Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 black pepper in Rochester should be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

It's a bad idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Rochester 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 black pepper and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black pepper may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Rochester. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rochester last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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