One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Knoxville should be read to estimate when you can plant corn.

Planting Calendar for Corn

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

You really shouldn't plant corn until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant corn in Knoxville 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. Any later than that and your corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Knoxville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Knoxville is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Knoxville it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your corn if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Knoxville

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 Knoxville

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