When to Plant Bittercress in State College, PA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant bittercress is to use the USDA zone info for State College.


Planting Calendar for Bittercress

Frost tolerance for bittercress: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Bittercress tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant bittercress
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant bittercress
Probably not a good time to plant bittercress

The earliest that you can plant bittercress in State College is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bittercress and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your bittercress may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your bittercress indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in State College. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for State College and it is different every year. Half of the time in State College it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your bittercress if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for State College

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in State College

You may be interested in your other planting guides for State College.