Shungiku · Hamhŭng, South Hamgyong, North Korea
When to plant shungiku in Hamhŭng
Main outdoor window
30 Mar - 27 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 April
In Hamhŭng, 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 Hamhŭng
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
23 Jul - 13 Aug
Counting back 69 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
30 Mar - 27 Apr
Three weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1 May - 31 Oct
Shungiku through the year
Against the frost risk in Hamhŭng
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 Hamhŭng.
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 Hamhŭng
Other vegetables to time
Growing shungiku in Hamhŭng
When should I plant shungiku in Hamhŭng?
Aim for 30 Mar - 27 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 5 Apr - 3 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will shungiku be ready to harvest in Hamhŭng?
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.