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When is our last frost date?

18 years ago

I live in SE Wisconsin just 10 minutes from the Illinois boarder, and only a few miles from Lake Michigan. Wondering when to plant annual flower seeds, tomato plants, and zucchini plants I wintered sowed.
Cold, rainy and windy here all weekend. Won't complain because we sure needed a good soaking.
Thanks to anyone who answers. Judy

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Comments (7)

lee53011
18 years ago
The scheduled frost date is probably not for a few weeks yet. In reality I think it has passed. The date that is most refered to is an average date of last frost, so it is not really accurate. Memorial day is what most people consider last frost date.

Lee
turquoise
18 years ago
I'm in Madison and traditionally people plant on Mother's Day weekend here. It seems like I've been waiting FOREVER this year! :)

Does anyone know, does 32 degrees equal frost or is it more complicated than that??
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I am confused by the "last frost" date. Frost occurs when temperatures are 39F or below and the night sky is clear. A frost hardly implies damage to any fruit blossoms, let alone even tropical things like bananas. You need air temperatures below 32F for blossom damage. In fact, you need 28F for apples, 30F for stone fruits. I think the last frost date in Calif. is a joke, the Central Valley around Modesto has seen plenty of blossom damaging freezes well into the March/early April time frame. Besides, in California, there is so much variation in the degree of cold, it can literally vary heavily within even a quarter mile based on terrain and distance from the ocean. The Santa Cruz mountain foothills don't usually see any hard frost after Feb. 21, but in the mountain valleys, a hard frost can occur as late as May. Speaking of light frosts, the colder canyon/valley locations around the Santa Cruz mountains get Summer light frosts. There have even been reports of windshield frost mid Summer in the colder valleys - yes, this is California. For example, the low was 39F in Santa Cruz on June 25, 1975. How about a low of 40F on July 24, 1973 or Aug 5, 1950. How about 38F an Aug 11, 1981, and another 39F reading that same year on the 24th of August. I hope you see now why we can grow such incredible Summer apples. My Gravensteins store until January thanks to the cold Summer nights. Of course, in the Central Valley, just 50 miles straight due East you would never dream of seeing anything below 50F in the Summer, the coldest records are around 48F. However, lows 32F and below occur all the way until April 1. See http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/summary/Climsmnca.html. The trick for Apricots is to keep them dormant as long as possible. I have a row of Apricots growing on a north slope, and they are just now starting to push buds. Bloom should be in full swing by the end of March. Then there is frost floating row cover - good enough to keep Spring frosts off a blooming backyard apricot tree.
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Venus! Congrats and happy citrus growing! You will be amazed at how addicting this can be, espcially when you see your trees respond to your good care practices. I would repot in the spring and make sure you build yourself a great soilless mix in the meantime with getting familiar with the link I will provide for you at the bottom of this page. The 'mix' you choose will be the biggest determining factor to your success. It will either work for you or against you. How much you fertilize and with what will be determined by your mix. The best thing you could do for your tree is to make sure you keep the roots happy! The roots are the heart of a plant. It will also help you understand the concepts of growing in containers. Or you could buy yourself a very good soilless mix such as a Fafard brand and try that too. Most if not everything you do with/to your tree will be related to the kind of mix you choose to use. Understanding the concepts of growing in the confines of a pot will help you stay on the path of great growing practices and much success! Here is where I started and good luck! Mike:-) Here is a link that might be useful: Container soils-Water movement
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I'm near BWI, and usually figure on planting corn and beans during the 2nd half of April. Transplants like tomatoes and peppers usually go out a couple weeks later when things are a bit more stable. This chart from MD Cooperative extention gives some reasonable ranges for locations across MD. Here is a link that might be useful: Spring Frost/Freeze Dates in Maryland
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There is no definitive last frost date - it can vary from year to year and location to location. The average last frost date is generally considered to be around March 22-24 in this area but that only means there is a 50% chance we will not receive frost after that date. There are other considerations for planting out tomatoes and other warm season or tender crops. These require warm soil conditions as well as rather balmy nighttime temperatures. It is typically recommended to not plant these out until soils reach 50F or more and night temperatures are consistently above 50F, typically mid to late May - Mother's Day is often used as a benchmark, but in some years, even that date is premature.
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sandylovesflowers
18 years ago
I always use Mothers Day as the last frost day..... Haven't been "burnt" (or "frosted") yet!

Sandy
ldcats
18 years ago
Some books (the Garden Book for Wisconsin I think has one, so does the Garden Journal that I got at the garden Expo in Madison for example) publish mean date of last frost for the state - it varies greatly across the state. Where we are near La Crosse, it was May 3 - May 9. It can be as much as nearly 2 weeks different depending where you are.

Like Lee said, it is just an "average" so there could be surprises. I don't think we have had a real frost for nealy 4 weeks now!

HAve fun!

LD
Kat SE Wisconsin z5
18 years ago
I live in southern Milwaukee county and they say to plant tomatoes and tender plants, like coleus Memorial Day weekend. I have planted before that though and no problems. But I do remember we had snow on Mother's Day about 15 yrs ago (or somewhere around there). I'll never forget that. My in-laws had rented a cottage on Fox Lake and the snow lasted a couple of days. They did hardly any fishing that week and because of the temp change the fishing was horrible. But this year I think we're pretty safe from that. Though I'm not putting tomatoes and some annuals in for another 2 wks. Some annuals are really touchy when temps go below 45. I remember having my front room full of plants in early-mid May because the nights were too cold for them. It did look nice though! LOL!

Kat
User
17 years ago
Around here, it can be the first week of June, LOL! This year, I'm thinking we're done with killing frost. But! I sure wouldn't plant out any tender plants just yet. Anything that came up voluntarily knows what it's doing, I figure--

Wall O'Waters sure make the tomato issue easy--mine go outside for good this week.

Happy spring, everyone!

Constance.
lee53011
17 years ago
I guess it must be after last night and tonight!!! Got a heavy frost that shocked me. Running around at night trying to cover things up is no fun!!

Lee

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