Amaranth · Wuhan, Hubei, China
When to plant amaranth in Wuhan
Main outdoor window
28 Feb - 21 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
21 February
In Wuhan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
8 Jun - 8 Jul
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Wuhan
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
24 Jan - 14 Feb
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
28 Feb - 21 Mar
One week after your last frost.
Plant out
7-28 Mar
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
8 Jun - 8 Jul
Amaranth through the year
Against the frost risk in Wuhan
Why these dates
Sow after the last frost into warm soil. The seed is very fine and should barely be covered.
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Amaranth are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Wuhan.
The median frost-free season here is 289 days, against 100 to 130 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Wuhan
Other grains to time
Growing amaranth in Wuhan
When should I plant amaranth in Wuhan?
Aim for 28 Feb - 21 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 17 Mar - 7 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will amaranth be ready to harvest in Wuhan?
Expect to start picking around 8 Jun - 8 Jul, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will amaranth tolerate?
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.