One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 opportunity to plant banana in Marshalltown should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Banana

Frost tolerance for banana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since banana are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Marshalltown 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 banana and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marshalltown. 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 Marshalltown is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Marshalltown you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your banana in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marshalltown

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 Marshalltown

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