Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant black pepper in Opelousas should be figured out by looking at 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.

Since black pepper do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Opelousas is March. However, you really should wait until April 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 September. 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. If you are starting your black pepper 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 February 15 in Opelousas. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Opelousas and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Opelousas it frosts late in the year after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Opelousas

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Opelousas

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