Climate

• Rainfall of 2000 to 4500 mm evenly distributed without any marked dry season and with 125 to 150 rainy days per annum
• Maximum temperature of about 29-34^oC and minimum of about 20^oC or more with a monthly mean of 25-28^oC
• High atmospheric humidity of the order of 80%
• Bright sunshine amounting to about 2000 h per annum at the rate of 6 h per day through all the months
• Absence of strong winds
• Altitude – up to 500 m

Soil

• Should have a minimum depth of one metre without any intervening hardpan or impenetrable layer.
• Water table should be well below one metre so that at least one metre of soil with good aeration, essential for root penetration is available.
• Soil should be well drained. In marshy areas, owing to poor physical properties and waterlogged conditions growth of rubber is always found to be very poor.
• Generally, soil in the rubber tract is highly weathered and are mostly lateritic. Sedimentary types and non-lateritic red and alluvial soils are also seen in some non-traditional areas. Red soil found in some areas is characterized by reddish to brown colour and fine loamy texture.