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

A common way of determining when to plant black pepper is to consult the USDA zone info for Carbondale.

Planting Calendar for Black pepper

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

Since black pepper are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant black pepper in Carbondale 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your black pepper indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Carbondale. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Carbondale is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Carbondale it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your black pepper in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

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 Carbondale

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