One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 USDA zone info for Slidell can be looked at to estimate when to plant stevia.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

Frost tolerance for stevia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant stevia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Slidell 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 stevia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your stevia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Slidell. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Slidell is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Slidell you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your stevia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Slidell

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 Slidell

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