When to Plant Millet in Riverdale, 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant millet is to refer to the USDA zone info for Riverdale.


Planting Calendar for Millet

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

Millet are not cold tolerant which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Riverdale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind 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 Riverdale and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Riverdale it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your millet if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Riverdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Riverdale

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