When to Plant Strawberries in Duluth, MN

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You can estimate when it's possible to plant strawberries in Duluth by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Strawberries

Frost tolerance for strawberries: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Strawberries are very cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Duluth 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your strawberries indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Duluth. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Duluth and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Duluth it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to cover your strawberries in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Duluth

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-30°F
Highest Expected Low-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Duluth

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