Growing maize
Zea mays · also called makka, makaai (Kashmiri)Maize is sown straight into well-drained fields, mostly in the monsoon, and harvested once the husk dries and the grain hardens. In the hills it is sown in spring; in the south it is also grown in winter.
Central plateau: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha
At a glance
Maize in the Central plateau
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
Wait until June
The next sowing here is Second half of June to first half of July.
- Sow
- Harvest
- Today
- Not suited here
Compare all 12 regionsShow fewer regions
See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central plateau | Second half of June to first half of July | Late September to mid-October | ||
| Temperate Himalaya | April to mid-May (up to about 1500 m)April only (above about 1500 m) | September to October | ||
| Cold desert | Not suited here | |||
| Sub-tropical foothills | First half of June (irrigated plains)With the monsoon, not after 10 July (rainfed plains)With the monsoon, not after 30 June (intermediate hills) | September to early October | ||
| North-west plains | Last week of May to end of June (irrigated)20 June to 7 July (rainfed) | September to early October | ||
| Gangetic plains | 25 October to 7 November (winter maize)Late June to early July (kharif maize, AI suggestion) | April to early May (winter maize, AI suggestion) | ||
| North-east hills and valleys | February to March (pre-kharif, rainfed) | June to July | ||
| Arid west | 4th week of June to 2nd week of July (rainfed) | Late September to early October | ||
| Deccan plateau | 2nd week of June to 2nd week of July (kharif, irrigated)2nd week of October to 1st week of December (rabi, irrigated) | Late September to October (kharif crop, AI suggestion)Late February to March (rabi crop, AI suggestion) | ||
| South interior | July to August (Adipattam)September to October (Purattasipattam)January to February (Thaipattam) | |||
| West coast | June to July (rainfed)August to September (rainfed)January to February (irrigated) | |||
| East coast | July to August (Adipattam)September to October (Purattasipattam)January to February (Thaipattam) | |||
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Before sowing
Land preparation
Farmyard manure
10 to 15 t per hectare
Work into the soil while ploughing and making ridges and furrows
Day 0
Sow
Before sowing
Farmyard manure17
10 to 15 t per hectare · Work into the soil while ploughing and making ridges and furrows · Land preparation
Day 0
Sow
Day 5 to 8
Seeds come up1,3,5,12,15Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Day 90 to 95
Last picking17
Water in the furrows only, up to about two-thirds of the ridge height; never let water flow over the ridges. Life-saving irrigations matter most for young seedlings (15 to 20 days), at knee height, at flowering, at grain filling and about 10 days after grain filling.17
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH1,3,4
6 to 7
Fertile, well-drained loams and silt loams; sandy loam to silty loam also suits. Maize cannot stand waterlogging, so pick level fields that drain well.
SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Central plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
At least 6 hours a day
Full sun in an open field. Shade from trees or tall bunds thins the cobs.
Temperature3Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Grows best at 21 to 37 °C
Frost: none tolerated.
Monthly temperatures for the Central plateau aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
Watering17
Water in the furrows only, up to about two-thirds of the ridge height; never let water flow over the ridges. Life-saving irrigations matter most for young seedlings (15 to 20 days), at knee height, at flowering, at grain filling and about 10 days after grain filling.
Weeding17
Thin to one plant a hill about 10 days after the seedlings come up. At knee height, about 30 days after sowing, earth up and hand-weed with a khurpi; earth up again at about 45 days to support the plants and hold moisture.
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Land preparation | Farmyard manure | 10 to 15 t per hectare | Work into the soil while ploughing and making ridges and furrows |
Varieties and yield
40 to 65 quintals a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
Pusa Jawahar Hybrid Maize-1 (PJHM-1)
Medium-duration hybrid from ICAR-IARI, tested with JNKVV and released for kharif in Madhya Pradesh in 2018
Pests and diseases17Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Organic and cultural controls only.
Spotted stem borer
Signs
Small windows and round holes in the leaves of 2 to 3 week old maize; later the larvae bore in and kill the growing point (dead heart).
What to do
- Release Trichogramma chilonis cards (about 8 a hectare) 10 days after the seedlings come up
Fall armyworm
Signs
Larvae feed in the whorl; grown larvae have a white inverted Y on the head.
What to do
- Release egg parasitoids such as Trichogramma and Telenomus remus
- Spray fungi that infect the caterpillars, such as Nomuraea rileyi or Metarhizium anisopliae
Corn leaf aphid
Signs
Yellow mottling, sticky honeydew and black mould; colonies can cover the tassels and stop pollen shedding.
What to do
- Look under the leaves and in the tassels early and pinch out small colonies
Leaf blight
Signs
Long grey-brown lesions on the leaves.
Prevention
- Remove and destroy crop debris
- Keep the field drained
Stalk rot
Signs
Plants wilt and the base of the stem goes soft and breaks.
Prevention
- Drain the field well
- Avoid overcrowding
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed1,3
Buy fresh hybrid seed every year: grain from a hybrid crop gives clearly lower yields when sown again. Seed of composite varieties can be kept for 2 to 3 years. Choose 3000 to 5000 good cobs from the middle of the field, leaving about 9 m all round, and only cobs free from borer damage.
When the seed is ready
Cobs are ready when the husk has dried and turned brown and the grain is hard.
Shell the cobs and dry the grain well in the sun before storing.
After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Central plateau, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Destroy stubble after harvest, and follow maize with a pulse or oilseed to rest the soil.
After harvest, plough the field and collect and destroy the stubble, which carries borer larvae through the winter. Use up stalks, cobs and cores as fodder or fuel by the end of February.
Rotation
Maize is usually followed by wheat, barley, potato, toria, gobhi sarson, peas or berseem, often with summer moong before the next maize.
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.
- Package of Practices for Kharif Crops 2016: MaizeDirectorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source
- Maize: season and varietiesTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Irrigated maize: field preparationTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Irrigated maize: seed and sowingTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Irrigated maize: water managementTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Irrigated maize: harvestingTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Irrigated maize: after cultivationTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
- Pusa Jawahar Hybrid Maize-1: a potential hybrid adapted to Madhya Pradesh (Indian Farming 71(06), 2021)ICAR (Indian Farming); authors at ICAR-IARI New Delhi and JNKVV JabalpurRead the source
AI Farm Manager · In development
Plan this crop on your land
AI Farm Manager will turn guides like this one into a plan for your own plot. It doesn't make plans yet.