When to Plant Brussels Sprouts in Waterloo, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when to plant brussels sprouts is to refer to the USDA zone info for Waterloo.


Planting Calendar for Brussels Sprouts

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

You can plant brussels sprouts a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant brussels sprouts in Waterloo 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 brussels sprouts and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your brussels sprouts may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your brussels sprouts indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Waterloo. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterloo there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your brussels sprouts if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

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 Waterloo

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