Taro · Zaoyang, Hubei, China
When to plant taro in Zaoyang
Main outdoor window
24 Mar - 21 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
10 March
In Zaoyang, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Oct - 31 Dec
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 Zaoyang
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.
Plant corms
24 Mar - 21 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Oct - 31 Dec
Taro through the year
Against the frost risk in Zaoyang
Why these dates
No frost tolerance. Needs 200 or more warm frost-free days, so outside the subtropics it rarely finishes.
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. Taro are timed with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zaoyang.
Zaoyang sits in zone 8b, 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 262 days, against 200 to 280 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Zaoyang
Other vegetables to time
Growing taro in Zaoyang
When should I plant taro in Zaoyang?
Aim for 24 Mar - 21 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 taro be ready to harvest in Zaoyang?
Expect to start picking around 1 Oct - 31 Dec, based on 200 to 280 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will taro tolerate?
No frost tolerance. Needs 200 or more warm frost-free days, so outside the subtropics it rarely finishes.