Lentil · Shangqiu, Henan, China
When to plant lentils in Shangqiu
Main outdoor window
25 Feb - 18 Mar
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
25 March
In Shangqiu, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
16 May - 15 Jun
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 Shangqiu
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
24 Jun - 15 Jul
Counting back 124 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
25 Feb - 18 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
16 May - 15 Jun
Lentils through the year
Against the frost risk in Shangqiu
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 Shangqiu.
The median frost-free season here is 237 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 Shangqiu
Other grains to time
Growing lentils in Shangqiu
When should I plant lentils in Shangqiu?
Aim for 25 Feb - 18 Mar in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 10-31 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lentils be ready to harvest in Shangqiu?
Expect to start picking around 16 May - 15 Jun, 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.