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When to Plant Jerusalem artichokes in Fort Madison, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You should be able to estimate when to plant jerusalem artichokes by referring to the USDA zone info for Fort Madison.

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Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

Jerusalem artichokes are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Fort Madison 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 jerusalem artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Madison is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Madison you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your jerusalem artichokes in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Madison

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 Fort Madison

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Madison.