Amaranth · Zhucheng, Shandong, China
When to plant amaranth in Zhucheng
Main outdoor window
7-28 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
31 March
In Zhucheng, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
16 Jul - 15 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 Zhucheng
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
3-24 Mar
Four weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
7-28 Apr
One week after your last frost.
Plant out
14 Apr - 5 May
Two weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
16 Jul - 15 Aug
Amaranth through the year
Against the frost risk in Zhucheng
Why these dates
Sow after the last frost into warm soil. The seed is very fine and should barely be covered.
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.
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. Amaranth are timed from 4 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zhucheng.
The median frost-free season here is 226 days, against 100 to 130 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Zhucheng
Other grains to time
Growing amaranth in Zhucheng
When should I plant amaranth in Zhucheng?
Aim for 7-28 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 18 Apr - 9 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will amaranth be ready to harvest in Zhucheng?
Expect to start picking around 16 Jul - 15 Aug, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will amaranth tolerate?
Killed by the first frost at either end of the season - it has no cold tolerance at all.