Butterhead lettuce · Jiangmen, Guangdong, China

When to plant butterhead lettuce in Jiangmen

Main outdoor window

4-18 Jan

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

25 January

In Jiangmen, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

1 May - 31 Oct

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Cautious Balanced Bold

Step by step in Jiangmen

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

14-28 Dec

Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.

Sow for autumn

16 Sep - 7 Oct

Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.

Sow direct

4-18 Jan

Three weeks before your last frost.

Sow direct

11-25 Jan

Two weeks before your last frost.

Harvest

1 May - 31 Oct

Sow in succession. A single sowing gives you a single glut. Sow a short row every 10 days through the window above and you get a steady supply instead.

Frost tolerance

Half-hardy

Damaged below

-3°C (26.6°F)

Days to maturity

45–60

Min soil temp

4.5°C (40.1°F)

Spacing

25 cm

Sowing depth

6 mm (0.2 in)

Sun

Partial

Butterhead lettuce through the year

Against the frost risk in Jiangmen

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Butterhead lettuce

Frost risk Start indoors Autumn sowing Sow direct Plant out Harvest Today

Why these dates

Sow every ten days from six weeks before the last frost, then stop through the hottest weeks and resume eight weeks before the first autumn frost.

Damaged below about -3C. It is heat rather than cold that ends this crop, with seed germinating badly above 25C.

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. Butterhead lettuce are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Jiangmen.

The median frost-free season here is 329 days, against 45 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Jiangmen →

Nearby

Butterhead lettuce in places close by

Zhongshan 31 km Changsha 47 km Foshan 50 km Tanzhou 54 km Zhuhai 60 km Guangzhou 62 km

Also in Jiangmen

Other vegetables to time

Tomatoes tender Lettuce half hardy Potatoes half hardy Courgettes tender Sweet peppers tender Carrots hardy Cucumbers tender Green beans tender Peas hardy Garlic very hardy Chilli peppers tender Sweetcorn tender

Growing butterhead lettuce in Jiangmen

When should I plant butterhead lettuce in Jiangmen?

Aim for 4-18 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 4-18 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will butterhead lettuce be ready to harvest in Jiangmen?

Expect to start picking around 1 May - 31 Oct, based on 45 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will butterhead lettuce tolerate?

Damaged below about -3C. It is heat rather than cold that ends this crop, with seed germinating badly above 25C.