Pak choi · Hŭngnam, South Hamgyong, North Korea
When to plant pak choi in Hŭngnam
Main outdoor window
6-20 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 April
In Hŭngnam, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
16-31 May
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 Hŭngnam
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
23 Mar - 6 Apr
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for autumn
23 Jul - 13 Aug
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
6-20 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
13-27 Apr
One week before your last frost.
Harvest
16-31 May
Pak choi through the year
Against the frost risk in Hŭngnam
Why these dates
The autumn sowing is the dependable one. Spring sowings bolt readily unless made very early or grown under cover.
Handles a few degrees of frost. A hard freeze destroys the succulent midribs.
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. Pak choi are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 1 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Hŭngnam.
The median frost-free season here is 185 days, against 40 to 55 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Hŭngnam
Other vegetables to time
Growing pak choi in Hŭngnam
When should I plant pak choi in Hŭngnam?
Aim for 6-20 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 12-26 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will pak choi be ready to harvest in Hŭngnam?
Expect to start picking around 16-31 May, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will pak choi tolerate?
Handles a few degrees of frost. A hard freeze destroys the succulent midribs.