When to Plant Corn in Machesney Park, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 Machesney Park can be reviewed to figure out when it's a good idea to plant corn.


Planting Calendar for Corn

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

It's a bad idea to plant corn until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant corn in Machesney Park 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 corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your corn may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your corn indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Machesney Park. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Machesney Park is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Machesney Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your corn in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Machesney Park

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 Machesney Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Machesney Park.