When to Plant Millet in Spirit Lake, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant millet by looking at the USDA zone info for Spirit Lake.


Planting Calendar for Millet

Frost tolerance for millet: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Since millet are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant millet in Spirit Lake 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 millet and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your millet may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your millet indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Spirit Lake the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Spirit Lake and it is different every year. Half of the time in Spirit Lake you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your millet in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spirit Lake

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 Spirit Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spirit Lake.