Carrot · Laiwu, Shandong, China
When to plant carrots in Laiwu
Main outdoor window
14 Mar - 4 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
4 April
In Laiwu, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
13 May - 2 Jun
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 Laiwu
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.
Sow for overwintering
15 Jul - 5 Aug
Counting back 94 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
14 Mar - 4 Apr
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
13 May - 2 Jun
Carrots through the year
Against the frost risk in Laiwu
Why these dates
Sow from three weeks before last frost. Keep the seedbed continuously damp for the two to three weeks germination takes - this single detail decides most carrot crops.
Seedlings tolerate -6C. Mature roots can be left in the ground under mulch and lifted through winter in all but the coldest zones.
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. Carrots are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Laiwu.
The median frost-free season here is 217 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Laiwu
Other vegetables to time
Growing carrots in Laiwu
When should I plant carrots in Laiwu?
Aim for 14 Mar - 4 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 26 Mar - 16 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will carrots be ready to harvest in Laiwu?
Expect to start picking around 13 May - 2 Jun, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will carrots tolerate?
Seedlings tolerate -6C. Mature roots can be left in the ground under mulch and lifted through winter in all but the coldest zones.