Langra
A classic mid-season green-skinned north-Indian variety with rich flavour — it follows Dashehari and comes in before Chausa.
Quick facts
- Crop
- Mango
- Type
- Planting material
- Season
- All seasons
- Starts bearing
- Mid-season
- Expected yield
- High
- Suitable soil
- Loam
- Disease resistance
- Moderate
- Release
- Traditional Varanasi (Banaras), Uttar Pradesh cultivar, roughly 250–300 years old — a farmer-selected heritage variety; GI-tagged as "Banarasi Langra" in 2022
Actual yield depends on sowing time, soil, irrigation, weather, seed quality and crop management.
About this variety
Langra, also known as Benarasi Langra, is a traditional mango cultivar first grown in Banaras (Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh, roughly 250–300 years ago — a farmer-selected heritage cultivar, not an institute release. It keeps a green skin even when fully ripe, occasionally taking on a mild yellow hue, with yellowish, smooth, minimally fibrous flesh and a rich, sweet, complex aroma. It is normally harvested mid-June to late July and was granted Geographical Indication (GI) status as "Banarasi Langra" in 2022.
Should you pick this variety?
Pick Langra if you farm in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or West Bengal and want a mid-season mango. The TNAU variety list and other official classifications place Langra in the mid-season group; in practice the fruit is picked from mid-June to late July, after Dashehari and before Chausa. Its skin stays green even when ripe, and the pulp is smooth, sweet and has a rich aroma. It has had GI status as Banarasi Langra since 2022. It is a farmer-selected heritage cultivar of about 250–300 years, so there is no institute release. No exact yield figure was found, so treat 'high' as an estimate. Choose Dashehari if you want a known yield per tree.
Sowing & cultivation
- Sowing timeJuly to December (TNAU)
- Spacing7–10 m either way conventionally; 5 x 5 m, 400 trees per hectare, if you plant high density (TNAU)
- Sowing methodOne-metre cube pits filled with topsoil and 10 kg farmyard manure; plant the graft with the union 15 cm above the soil and water it in
- IrrigationRegular watering until the plant establishes, then weekly; a drip system does it on about a third of the water
- FertilizerPer tree: 10 kg farmyard manure and 0.2 kg each of N, P and K in the first year, the same increase annually, up to 50 kg manure with 1.0 kg N, 1.0 kg P and 1.5 kg K from the sixth year, applied in September–October (TNAU)
Soil & climate
Soil
- Suitable soil
- Red loamy soil with good drainage
- pH
- 6.5–8.0
Advantages & considerations
Things to consider
- Official lists classify Langra as a mid-season mango, not a late one. If you are planning on an after-the-rush price, check your own district: Chausa and Fazli are the real late varieties, and they will follow you into the market.
- No formal breeding institute or release year exists for Langra. It is a heritage cultivar selected by farmers, with a folk story behind its name (a mango grower who reportedly walked with a limp), not a bred-and-released variety.
Suitable regions
States this variety is recommended for — check locally, since a state can have more than one recommended zone.
- Uttar Pradesh
- Bihar
- West Bengal
- Madhya Pradesh
- Odisha
- Haryana
- Punjab
Where it sits in the season, and how to judge ripeness
Langra is a mid-season north Indian mango: it follows Dashehari and comes in before Chausa. That slot is the reason to plant it — a mixed orchard of all three spreads your picking and your selling over a longer stretch instead of crowding everything into two weeks of glut.
Its other peculiarity is the skin. Langra stays green through ripening, sometimes turning a mild yellow, so colour will not tell you when to pick or when it is ready to eat. Go by aroma and a slight softening at the shoulder, and by the shape filling out. Tell your buyer this too, because a trader used to yellow mangoes may call a ripe Langra unripe and bargain the price down. If you sell to a distant market, pick at mature-green and let it ripen on the way.
Where the planting material comes from
This variety is a grafted plant: the variety on top, joined onto a rootstock below. Seed out of its fruit will not come up as this variety, so it cannot be kept as seed. Buy grafted plants from a registered nursery or a government farm, so the plant is true to the variety and free of disease.
How it compares with other varieties
Every Mango variety with a page on this site, side by side. The row for this page is highlighted.
| Variety | Best for | Starts bearing | Yield | States |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphonso (Hapus) | Premium price on the Konkan coast, not volume | Bearing from year 4–5 (grafted plant) | 40–60 kg/tree at full bearing — lower than Dashehari, priced well above it | Maharashtra, Gujarat |
| Amrapali | High-density orchards and steady yearly fruiting | Bearing from year 3–4 (grafted plant, dwarf habit) | 60–80 kg/tree at full bearing — more trees fit per acre than Dashehari | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Delhi |
| Banganapalli | Large, fibreless table mango that stores well | Mid-season | Very high | Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu |
| Dashehari | Aromatic North Indian table mango with good keeping quality | Bearing from year 4–5 (grafted plant); 60–90 days fruit maturation after flowering | 80–100 kg/tree at full bearing (year 10+) | Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar |
| Kesar | Very sweet saffron-pulp mango for export and pulp | Mid-season | High | Gujarat |
| Langrathis page | Mid-season green-skinned mango with rich aroma | Mid-season | High | Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Haryana, Punjab |
| Totapuri | Pulp and juice processing, not fresh eating | Mid-season | Very high | Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu |
Tools for this crop
The numbers you need next: how much seed to buy, whether the lot germinates, what the fertilizer bill looks like and what Mango is selling for.
- Seed Rate CalculatorHow much seed your Mango plot needs, corrected for the germination of the lot you bought.
- Seed Variety FinderFilter every Mango variety on this site by state, season, duration and soil.
- Fertilizer CalculatorTurn the NPK recommendation for Mango into bags of urea, DAP and MOP for your field size.
- Crop Profit CalculatorPut your seed, labour and input costs against the yield you expect from this variety.
- Mandi Price CheckerToday's Mango rate in your nearest mandi, before you fix a price with a trader.
Subsidy and government support
Schemes that help with the cost of Mango seed or planting material. Rules and the application route are on each scheme page.
Frequently asked questions
Why does Langra mango stay green even when ripe?
It's a real trait of the cultivar, not a sign of under-ripeness — Langra keeps a green skin through ripening, occasionally taking on a mild yellow hue, so ripeness is better judged by aroma and slight softening than by colour.
Where did Langra mango get its name?
According to folk tradition, it is named after a mango cultivator in Banaras who reportedly walked with a limp ("langra" means "lame" in Hindi/Urdu) — the story is part of the variety's heritage rather than a documented breeding record.
Does Langra mango have a GI tag?
Yes — it received Geographical Indication status as "Banarasi Langra" in 2022, protecting its association with the Varanasi region.
When is Langra mango season?
Mid-June to late July. Official variety lists put Langra in the mid-season group — it follows Dashehari and comes in before the late varieties such as Chausa and Fazli.
Which states grow Langra mango?
The National Horticulture Board lists Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Punjab. Uttar Pradesh, and Varanasi in particular, is its home.
Langra or Dashehari: which should I plant?
Langra comes a little after Dashehari, from mid-June to late July, and stays green when ripe. Dashehari gives 80–100 kg per tree at full bearing and is North India's benchmark for aroma and keeping quality. Pick Langra to stretch your selling window past the Dashehari rush. Pick Dashehari for a known yield per tree.
Can I sell my mango as Banarasi Langra?
Banarasi Langra got GI status in 2022, so the name is protected. Before you use it on your fruit, check with your state horticulture department or the GI registry whether your orchard falls inside the protected area.
Can I grow Langra in West Bengal?
Yes. Langra is also grown in West Bengal, besides Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
When should I plant Langra grafts?
July to December (TNAU). Langra is grown across a wide belt from Punjab and Haryana through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, so take the planting advice of your own state horticulture office on spacing and rootstock.
Langra or Banganapalli for a mid-season market?
Both are mid-season, but they belong to different markets. Langra is the green-skinned, strongly aromatic north Indian fruit, carrying a Banarasi Langra GI since 2022. Banganapalli is the large, fibreless southern table mango that keeps well. Grow the one your buyers already know.
Sourced from: Mango production guide, TNAU Agritech Portal: planting season, pit size, spacing, irrigation and age-wise fertiliser schedule. editorial policy.