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.

The best time to plant nicotiana in State College can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

Since nicotiana are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana in State College 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 nicotiana and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your nicotiana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in State College. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for State College is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in State College it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your nicotiana if you have a late frost.

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 Low	0°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.