Chickpea farming — season guide: stages, tasks & pest watch

A stage-by-stage guide for growing chickpea in India (~110 days) — what to do when, the fertilizer schedule, and the pests to watch. Confirm specifics with your local KVK.

This is a practical, season-long guide for chickpea — built from package-of-practice norms. Always confirm doses, products and exact timing with your local KVK / agriculture officer; conditions vary by area and year.

Crop stages

• Sowing & germination (day 0–15)

• Vegetative growth (day 15–50)

• Flowering (day 50–75)

• Pod development (day 75–100)

• Maturity & harvest (day 100–110)

What to do, when

• Day 0: Rhizobium seed treatment + sow + basal P

• Day 30: Weeding / inter-culture

• Day 45: Scout for wilt patches

• Day 55: Light irrigation at flowering + pheromone traps

• Day 78: Irrigation at pod fill + scout pod borer

• Day 110: Harvest + plan market

Fertilizer schedule (soil-test led)

• Sowing & germination: Rhizobium seed treatment + basal P (low N) — 20 kg N + 40 kg P2O5 — legume; mostly basal, minimal N

Pests & diseases to watch (IPM first)

• Vegetative growth: Wilt — resistant varieties, seed treatment, avoid waterlogging; confirm with KVK

• Pod development: Pod borer (Helicoverpa) — pheromone traps, bird perches, NPV/neem; confirm chemical with KVK

A note on cost & price

Plan your inputs against a budget and track spend as you go. Mandi prices move through the season — check current rates before selling; khetigpt sends price alerts for your district. The figures here are estimates, not guarantees.