When to Plant Cilantro in Chester, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 Chester should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's a good idea to plant cilantro.


Planting Calendar for Cilantro

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

Cilantro can survive in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant cilantro in Chester 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 cilantro and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cilantro may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cilantro indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Chester the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember 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 Chester and it is different every year. Half of the time in Chester you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cilantro if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Chester

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