When to Plant Bell Peppers in Onalaska, WI

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

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant bell peppers is to examine the USDA zone info for Onalaska.


Planting Calendar for Bell Peppers

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

Bell Peppers are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant bell peppers in Onalaska is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bell peppers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bell peppers may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your bell peppers indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Onalaska. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Onalaska and it is different every year. Half of the time in Onalaska it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your bell peppers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Onalaska

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Onalaska

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