Daikon · Qingdao, Shandong, China
When to plant daikon in Qingdao
Main outdoor window
4-18 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
9 March
In Qingdao, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
3-23 Jul
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 Qingdao
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
21 Aug - 11 Sep
Counting back 94 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
4-18 May
Eight weeks after your last frost.
Harvest
3-23 Jul
Daikon through the year
Against the frost risk in Qingdao
Why these dates
Sow direct eight to ten weeks after the last frost, or better, ten weeks before the first autumn frost. Spring sowings almost always bolt.
Stands to about -8C. In mild climates it holds in the ground all winter.
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. Daikon are timed for direct sowing 8 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Qingdao.
The median frost-free season here is 280 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 Qingdao
Other vegetables to time
Growing daikon in Qingdao
When should I plant daikon in Qingdao?
Aim for 4-18 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 15-29 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will daikon be ready to harvest in Qingdao?
Expect to start picking around 3-23 Jul, based on 60 to 80 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will daikon tolerate?
Stands to about -8C. In mild climates it holds in the ground all winter.