One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant sweet corn is to examine the USDA zone info for Red Oak.

Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sweet corn can survive in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Red Oak is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet corn may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sweet corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Red Oak is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Red Oak there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your sweet corn in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Red Oak

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 Red Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Red Oak.