When to Plant Bok Choi in Bakersfield, CA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant bok choi is to refer to the USDA zone info for Bakersfield.


Planting Calendar for Bok Choi

Frost tolerance for bok choi: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Bok Choi are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bok choi
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bok choi
Probably not a good time to plant bok choi

The earliest that you can plant bok choi in Bakersfield is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bok choi and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bok choi may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your bok choi indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Bakersfield. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bakersfield is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bakersfield you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your bok choi in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bakersfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Bakersfield

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bakersfield.