Lentil · Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
When to plant lentils in Irkutsk
Main outdoor window
22 Apr - 13 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 May
In Irkutsk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
11 Jul - 10 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 Irkutsk
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 direct
22 Apr - 13 May
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
11 Jul - 10 Aug
Lentils through the year
Against the frost risk in Irkutsk
Why these dates
Sow four weeks before the last frost. Lentils are short and easily flattened by rain, so a windless site and a firm seedbed both help at harvest.
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.
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. Lentils are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Irkutsk.
The median frost-free season here is 123 days, against 80 to 110 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Irkutsk
Other grains to time
Growing lentils in Irkutsk
When should I plant lentils in Irkutsk?
Aim for 22 Apr - 13 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 29 Apr - 20 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lentils be ready to harvest in Irkutsk?
Expect to start picking around 11 Jul - 10 Aug, based on 80 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lentils tolerate?
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.