One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant corn is to examine the USDA zone info for Carbondale.

Planting Calendar for Corn

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

Corn are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant corn in Carbondale is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your corn indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carbondale. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carbondale may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Carbondale it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your corn in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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