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

It's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant corn by using the USDA zone info for Rapid City.

Planting Calendar for Corn

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

Since corn do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant corn in Rapid City 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rapid City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember 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 Rapid City and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rapid City last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your corn if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.