When to Plant Millet in Zone 9a

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

It's possible to figure out when it's the best time to plant millet by looking at the USDA zone info for Zone 9a.


Planting Calendar for Millet

Frost tolerance for millet: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Millet do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you must 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 millet
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant millet
Probably not a good time to plant millet

The earliest that you can plant millet in Zone 9a 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 millet and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your millet may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your millet indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Zone 9a. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 9a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 9a last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your millet in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 9a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low20°F
Highest Expected Low25°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 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 9a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 9a.