Stock · Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia
When to sow stocks in Irkutsk
Main outdoor window
6-27 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
20 May
In Irkutsk, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
25 Jul - 24 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 Irkutsk
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
25 Mar - 15 Apr
Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
6-27 May
Two weeks before your last frost.
In flower
25 Jul - 24 Aug
Stocks through the year
Against the frost risk in Irkutsk
Why these dates
Start indoors eight weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks before it. Stocks need cool nights, below about 15C, for several weeks to initiate flower spikes, so early planting is not optional - a late-planted stock grows into a leafy plant that never blooms.
Hardy to about -8C. In zone 8 and warmer the sensible approach is autumn planting for late-winter flowers, and in hot climates it is a winter crop only.
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. Stocks are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Irkutsk.
Irkutsk sits in zone 3a, which is colder than this crop is rated for, so it will need winter protection or a container that can be moved under cover. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
The median frost-free season here is 123 days, against 80 to 110 days to first flower for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Irkutsk
Other flowers to time
Growing stocks in Irkutsk
When should I plant stocks in Irkutsk?
Aim for 6-27 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13 May - 3 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will stocks be ready to harvest in Irkutsk?
Expect to start picking around 25 Jul - 24 Aug, based on 80 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will stocks tolerate?
Hardy to about -8C. In zone 8 and warmer the sensible approach is autumn planting for late-winter flowers, and in hot climates it is a winter crop only.