Chinese cabbage · Changle, Shandong, China
When to plant chinese cabbages in Changle
Main outdoor window
11 Jun - 2 Jul
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
2 April
In Changle, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Sep - 30 Nov
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 Changle
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 direct
11 Jun - 2 Jul
Ten weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
1 Sep - 30 Nov
Chinese cabbages through the year
Against the frost risk in Changle
Why these dates
Sow about ten weeks after the last spring frost so the plant heads up as days shorten. Spring sowings run to flower because long days and cold nights together trigger bolting.
Takes a light frost at around -4C once hearted, and the flavour improves for it, but a hard freeze splits the head open.
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. Chinese cabbages are timed for direct sowing 10 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Changle.
The median frost-free season here is 218 days, against 60 to 80 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Changle
Other vegetables to time
Growing chinese cabbages in Changle
When should I plant chinese cabbages in Changle?
Aim for 11 Jun - 2 Jul in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 20 Jun - 11 Jul - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will chinese cabbages be ready to harvest in Changle?
Expect to start picking around 1 Sep - 30 Nov, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will chinese cabbages tolerate?
Takes a light frost at around -4C once hearted, and the flavour improves for it, but a hard freeze splits the head open.