Peanut · New York City, New York, United States
When to plant peanuts in New York City
Main outdoor window
12 Apr - 3 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 March
In New York City, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
10 Aug - 9 Sep
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 New York 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.
Start indoors
1-22 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
12 Apr - 3 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Plant out
12 Apr - 3 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
10 Aug - 9 Sep
Peanuts through the year
Against the frost risk in New York City
Why these dates
Sow direct two weeks after the last frost once the soil is genuinely warm, or start indoors and plant out - peanuts resent root disturbance, so use deep pots. Once the flowers fade, the stalks bend down and push into the soil; anything that stops them reaching loose ground stops the crop.
Frost-tender at both ends of the season. The plant is killed at 0C, and because the pods develop underground over a long period, an early autumn frost catches a crop that is not yet finished.
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. Peanuts are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for New York City.
The median frost-free season here is 249 days, against 120 to 150 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in New York City
Other nuts to time
Growing peanuts in New York City
When should I plant peanuts in New York City?
Aim for 12 Apr - 3 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 22 Apr - 13 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will peanuts be ready to harvest in New York City?
Expect to start picking around 10 Aug - 9 Sep, based on 120 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will peanuts tolerate?
Frost-tender at both ends of the season. The plant is killed at 0C, and because the pods develop underground over a long period, an early autumn frost catches a crop that is not yet finished.