Neem Tree (Azadirachta indica): Where It Grows in India and How to Care for It

Neem is native to the Indian subcontinent and Myanmar. In India it occurs throughout the country, from Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Bihar to West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and TNAU notes that it grows well in every agro-climatic zone except high and cold regions. ICRAF gives an altitude range of 0–1,500 m.

It is most at home in dry country. It does well where annual rainfall is 400–1,200 mm and thrives where daytime temperatures reach 50 °C, but it cannot withstand freezing or extended cold.

• Grows well: the north-west dry zone, the northern plains, central India, the east, the east coast and the southern peninsula.
• With care: the very wet west coast and the north-east. Neem quickly dies in waterlogged soil, so plant only on a raised, free-draining spot there.
• Himalayan region: lower foothills only. High, cold areas do not suit it.

Neem grows on neutral to alkaline soils up to about pH 10, including saline soils, and does well on black cotton soils. It does better than most trees on shallow, stony, sandy ground, even over a hard kankar layer. Its deep roots draw water from lower soil layers, so it is drought-resistant once established.

There are two weak points. Neem quickly dies in waterlogged soil, and young plants are sensitive to frost. Provenance trials by the Arid Forest Research Institute, Jodhpur found frost damage on neem, so in frost-prone northern and north-western areas the first two winters need care.