Cucumber · Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
When to plant cucumbers in Caxias do Sul
Main outdoor window
12-26 Aug
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 July
In Caxias do Sul, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1-21 Oct
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 Caxias do Sul
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.
Start indoors
8-22 Jul
Three weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
12-26 Aug
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
12-26 Aug
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1-21 Oct
Cucumbers through the year
Against the frost risk in Caxias do Sul
Why these dates
Only three weeks indoors: cucumbers hate root disturbance, so sow into modules or pots you can plant whole. A second sowing three weeks after the first extends picking by a month.
Cold soil rots cucumber seed before it germinates. If soil is below 18C, wait - the seed is cheaper than the fortnight you would lose.
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. Cucumbers are timed from 3 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Caxias do Sul.
The median frost-free season here is 320 days, against 50 to 70 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Caxias do Sul
Other vegetables to time
Growing cucumbers in Caxias do Sul
When should I plant cucumbers in Caxias do Sul?
Aim for 12-26 Aug in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 15-29 Sep - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cucumbers be ready to harvest in Caxias do Sul?
Expect to start picking around 1-21 Oct, based on 50 to 70 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cucumbers tolerate?
Cold soil rots cucumber seed before it germinates. If soil is below 18C, wait - the seed is cheaper than the fortnight you would lose.