it as a mulch over the root zone · Year 5
Day 25 to 30
No irrigation is needed in the monsoon unless there is a long dry spell. In the dry season, water first-year plants every 2 to 3 days, trees of 2 to 5 years every 4 to 5 days and trees of 5 to 8 years every 10 to 15 days. Bearing trees get 2 to 3 irrigations after fruit set, which improves fruit set, size and quality. Water in basins around the tree to save water.8
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH1,3,14
5.5 to 7.5
Grows on a wide range of soils, including shallow, medium black and alkaline soils, but cannot stand waterlogging. Deep, well-drained, friable sandy loam to clay loam suits it most, at least 0.5 to 1 m deep with no hard pan or high water table. The roots are shallow, so the topsoil should be rich. Avoid soils with lime nodules or sheet rock within 90 cm.
Sunlight1Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Full sun. Lay out rows east to west so the trees get even light.
TemperatureNo published guide covers this for the Deccan plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Grows best at 23 to 30 °C
Takes light frost.
Monthly temperatures for the Deccan plateau aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
Watering8
No irrigation is needed in the monsoon unless there is a long dry spell. In the dry season, water first-year plants every 2 to 3 days, trees of 2 to 5 years every 4 to 5 days and trees of 5 to 8 years every 10 to 15 days. Bearing trees get 2 to 3 irrigations after fruit set, which improves fruit set, size and quality. Water in basins around the tree to save water.
Weeding7
Keep the orchard free of weeds. Weed regularly through the rainy season; light harrowing keeps weeds down. Cut the weeds around young plants and leave them as mulch.
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 | Farmyard manure | 5 to 8 kg per plant | Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone |
| Year 2 | Farmyard manure | 10 kg per plant | Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone |
| Year 3 | Farmyard manure | 15 to 25 kg per plant | Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone |
| Year 4 | Farmyard manure | 25 to 30 kg per plant | Apply in June; spread it as a mulch over the root zone |
| Year 5 | Farmyard manure | 40 to 50 kg per plant | Spread it as a mulch over the root zone |
Varieties and yield
15 to 25 tonnes a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
L-49 (Lucknow-49)
Very popular in Maharashtra; prolific, with sweet milky white pulp and few seeds.
Organic and cultural controls only.
Fruit fly
Signs
Flies lay eggs in the fruit in the monsoon; the maggots feed inside and the fruit drops.
What to do
- Pick fruit at the light green stage
- Rake the soil under the trees
- Collect and destroy infested fruit
- Bag the fruit 3 to 4 weeks after fruit set
Mealy bug
Signs
Small bugs suck sap from twigs, leaves and flowers; fruit is misshapen, poor and prone to rots.
What to do
- Band the trunk with polythene film so the young bugs cannot climb up from the soil
- Spray 400 ml neem oil with 50 ml liquid soap in 10 litres of water, and repeat after 10 days
Kajji bug
Signs
Scab-like marks on the fruit, then wart-like growths as rots set in.
Wilt
Signs
Leaves brown and wilt, the stem discolours and branches die along one side; the whole tree may wilt and die. Commoner on alkaline soils.
Prevention
- Plant in well-drained soil
- Uproot and burn wilted trees with their roots
Anthracnose
Signs
Branches die back from the tip.
Prevention
- Prune out and burn dead twigs
- Bury rotten fallen fruit deep
Cercospora leaf spot
Signs
Water-soaked patches on the underside of the leaves.
Scab
Signs
Dark, scabby spots 2 to 4 mm across on unripe fruit, which spoil its look and price.
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed1,13Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Guava trees raised from seed do not come true and bear late, so seed is saved only to raise rootstocks. Use freshly extracted seed from fully ripe fruit.
Cleaning the seed
Scoop out the seed, wash the pulp off and sow straight away.
Seed loses viability soon after extraction, so it is not stored. Sow it fresh; it germinates in three to four weeks.
After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Deccan plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Guava is a perennial, so nothing is cleared after harvest. After each crop, gather fallen and rotten fruit and bury it, cut out dead and diseased twigs, and clean the basins.
Guava is a perennial, so nothing is cleared after harvest. Collect fallen and rotten fruit and bury it deep or compost it in a closed pit. Chip or compost healthy prunings; burn diseased wood.
Rotation
When an old orchard is removed, grow legumes or vegetables for a season or two before replanting, and do not set new trees back into the old pits.
Sources
Where this comes from
Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.
These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.
- Guava: pestsNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: plantingNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: post harvest technologyNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: propagationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: soil and climateNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: varietiesNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava (horticulture: fruits)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Guava: area under cultivationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: diseasesNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: harvesting and yieldNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: intercultural operationsNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: irrigationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
- Guava: manuring and fertilisationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
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