Lentil · Ludhiana, Punjab, India
When to plant lentils in Ludhiana
Main outdoor window
11 Dec - 1 Jan
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
8 January
In Ludhiana, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1-31 Mar
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 Ludhiana
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 Dec - 1 Jan
Four weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
1-31 Mar
Lentils through the year
Against the frost risk in Ludhiana
Why these dates
Sow four weeks before the last frost. Lentils are short and easily flattened by rain, so a windless site and a firm seedbed both help at harvest.
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.
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. Lentils are timed for direct sowing 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Ludhiana.
Also in Ludhiana
Other grains to time
Growing lentils in Ludhiana
When should I plant lentils in Ludhiana?
Aim for 11 Dec - 1 Jan in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 26 Dec - 16 Jan - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will lentils be ready to harvest in Ludhiana?
Expect to start picking around 1-31 Mar, based on 80 to 110 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will lentils tolerate?
Seedlings survive to about -6C, which is why lentils are sown far earlier than most pulses.