One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant bok choi is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ruston.

Planting Calendar for Bok Choi

Frost tolerance for bok choi:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since bok choi are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bok choi in Ruston 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 bok choi and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your bok choi may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bok choi indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Ruston. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ruston is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ruston there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your bok choi in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ruston

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