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Cereals · Grain cereal

Growing rice

Oryza sativaPaddy is usually raised in a nursery and transplanted into puddled, flooded fields, though it can also be sown direct. Most regions grow it in the monsoon; some take a second or third crop.

Cold desert: Ladakh, Lahaul and Spiti

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Rice is grown up to about 2250 m above sea level. Ladakh and Lahaul-Spiti farm well above that, with a short, cold season and too little water for flooded paddy.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
Green rice plants with flowering panicles standing in a paddy field
Photo: Sajib5467 · CC0
Not suited here

Not a crop for this region

Rice is grown up to about 2250 m above sea level. Ladakh and Lahaul-Spiti farm well above that, with a short, cold season and too little water for flooded paddy.

Where it grows nearest

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Not suited here

Sowing now in:Gangetic plains
  • Sow
  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
Cold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiNot suited hereTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, Dehradun
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratNot suited hereCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Cold desertNot suited here
Temperate HimalayaLast week of April (Kashmir valley)Late March to late April (temperate Jammu, higher areas earlier)Last week of May (lower belts) to mid-June (higher belts); finish by 21 JuneLate September to October, later in the higher belts
Sub-tropical foothillsWith the first monsoon shower (direct-sown rainfed rice)Early May to the third week of June, by varietyMid-June to 21 July (late dates only when the monsoon fails)Early October (PC-19 in the recommended rice-marigold-French bean sequence)
North-west plains1 to 15 June (direct-seeded rice)20 May to 20 June20 June to 10 July
Gangetic plainsLate May to late July, by variety duration (Bihar)November to DecemberJuly to early August, with 3 to 4 week seedlingsAfter mid-January, once it is warmer than 10°CBy mid-November (long-duration varieties)May to June
North-east hills and valleysMarch to AprilJune to JulyApril to MayJuly to AugustSeptember (late sali, 4 to 6 seedlings a hill)
Arid westNot suited here
Central plateauLate June to early July (direct-sown, with the first good rain)Mid-June to early July, with the monsoonJuly to early AugustLate October to November
Deccan plateauJune to JulyLate November to DecemberJuly to AugustJanuary to early FebruaryLate October to NovemberLate April to May
South interiorDecember to JanuaryApril to JuneSeptember to October
West coastApril to MaySeptember to OctoberDecember to JanuarySeptember to OctoberDecember to JanuaryMarch to April
East coastJune to JulyAugustSeptember to OctoberDecember to JanuaryApril to May

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH4,7,12

    5 to 9

    Clay to clay loam soils that turn to soft mud when puddled and hold water well; loams also suit. Soils that drain fast waste water.

  • Sunlight4

    At least 6 hours a day

    Full sun. Punjab's guide links high yields to about 6 to 11 hours of bright sunshine a day, depending on crop stage.

  • Temperature4,7,12

    Grows best at 20 to 34 °C

    Monthly temperatures for the Cold desert aren't in the library yet.

Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the Cold desert, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Grows well with

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed1,4

Pick a good patch of the standing crop and rogue out off-types and sick plants. Harvest and thresh it separately.

Dry the grain well, to about 12 per cent moisture, and keep it in clean bins.

After the last picking4,7

Mixing or keeping rice straw in the field builds soil health over the years. Jammu's guide chops straw into pieces of about 5 cm and ploughs it in about 10 days before the next crop.

Rotation

Common rotations in the north: rice followed by wheat, berseem, gram, potato, peas, mustard or barley, often with summer moong or a green manure crop before the next rice.

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.

  1. 1Paddy: crop production guide (Agro Advisory Services)TNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  2. 2Rice: seasons and varietiesTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  3. 3Transplanted puddled lowland rice: wet nurseryTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  4. 7Package of Practices for Kharif Crops 2016: Rice; Rice cultivation in temperate and semi-temperate regionsDirectorate of Extension, SKUAST-JammuRead the source

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