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

In Rochester you can estimate when it's the best time to plant nicotiana by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

Frost tolerance for nicotiana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You can not plant nicotiana until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in Rochester is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant nicotiana and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nicotiana may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Rochester. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rochester and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rochester it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your nicotiana if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Rochester

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