When to Plant Napa cabbage in Waterloo, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when it's possible to plant napa cabbage by referring to the USDA zone info for Waterloo.


Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

Frost tolerance for napa cabbage: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant napa cabbage quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Waterloo 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your napa cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your napa cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Waterloo you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your napa cabbage if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

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 Waterloo

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