When to Plant Corn in Cedar Rapids, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant corn in Cedar Rapids can be figured out by checking out 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.

Corn require warm weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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 Rapids 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Cedar Rapids. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Cedar Rapids is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Cedar Rapids you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your corn if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cedar Rapids

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 Rapids

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