One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant black pepper is to look at the USDA zone info for Hannibal.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

It's not a good idea to plant black pepper until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Hannibal 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 black pepper and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your black pepper may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your black pepper indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Hannibal. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Hannibal may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Hannibal there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hannibal

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 Hannibal

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