When to Plant Sweet corn in Richmond, CA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Richmond you should be able to determine when to plant sweet corn.


Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since sweet corn are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet corn
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet corn
Probably not a good time to plant sweet corn

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn 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 sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet corn may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sweet corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on January 31 in Richmond. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your sweet corn in the event of a late frost.

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 Low30°F
Highest Expected Low35°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.