Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant cigar plant is to use the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Cigar Plant

Frost tolerance for cigar plant:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant cigar plant in Richmond is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cigar plant and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cigar plant may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cigar plant indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Richmond. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Richmond and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so always be ready to cover your cigar plant if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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