When to Plant Okra in Mount Carmel, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Mount Carmel you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant okra by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Okra

Frost tolerance for okra: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Since okra are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant okra in Mount Carmel 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 okra and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your okra may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your okra indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Mount Carmel. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mount Carmel may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mount Carmel there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your okra in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Carmel

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 Mount Carmel

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Carmel.