Salsify · Laiwu, Shandong, China
When to plant salsify in Laiwu
Main outdoor window
21 Mar - 11 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
4 April
In Laiwu, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
19 Jul - 18 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 Laiwu
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.
Sow direct
21 Mar - 11 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
19 Jul - 18 Aug
Salsify through the year
Against the frost risk in Laiwu
Why these dates
Sow direct two weeks before the last frost. Do not transplant - the taproot forks if disturbed and becomes unusable.
Very hardy, to -15C, and left in the ground over winter to be lifted as required.
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. Salsify are timed for direct sowing 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Laiwu.
The median frost-free season here is 217 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 Laiwu
Other vegetables to time
Growing salsify in Laiwu
When should I plant salsify in Laiwu?
Aim for 21 Mar - 11 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 2-23 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will salsify be ready to harvest in Laiwu?
Expect to start picking around 19 Jul - 18 Aug, based on 120 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will salsify tolerate?
Very hardy, to -15C, and left in the ground over winter to be lifted as required.