Shungiku · Dongguan, Guangdong, China
When to plant shungiku in Dongguan
Main outdoor window
28 Dec - 25 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
18 January
In Dongguan, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 May - 31 Oct
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 Dongguan
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 for autumn
21 Sep - 12 Oct
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
28 Dec - 25 Jan
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Oct
Shungiku through the year
Against the frost risk in Dongguan
Why these dates
Sow from three weeks before the last frost and every two to three weeks. Cut at 15cm and it regrows twice before running to its yellow daisy flowers.
Hardy to about -5C. It bolts quickly in long days and heat, so spring and autumn sowings are the productive ones.
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. Shungiku are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Dongguan.
The median frost-free season here is 336 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 Dongguan
Other vegetables to time
Growing shungiku in Dongguan
When should I plant shungiku in Dongguan?
Aim for 28 Dec - 25 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 3-31 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will shungiku be ready to harvest in Dongguan?
Expect to start picking around 1 May - 31 Oct, based on 40 to 55 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will shungiku tolerate?
Hardy to about -5C. It bolts quickly in long days and heat, so spring and autumn sowings are the productive ones.