When to Plant Jerusalem artichokes in Muscatine, 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 USDA zone info for Muscatine should be reviewed to determine when to plant jerusalem artichokes.


Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

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

You can plant jerusalem artichokes a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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 Muscatine 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Muscatine. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Muscatine and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Muscatine it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your jerusalem artichokes in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Muscatine

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 Muscatine

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