One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

A common way of determining when you can plant banana is to consult the USDA zone info for Herkimer.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

Banana are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Herkimer 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 banana and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Herkimer the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind 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 Herkimer and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Herkimer there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your banana in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Herkimer

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Herkimer

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