Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Alpena you should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant sweet corn.

Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since sweet corn are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Alpena 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 sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet corn may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sweet corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Alpena. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Alpena may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Alpena you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sweet corn if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alpena

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 Alpena

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