Mashua · Marbella, Andalusia, Spain
When to plant mashua in Marbella
Main outdoor window
31 Jan - 28 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
31 January
In Marbella, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Nov - 31 Dec
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 Marbella
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.
Plant tubers
31 Jan - 28 Feb
Around your last frost.
Harvest
1 Nov - 31 Dec
Mashua through the year
Against the frost risk in Marbella
Why these dates
As for oca: the tops go at about -2C and the crop is lifted afterwards.
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. Mashua are timed with planting out 0 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Marbella.
Marbella sits in zone 10b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
Also in Marbella
Other vegetables to time
Growing mashua in Marbella
When should I plant mashua in Marbella?
Aim for 31 Jan - 28 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 3 Feb - 3 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will mashua be ready to harvest in Marbella?
Expect to start picking around 1 Nov - 31 Dec, based on 180 to 210 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will mashua tolerate?
As for oca: the tops go at about -2C and the crop is lifted afterwards.