When to Plant Pumpkins in Lake Station, IN

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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Lake Station you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant pumpkins.


Planting Calendar for Pumpkins

Frost tolerance for pumpkins: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant pumpkins until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant pumpkins in Lake Station 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 pumpkins and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your pumpkins may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pumpkins indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lake Station is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Station it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your pumpkins if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Station

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 Lake Station

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Station.