Chinese artichoke · Zibo, Shandong, China
When to plant chinese artichokes in Zibo
Main outdoor window
3-24 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
3 April
In Zibo, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 31 Dec
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 Zibo
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 tubers
3-24 Apr
Around your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 31 Dec
Chinese artichokes through the year
Against the frost risk in Zibo
Why these dates
Plant tubers around the last frost date and leave undisturbed all season. Lift after the top growth has died back in late autumn, and expect to miss a few.
Tubers are hardy to about -8C in the ground and are best left there and dug as needed, since they shrivel quickly once lifted.
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. Chinese artichokes are timed with planting out 0 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zibo.
The median frost-free season here is 218 days, against 180 to 210 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Zibo
Other vegetables to time
Growing chinese artichokes in Zibo
When should I plant chinese artichokes in Zibo?
Aim for 3-24 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13 Apr - 4 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chinese artichokes be ready to harvest in Zibo?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 31 Dec, based on 180 to 210 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chinese artichokes tolerate?
Tubers are hardy to about -8C in the ground and are best left there and dug as needed, since they shrivel quickly once lifted.