When to Plant Sorrel in Decatur, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's possible to figure out when you can plant sorrel by using the USDA zone info for Decatur.


Planting Calendar for Sorrel

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

Sorrel are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant sorrel in Decatur 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 sorrel and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your sorrel may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sorrel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Decatur. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Decatur may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Decatur you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your sorrel in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decatur

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 Decatur

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