One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant corn in West Chicago can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Corn

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

It's a bad idea to plant corn until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant corn in West Chicago 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. If you wait any later than that and your corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your corn indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for West Chicago may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in West Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your corn if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

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 West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.