Orlaya · Maipú, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to sow orlayas in Maipú
Main outdoor window
17 Aug - 14 Sep
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 September
In Maipú, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
15 Nov - 15 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 Maipú
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
20 Jul - 17 Aug
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
17 Aug - 14 Sep
Four weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
31 Aug - 28 Sep
Two weeks before your last frost.
In flower
15 Nov - 15 Dec
Orlayas through the year
Against the frost risk in Maipú
Why these dates
Sow direct four weeks before the last frost into cool soil, or start indoors eight weeks before it. Germination is slow and uneven at the best of times and much better after a fortnight of cold, so autumn sowing suits it. Self-seeds where the drainage is good enough.
Hardy to about -12C. Autumn sowing is the traditional method around the Mediterranean and works anywhere in zone 8 and milder. Humid summer heat brings it to an early end.
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. Orlayas are timed from 8 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 Maipú.
Maipú sits in zone 9b, 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.
The median frost-free season here is 265 days, against 90 to 120 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Maipú
Other flowers to time
Growing orlayas in Maipú
When should I plant orlayas in Maipú?
Aim for 17 Aug - 14 Sep in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 7 Sep - 5 Oct - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will orlayas be ready to harvest in Maipú?
Expect to start picking around 15 Nov - 15 Dec, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will orlayas tolerate?
Hardy to about -12C. Autumn sowing is the traditional method around the Mediterranean and works anywhere in zone 8 and milder. Humid summer heat brings it to an early end.