Nectarine · Kansas City, Missouri, United States
When to plant nectarines in Kansas City
Main outdoor window
27 Oct - 1 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
15 April
In Kansas City, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jul - 31 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 Kansas City
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 the tree
27 Oct - 1 Apr
Any time the plant is dormant and the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged: after leaf fall in autumn, or at the end of winter before growth restarts.
Harvest
1 Jul - 31 Aug
Nectarines through the year
Against the frost risk in Kansas City
Why these dates
Identical to peach in hardiness and in the early-flowering problem that goes with it.
Nectarines are planted once and then left in place, so there is no sowing offset to resolve. What matters in Kansas City is the shape of the year: this crop is dormant through the winter and is planted while it sleeps, any time between leaf fall in autumn and the restart of growth in spring, so long as the ground is neither frozen nor waterlogged. That is why the window below spans the cold months rather than sitting in the middle of the growing season.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Kansas City is zone 6b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 3, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Kansas City
Other fruits to time
Growing nectarines in Kansas City
When should I plant nectarines in Kansas City?
Aim for 27 Oct - 1 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 12 Oct - 8 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will nectarines be ready to harvest in Kansas City?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jul - 31 Aug, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will nectarines tolerate?
Identical to peach in hardiness and in the early-flowering problem that goes with it.