One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

The earliest that you can plant flowering tobacco in Merced should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Tobacco

Frost tolerance for flowering tobacco:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant flowering tobacco until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant flowering tobacco in Merced is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant flowering tobacco and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flowering tobacco may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your flowering tobacco indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Merced. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Merced is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Merced you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your flowering tobacco in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Merced

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merced

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