When to Plant Corn in Cedar Falls, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant corn in Cedar Falls can be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Corn

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

You should not plant corn until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant corn in Cedar Falls 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your corn indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cedar Falls. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Cedar Falls and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cedar Falls last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your corn if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cedar Falls

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 Cedar Falls

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cedar Falls.