Cumin · La Pintana, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to plant cumin in La Pintana
Main outdoor window
28 Sep - 19 Oct
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 September
In La Pintana, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
6 Jan - 5 Feb
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 La Pintana
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
3-24 Aug
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
28 Sep - 19 Oct
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
28 Sep - 19 Oct
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
6 Jan - 5 Feb
Cumin through the year
Against the frost risk in La Pintana
Why these dates
No frost tolerance. Killed at 0C.
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. Cumin are timed from 6 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 La Pintana.
The median frost-free season here is 265 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.
Growing cumin in La Pintana
When should I plant cumin in La Pintana?
Aim for 28 Sep - 19 Oct in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Oct - 9 Nov - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will cumin be ready to harvest in La Pintana?
Expect to start picking around 6 Jan - 5 Feb, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will cumin tolerate?
No frost tolerance. Killed at 0C.