Iceberg lettuce · Arequipa, Arequipa, Peru
When to plant iceberg lettuce in Arequipa
Main outdoor window
29 Jul - 12 Aug
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
19 August
In Arequipa, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Nov - 30 Mar
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 Arequipa
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
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
29 Jul - 12 Aug
Three weeks before your last frost.
Transplant
5-19 Aug
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
29 Nov - 30 Mar
Iceberg lettuce through the year
Against the frost risk in Arequipa
Why these dates
Start indoors six weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks before. A check to growth at any point gives you a loose head rather than a dense one.
Takes around -3C. The long season means a late sowing can be caught by the first autumn frost before it has hearted.
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. Iceberg 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 Arequipa.
The median frost-free season here is 288 days, against 70 to 85 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Arequipa
Other vegetables to time
Growing iceberg lettuce in Arequipa
When should I plant iceberg lettuce in Arequipa?
Aim for 29 Jul - 12 Aug in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 19 Aug - 2 Sep - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will iceberg lettuce be ready to harvest in Arequipa?
Expect to start picking around 29 Nov - 30 Mar, based on 70 to 85 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will iceberg lettuce tolerate?
Takes around -3C. The long season means a late sowing can be caught by the first autumn frost before it has hearted.