When to Plant Radicchio in Altoona, IA

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

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant radicchio is to examine the USDA zone info for Altoona.


Planting Calendar for Radicchio

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

Radicchio are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant radicchio in Altoona 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 radicchio and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your radicchio may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your radicchio indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Altoona. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Altoona is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Altoona last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your radicchio if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Altoona

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