Chickpea · Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
When to plant chickpeas in Philadelphia
Main outdoor window
31 Mar - 21 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 April
In Philadelphia, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
9 Jul - 8 Aug
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 Philadelphia
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 autumn
21 May - 11 Jun
Counting back 144 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
31 Mar - 21 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
9 Jul - 8 Aug
Chickpeas through the year
Against the frost risk in Philadelphia
Why these dates
Sow two weeks before the last frost in a climate with dry summers. Where late summer is wet, sow as early as possible so the pods dry before the rain arrives.
Seedlings tolerate about -4C. Flowers are damaged at -1C, so a late frost during bloom reduces the pod set without killing the plant.
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. Chickpeas are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Philadelphia.
The median frost-free season here is 202 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 Philadelphia
Other grains to time
Growing chickpeas in Philadelphia
When should I plant chickpeas in Philadelphia?
Aim for 31 Mar - 21 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 9-30 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chickpeas be ready to harvest in Philadelphia?
Expect to start picking around 9 Jul - 8 Aug, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chickpeas tolerate?
Seedlings tolerate about -4C. Flowers are damaged at -1C, so a late frost during bloom reduces the pod set without killing the plant.