One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Socorro should be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant sunflowers.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You should not plant sunflowers until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Socorro 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sunflowers 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 April 15 in Socorro. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Socorro may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Socorro it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sunflowers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Socorro

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Socorro

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