Cassava · Queens, New York, United States
When to plant cassava in Queens
Main outdoor window
12 Apr - 10 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 March
In Queens, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Nov - 31 Mar
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 Queens
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.
Plant cuttings
12 Apr - 10 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Nov - 31 Mar
Cassava through the year
Against the frost risk in Queens
Why these dates
Killed by frost. Genuinely tropical, and not a temperate garden crop under any management.
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. Cassava are timed with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Queens.
Queens sits in zone 8a, which is colder than this crop is rated for, so it will need winter protection or a container that can be moved under cover. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
The median frost-free season here is 249 days, against 240 to 330 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Queens
Other vegetables to time
Growing cassava in Queens
When should I plant cassava in Queens?
Aim for 12 Apr - 10 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 22 Apr - 20 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cassava be ready to harvest in Queens?
Expect to start picking around 1 Nov - 31 Mar, based on 240 to 330 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cassava tolerate?
Killed by frost. Genuinely tropical, and not a temperate garden crop under any management.