One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Salem you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant corn.

Planting Calendar for Corn

Frost tolerance for corn:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant corn until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Salem. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Salem is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Salem you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your corn in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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