When to Plant Corn in Traverse City, MI

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when to plant corn in Traverse City by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Corn

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

It's a bad idea to plant corn until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant corn
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant corn
Probably not a good time to plant corn

The earliest that you can plant corn in Traverse City 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 corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your corn may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your corn indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Traverse City. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Traverse City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Traverse City it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your corn in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Traverse City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Traverse City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Traverse City.