Coriander · Putuo, Shanghai, China
When to plant coriander in Putuo
Main outdoor window
17-27 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
3 March
In Putuo, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
3-28 Apr
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 Putuo
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
30 Aug - 20 Sep
Counting back 84 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
17-27 Feb
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
3-28 Apr
Coriander through the year
Against the frost risk in Putuo
Why these dates
Sow every two weeks from two weeks before last frost. The autumn sowing lasts far longer than any summer one, and in mild climates overwinters.
Takes -5C and grows happily in cool weather. Heat, not frost, is what ends a coriander 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. Coriander are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Putuo.
The median frost-free season here is 286 days, against 45 to 70 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Growing coriander in Putuo
When should I plant coriander in Putuo?
Aim for 17-27 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Feb - 10 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will coriander be ready to harvest in Putuo?
Expect to start picking around 3-28 Apr, based on 45 to 70 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will coriander tolerate?
Takes -5C and grows happily in cool weather. Heat, not frost, is what ends a coriander plant.