Decision guides · Citrus (Nagpur mandarin)
Drip irrigation for orange trees: a month-by-month schedule
With drip you decide two things: how long to run each day and how many days apart. Both depend on tree age, emitter flow, soil and month. This guide gives no numbers; it gives the method and the direction by month. Confirm the numbers for your orchard with an agronomist.
Last checked (AI-assisted): 15 Oct 2026. Checked on 15 Oct 2026 against published ICAR, state agricultural university and FAO guidance with AI assistance. Not yet reviewed by an agronomist or tested with farmers. No spray, pesticide, fertiliser or irrigation amount is given here; for those, test your soil and ask your KVK or an agronomist.
How to work out the run time
Daily water per tree (litres) = that day's reference evapotranspiration (mm) × the tree's canopy area (square metres) × the crop coefficient. Evapotranspiration comes from the weather service or the FAO-56 method; the citrus coefficient is in the FAO-56 tables. That is the shape of the formula; confirm the numbers for your orchard with an agronomist.
Run time (hours) = litres needed ÷ (emitters per tree × flow per emitter in litres per hour). The emitter flow is printed on the emitter or can be measured.
Direction by month
March to May: highest demand; longer runs, shorter intervals (off entirely during a bahar stress).
June to September: drip off while rain is adequate; on only during a dry spell.
October to February: lower demand; shorter runs, longer intervals; no gaps while fruit is filling (off during an ambia stress).
How to tell the system is working
Once a week look at the last lateral: is the flow the same at the first and the last tree? If not, check the filter and the pressure.
Dig to see whether the wet band reaches the canopy edge. Wet on top and dry below means the run is too short.
Satellite and drip
If one block of the orchard shows less green than the rest week after week, the emitters on that lateral may be clogged. That is a prompt to inspect.
Where a soil-moisture sensor is installed (a reference plot), the schedule can be tuned to measured moisture; that is part of an institutional contract.
What to check in your field or orchard this week
- Is emitter flow the same at the first and the last tree?
- How deep is the wet band? Is the soil moist a hand-span down?
- Has the filter been cleaned?
A Watch message says only what changed and what to check. It never names a product, a fertiliser or an irrigation amount.
Questions
How many hours a day should I run the drip?
Work it out for your orchard with the arithmetic above. The guide gives no single number because it differs orchard to orchard.
Should I fertigate through the drip?
Fertigation is possible, but fertiliser types and amounts are not given in this guide. Take them from the KVK or an agronomist.
How do I give the bahar stress with drip?
Drip fully off for the set period. No small top-ups.
Want a weekly message for your field?
Call us to join. Free to watch. What changed in your field or orchard, every week, with the date and the source.
Sources
- FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 56 (Allen et al., 1998): reference evapotranspiration, crop coefficients, soil water balance · www.fao.org/4/x0490e/x0490e00.htm
- ICAR-CCRI Nagpur, month-by-month guidelines for citrus growers: drip irrigation through the year · ccri.org.in/calendar-of-operations/
- Dr. PDKV, Akola: All India Coordinated Research Project on Citrus, findings for Nagpur mandarin (soil moisture stress, irrigation scheduling, fruit drop) · www.pdkv.ac.in/?p=4604
More guides
- Nagpur orange bahar management: ambia or mrig, when to stress, when to water
- How much water does an orange tree need? When to irrigate Nagpur orange
- Citrus fruit drop: causes, and what to check first
- Why citrus leaves turn yellow: read the pattern, find the cause, then act
- What are ambia and mrig bahar? Choosing the right one for your orchard
- Water stress: the sign on the tree, the sign in the soil, the sign from the satellite
- Nagpur orange season: when to harvest ambia and mrig fruit
- Weather and irrigation: how the five-day forecast changes the watering schedule
- What is satellite farming? What a satellite sees in your orchard, and what it cannot
- Ambia bahar orange crop insurance in Maharashtra: what it covers, who can enrol, how to apply
- Nagpur orange planting (santra lagwad): soil, spacing, pit size, rootstock and planting time
- Nagpur orange fertiliser (santra khat vyavasthapan): what to ask your KVK before you apply
- Nagpur orange season and GI tag: when ambia and mrig bahar fruit reach the market
- How to see a satellite image of your own field for free: Copernicus Browser, NASA Worldview and ISRO Bhuvan
- NDVI full form and meaning: what NDVI is and what it tells you about an orange orchard
- Cotton in Vidarbha: what to check, and when, from sowing to picking
- Soybean in Vidarbha: what to check, and when, from sowing to harvest
- Tur (pigeonpea) in Vidarbha: what to check, and when, from sowing to harvest
- Chana (chickpea) in Vidarbha: what to check, and when, from sowing to harvest
How we compute this and what the limits are: the methods page